Warner Aims to Match Amazon’s $1.8 Billion Per Year NBA Package in Sports-Rights Showdown

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery won’t let the NBA go without one more drive to the net. The media conglomerate on Monday indicated it plans to work to match the terms of a package of NBA games the league is poised to award to Amazon, a last-ditch effort by Warner CEO David Zaslav to retain the rights to professional basketball that have helped his company thrive for more than three decades.

Warner Bros. Discovery sent a letter to the NBA Monda detailing its plans to match one of the rights deals the league has already struck with Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon.

That package is widely understood to be the smallest package, which was crafted with the digital and e-commerce giant. “Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it,” Warner Bros.

Discovery said in a statement. “We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them. This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years.