NBA & Warner Bros Discovery Settle TV Lawsuit With New Covenant

On By Littum

National Basketball Association and Warner Bros. Discovery takes their legal battle over B-ball TV rights off the rails.

Although nothing has yet been filed in the New York court system, the Adam Silver-led NBA and the David Zaslav-run WBD have reached an agreement to end their months-long legal dispute, sources close to the events confirm.

Under the new pact, WBD’s TNT and TBS will not have rights to NBA games during the 2025-2026 season. But with Disney’s ESPN, NBCUniversal and Amazon’s $77 billion, 11-year deal coming off the bench next year, WBD has secured its own 11-year rights to show “NBA highlights and extended content,” according to a person familiar with the matter. new agreement.

This content could find a home on new TBS and TNT shows, as well as WBD-owned House of Highlights and Bleacher Report online. In addition, WBD will have the option to acquire NBA rights in Latin America, with the exception of Brazil and Mexico and parts of Europe.

Neither the NBA nor WBD responded to Deadline’s request for comment on the settlement. If they do, this post will be updated.

After fumbling to renew their long-standing contracts with the league and seeing NBCU grab some of the NBA gold back in July, WBD sued Silver and crew days later to see if they could get some of the games awarded Amazon. Elbows got sharp pretty quickly when, in a late August response filing, the NBA argued that the debt-plagued and stock-low WBD not only lacked the money to be a serious contender, but also the scale.

No, said WBD

“We maintain our position that the NBA’s actions are unjustified and we are confident that we have fulfilled our contractual right to match the third-party offer,” the company said in a quickly released statement on Aug. 24. “It’s not only our contractual right, but it’s in the best interest of fans who want to continue to enjoy our 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 by the Wall Street Journal