TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery will have to pay a heavy price to keep its NBA package away from an aggressive Comcast and NBC.
Comcast is willing to pay as much as $2.5 billion/year to acquire the NBA rights package currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, more-than-double the amount that those rights are currently worth, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Warner Bros. Discovery is able to match any third party offer for its NBA rights package and per WSJ is making “last-ditch efforts” to hold onto its current rights.
Under Comcast’s offer, the NBC broadcast network would potentially carry two primetime games per week.
The whopping $2.5 billion price tag is actually less than the $2.6 billion/year Disney is expected to pay for its “A” package, per the report. Between the two packages, the NBA’s rights fee would already reach $5.0 billion/year without even adding the league’s expected third deal with Amazon. Assuming the league’s expected deal with Amazon is worth at least $1 billion per year, the league would be in line to meet the $75 billion mark with a term of 12 or 13 years.
While one might assume Comcast’s $2.5 billion offer is an overpay to keep WBD from matching, the $2.6 billion price tag for ESPN indicates that the mid-$2 billion range may merely be the price of doing business with the NBA.
TNT has carried the NBA for 40 years, more than any other NBA partner, and its “Inside the NBA” studio team is one of the most acclaimed in sports television. NBC has not aired the NBA for 22 years, but its 12-year run with the league remains fondly remembered.
