NBA settles with WBD as it prepares to stream games on Amazon in 2025
The NBA has reached an 11-year agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery that will continue the development of content like Inside the NBA, which will appear on ABC and ESPN. The settlement comes months after Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA for dropping TNT’s licensing package.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s settlement includes the highlight rights to NBA games, which it can use to produce content for TNT Sports, the Bleacher Report, and House of Highlights. “We are pleased to partner with the NBA and Disney/ESPN, and to have solidified long-term rights and revenue for WBD,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in the press release.
In addition to its agreement with the NBA, Warner Bros. Discovery also struck a deal with ESPN — one of its partners in the Venu sports streaming service, which a federal court blocked. — that will put 15 live college basketball games and 13 college football games each season from the Big 12 on TNT.
Warner Bros. Discovery will retain live NBA rights outside the US for 11 years in the Nordics, Poland, and Latin American countries except Brazil and Mexico.