A person familiar with the matter confirmed WBD’s matching offer Monday was for Amazon’s bid, which includes regular season and playoff games.
It’s unclear if the NBA will accept or reject WBD’s offer, which the league intended for a streaming partner.
The showdown over the NBA rights comes as legacy media companies struggle to retain audiences, with viewers opting to leave cable bundles behind in favor of cheaper, on-demand content.
The cable channel TNT has built a programming slate around the NBA games, most notably the highly rated “Inside the NBA” show featuring Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.
Asked last week about the fate of WBD’s broadcast rights, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told reporters, “I don’t know yet.”“Much of it is outside my control,” he added.
Persons:
’ signoff, WBD, “ We’ve, ”, Turner Sports ’, Charles Barkley, ” Barkley, “, I’m, Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, Adam Silver
Organizations:
New, New York CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, TNT Sports, NBA, Disney, NBC, Amazon Prime, NBA’s, Governors, TNT, Amazon, Turner Sports, ESPN, Football, Netflix, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR
Locations:
New York