{"id":2316188,"date":"2024-07-30T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T21:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-to-know-about-the-nba-tnt-television-rights-drama-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-07-30T17:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T21:23:54","slug":"what-to-know-about-the-nba-tnt-television-rights-drama-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-to-know-about-the-nba-tnt-television-rights-drama-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"What to know about the NBA-TNT television rights drama &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhat-to-know-about-the-nba-tnt-television-rights-drama-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2316188&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-is-going-on-with-the-paul-pelosi-story\/\" title=\"What Is Going On With the Paul Pelosi Story?\">ongoing drama surrounding<\/a> the National Basketball Association (NBA) \u2064involves a dispute over television rights following the league&#8217;s announcement of \u2064a new broadcasting deal.\u2063 The NBA has signed contracts with ESPN\/ABC, NBC, \u200band \u200cAmazon for the 2025-36 seasons, leaving out TNT, which \u2062has been a key broadcaster of NBA games since the 2002-2003 season. Under\u2064 the existing agreement, \u2064ESPN\/ABC and TNT share national \u200crights, but the new deal alters this dynamic.<\/p>\n<p>TNT, part of Warner Bros. Discovery, is suing the NBA, claiming\u200c that\u2062 the \u200cleague failed\u2062 to honor its contractual right to match Amazon&#8217;s offer. TNT asserts that it timely exercised\u200d these rights but was nevertheless excluded \u2063from the new agreement. The lawsuit seeks a court declaration that TNT has indeed matched the \u200cAmazon deal, and\u200b it requests an injunction \u200cto prevent the NBA from distributing the telecast\u200c rights until the matter is resolved.<\/p>\n<p>The NBA&#8217;s Commissioner, Adam Silver, emphasized that the new agreements\u200d aim to enhance the \u200bfan experience and increase game accessibility through various \u200cstreaming platforms. The legal battle between TNT and the NBA highlights the complexities involved in sports broadcasting rights and the significant financial \u2063stakes for the networks involved.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">What to know about the NBA-TNT television rights drama<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1717649\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The drama of the <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"National Basketball Association\">National Basketball Association<\/a> typically plays out on the court, but a battle over who gets to cover the league&rsquo;s games has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-asks-scotus-to-weigh-in-on-law-banning-abortions-over-genetic-abnormalities\/\" title=\"Arizona Asks SCOTUS To Weigh In On Law Banning Abortions Over Genetic Abnormalities\">prompted legal action<\/a> from one of the networks currently airing NBA games.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"National Basketball Association\">NBA<\/a> announced its new <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"television\">television<\/a> rights deal last week, signing with ESPN\/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, but the new contract led one broadcaster not included to file a lawsuit against the league. Here is what to know about the dispute.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the current NBA television deal?<\/h2>\n<p>Under the current deal, which runs through the 2024-25 NBA season, ESPN\/ABC and TNT essentially split the national television rights. <\/p>\n<p>During the regular season, TNT gets the opening night games, the NBA All-Star Game, and games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ESPN\/ABC gets Wednesday, Friday, and select Saturday games, in addition to the Christmas Day games, among others, as part of its regular season package.<\/p>\n<p>For the playoffs, the two split the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dan-crenshaw-walks-back-terrorist-comment-against-gop-house-members\/\" title=\"Dan Crenshaw Walks Back \u2018Terrorist\u2019 Comment Against GOP House Members\">early rounds<\/a>, with NBA TV also getting a handful of games. TNT gets one conference championship each year, alternating between the Eastern and Western conferences, while ESPN\/ABC gets the other conference championship and the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\/ABC and TNT have split the television rights for the NBA since the 2002-03 season. With TNT&rsquo;s coverage is the popular studio show <em>Inside the NBA<\/em>, which features Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the new television deal?<\/h2>\n<p>The NBA announced last week that it had agreed to a new television contract, for the 2025-26 through 2035-36 seasons, with ESPN\/ABC, NBC, Amazon &mdash; leaving out TNT.<\/p>\n<p>ESPN\/ABC will continue to show games on Wednesday, along with select Saturday and Sunday games and the Christmas Day games, for 80 games during the regular season. The networks will also get the NBA Finals for each year of the contract, along with 18 games each year in the early playoff rounds and conference finals for 10 out of the 11 seasons of the contract.<\/p>\n<p>NBC gets NBA coverage for the first time since 2002, receiving Sunday night and Tuesday games, along with the NBA All-Star game during the regular season. The network also gets the opening night games and two games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Peacock, NBC&rsquo;s streaming service, will get Monday night games as part of the package, which will see both NBC and Peacock get <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/longtime-nba-referee-tony-brown-dead-at-55\/\" title=\"Longtime NBA Referee Tony Brown Dead at 55\">100 regular season games<\/a> each season. For the playoffs, NBC gets 28 first-round games and a conference championship in six of the 11 seasons of the contract.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon gets NBA coverage for the first time, getting 66 regular season games on Thursdays, Fridays, and select Saturday afternoons. The streaming platform will also cover the NBA Cup, the play-in tournament, roughly a third of early-round playoff games, and a conference championship in six of the contract&rsquo;s 11 seasons.<\/p>\n<p>The emphasis of the NBA&rsquo;s announcement was on streaming, with all three network partners having, or being, streaming platforms.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our new global media agreements with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon will maximize the reach and accessibility of NBA games for fans in the United States and around the world,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. &ldquo;These partners will distribute our content across a wide range of platforms and help transform the fan experience over the next decade.