The National Basketball Association announced new long-term TV contracts with Walt Disney Co., Comcast Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., spurning an effort by Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. to retain its decades-old broadcast rights.
Together, the agreements are expected to generate $76 billion in fees for the league over their 11-year life — a near tripling of the income from previous contract. Amazon will pay about $1.8 billion annually and make streaming an integral part of the league’s media strategy. The new contracts start in the fall of next year.
“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans,” the league said Wednesday in a statement. “Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements.”
Warner Bros., parent of the TNT cable network and Max streaming service, said on July 22 that it was planning to match Amazon’s offer, taking advantage of a clause in its current contract with the league that allows it to respond to competing bids.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer and, therefore, we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the league said.
The NBA’s refusal sets up a potential legal battle with the media giant that has been its broadcast partner since Ronald Reagan was president.
“We think they have grossly misinterpreted our contractual rights with respect to the 2025-’26 season and beyond, and we will take appropriate action,” Warner Bros. said in an email.
Amazon will show 66 regular-season NBA games on its Prime Video service. Comcast has the largest package with 100 games during the regular season, more than half of them for NBC. The new deal includes 80 regular season games for Disney, 20 of which will be on ABC, which remains the exclusive home of the finals.
The deal also include rights for the WNBA, with more than 125 games going to the three media giants, the women’s league said. The WNBA expects to bring on additional media partners.
The value of the league’s contract jumps to $200 million annually from the current $60 million, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information.
“Partnering with Disney, Amazon and NBCU marks a monumental chapter in WNBA history and clearly demonstrates the significant rise in value and the historic level of interest in women’s basketball,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.