Discovery has filed a lawsuit against the NBA after the league rejected its matching offer to broadcast the league’s games for the next decade, ending the media company’s four-decade relationship with the NBA. “Given the NBA’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” a WBD spokesperson said in a statement. But the league said WBD “did not match the terms” of its deal with Amazon. While WBD maintains the rights to the NCAA March Madness tournament, along with the MLB, NHL and NASCAR, the NBA remains crucial to the media conglomerate. 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.

---

Persons: “, Max, ” Mike Bass, ” Adam Silver, WBD “, Warner, WBD, Barkley, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal, ”, I’m, ” Barkley Organizations: New, New York CNN, Warner Bros, Discovery, NBA, Amazon, Disney, TNT, Amazon Prime, ABC, ESPN, CNN, Netflix, NCAA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR Locations: New York, New York County, United States, WBD