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>TNT Sports claimed it matched Amazon&rsquo;s offer, noting their contractual right under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nascar-teams-call-revenue-model-broken\/\" title=\"NASCAR Teams Call Revenue Model &quot;Broken&quot;\">current television deal<\/a>, and said they &ldquo;do not believe the NBA can reject it&rdquo; in a statement Wednesday. The network also said they believe the NBA had &ldquo;grossly misinterpreted out contractual rights with respect to the 2025-26 season and beyond&rdquo; and teased they would &ldquo;take appropriate action.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is TNT suing the NBA?<\/h2>\n<p>Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, which itself is a division of Turner Broadcasting System, filed a lawsuit against the NBA in state court in New York on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit alleges the NBA &ldquo;refused to honor TBS&rsquo;s match&rdquo; of the deal Amazon had worked out with the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;TBS timely exercised these matching rights by accepting a Third Party Offer on the same material terms and conditions that the NBA was willing to accept from Amazon. The NBA, however, has breached the Agreement and deliberately refused to honor TBS&rsquo;s rights, forcing TBS and WBD to seek judicial intervention,&rdquo; the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n<p>Warner Bros. Discovery is seeking the court to declare that TBS matched the Amazon offer, in compliance with their contractual obligation, and that TBS be permitted, via TNT and Max, to distribute the NBA games in the package. It also asked that, if the court cannot come to a ruling prior to the beginning of the 2025-26 season, the NBA be enjoined &ldquo;from licensing the telecast rights that TBS matched under the Agreement (including the MRE) to Amazon or any other third party.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the potential outcomes of the lawsuit?<\/h2>\n<p>If the court sides with Warner Bros. Discovery, TNT and Max would get the package Amazon has agreed to and continue to broadcast the NBA alongside ESPN\/ABC and NBC. If the court does not side with Warner Bros. Discovery on its claims, then Amazon would be allowed to move forward with its package and TNT would lose its NBA rights.<\/p>\n<p>Neither outcome would appear to affect ESPN\/ABC or NBC&rsquo;s parts of the deal, as Warner Bros. Discovery has not had a problem with either of those networks&rsquo; agreements with the NBA.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will this affect TNT&rsquo;s coverage of the 2024-25 NBA season?<\/h2>\n<p>Regardless of the lawsuit, TNT will still cover the 2024-25 NBA season, although the relationship between the network and the league will likely be colder than normal.<\/p>\n<p>If TNT is unable to get Amazon&rsquo;s package via the lawsuit, the final game of the Eastern conference finals in 2025 will be the last NBA game TNT will air for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1717649\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1717649\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>### Key Points on the NBA-TNT Television Rights Dispute<\/p>\n<p>The National Basketball Association (NBA) is usually known for its on-court drama, but a conflict over broadcasting rights has led to legal action from one of its current broadcasters. Recently, the NBA revealed a new television rights agreement with ESPN\/ABC, NBC, and Amazon, which resulted in TNT being excluded from the deal and subsequently filing a lawsuit against the league. Here\u2019s an overview of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>#### Current NBA Television Agreement<br \/>\nThe existing contract runs until the end of the 2024-25 season and divides national broadcasting rights primarily between ESPN\/ABC and TNT. TNT broadcasts opening night games, the NBA All-Star Game, as well as games on Tuesdays and Thursdays during regular season play. Meanwhile, ESPN\/ABC covers Wednesday and Friday games along with select Saturday matchups and Christmas Day games. In playoff coverage, both networks share early-round games while each gets to air one conference championship series annually.<\/p>\n<p>#### New Television Deal<br \/>\nLast week, it was announced that starting in 2025-26 through 2035-36 seasons, ESPN\/ABC will continue airing Wednesday games along with select weekend matchups while NBC returns to cover Sunday nights and Tuesday games for the first time since 2002. Amazon will also join as a broadcaster for Thursday through Saturday afternoon matches. The emphasis of this new deal is on streaming capabilities across all platforms involved.<\/p>\n<p>TNT Sports claims it matched Amazon&#8217;s offer based on their existing contractual rights but believes that their interpretation has been misrepresented by the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>#### Reasons Behind TNT&#8217;s Lawsuit<br \/>\nWarner Bros. Discovery\u2014the parent company of TNT\u2014filed a lawsuit alleging that TBS (Turner Broadcasting System) exercised its right to match Amazon\u2019s offer but was ignored by the NBA. They are seeking judicial confirmation that they matched Amazon&#8217;s terms so they can continue airing NBA content via TNT.<\/p>\n<p>#### Possible Outcomes of Legal Action<br \/>\nIf Warner Bros. Discovery prevails in court, they would retain broadcasting rights alongside other networks; if not, Amazon would take over those rights leaving TNT without any future coverage after 2025\u2019s Eastern Conference Finals game.<\/p>\n<p>#### Impact on Upcoming Season Coverage<br \/>\nRegardless of this legal dispute&#8217;s outcome regarding future contracts post-2024-25 season, TNT will still broadcast during that upcoming season; however, tensions between them and the league may increase significantly moving forward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2638,"featured_media":2316189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nba-tv-deal-tnt-suing.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[7873,36703,36702,36701],"class_list":["post-2316188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-nba","tag-sports-media","tag-television-rights","tag-tnt"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/nba-tv-deal-tnt-suing.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2316188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2316189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2316188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2316188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2316188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}