The National Basketball Association and Warner Bros. Discovery takes their legal battle over basketball television rights out of court.
Although nothing has yet been filed in the New York state court system, the Adam Silver-led NBA and David Zaslav's WBD have reached an agreement to end their months-long legal dispute, sources close to the events confirm.
Under the new agreement, WBD's TNT and TBS will no longer have the rights to NBA games in the 2025-2026 season. But, with Disney's ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon's $77 billion, 11-year agreement set to go on the bench next year, WBD has scored its own 11-year rights to show “NBA highlights and expanded content,” according to a person familiar with the new deal. .
This content could find a home in new TBS and TNT shows, as well as WBD-owned House of Highlights and Bleacher Report online. Additionally, WBD will have the capacity for NBA rights in Latin America, excluding Brazil, Mexico and parts of Europe.
Neither the NBA nor WBD responded to a request for comment from Deadline on the settlement. If they do, this post will be updated.
After being stuck re-upping their long-standing contracts with the league, and seeing NBCU snatch up some of the NBA gold in July, WBD sued Silver and her crew days later to see if they could get some of the games given away to Amazon. The elbows got sharp very quickly with the NBA asserting in a late August response that debt-laden and low-stock WBD not only lacked the cash to be a serious contender, but also lacked the scale.
No, WBD said
“We stand by our position that the NBA's actions are unjustified, and we strongly believe we have satisfied our contractual right to match the third-party offer,” the company said in a quickly released statement on August 24. True, but it's in the best interest of fans who want to continue to enjoy industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed platforms including TNT and Max.
News of the NBA and WBD settlement and new understanding was first reported in The Wall Street Journal
