The NBA has asked a court to dismiss Warner Bros. Discovery’s breach-of-contract lawsuit regarding broadcast rights negotiations.
According to multiple sources, the league filed a motion Friday with the New York Supreme Court to dismiss the suit filed by WBD on July 26.
The 28-page filing and associated documents contain claims by the NBA that WBD not only lacked the financial clout to compete for a piece of the NBA’s new TV rights package but also lacked the ability to promote the league as effectively as new partner Amazon.
The NBA’s new broadcast deal begins with the 2025-26 season and is for 11 years and a reported $76 billion. ABC/ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Prime Video will broadcast games.
WBD, whose TNT and TBS networks have partnered with the league for almost 30 years, claimed it had contractual rights to match Amazon’s offer, but the NBA rejected that offer, contending Amazon’s portion of the package is for streaming only.
Friday’s filing included more details on the NBA’s concern about WBD’s financial status during contract negotiations. According to Deadline.com, a memorandum in the filing notes, “For example, to ensure the financial security of billions of dollars of rights fee payments over the deal’s 11-year term, Amazon agreed … to maintain an escrow account from which rights fees will automatically be paid to the NBA as they become due. TBS eliminated this protection by giving itself the option to instead provide the NBA with syndicated letters of credit that the NBA can access only if TBS’s payments are late. That is not even close to the same thing.”
The NBA’s filing also questioned the ability of WBD to promote the league as effectively as Amazon.
The league also contended that WBD tried to improperly rewrite the terms of Amazon’s contract offer in a bid to match.
“TBS chose not to match NBCUniversal’s offer, which would have enabled TBS to continue distributing games via its TNT linear cable network,” the NBA wrote (via ESPN). “Instead, TBS purported to match the less-expensive Amazon offer, but only after revising it to include traditional distribution rights and making numerous other substantive changes.”
A TNT Sports spokesperson told Deadline Saturday that it will file a response.
“We maintain our position that the NBA’s actions are unjustified, and we strongly believe we have fulfilled our contractual right to match the third-party offer,” the spokesperson said. “Not only is it our contractual right, but it is in the best interest of the fans who want to continue to enjoy our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed platforms including TNT and Max. We will file our opposition in the coming weeks.”
The motion for dismissal will be heard in court Oct. 4.
