TNT Issues Statement Regarding Intention To Retain NBA Media Rights

The NBA has been in negotiations with Disney, NBC and Amazon for shared league media rights after the 2025-26 season.

If the trio of media conglomerates agree to the terms, it would mean the well-known TNT program “Inside the NBA,” featuring Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith would conclude after the 2024-25 campaign.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which owns the incumbent TNT, has decided to exercise its right to match a contractual offer that the NBA has accepted from a competitor.

“We’re proud of how we have delivered for basketball fans by providing best-in-class coverage through our four-decade partnership with the NBA,” a statement from TNT Sports U.S. PR read on X. “In an effort to continue our long-standing partnership, during both exclusive and non-exclusive negotiation periods, we acted in good faith to present strng bids that were fair to both parties.

“Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept offers from 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.”

The statement continued: “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.

“Our matching paperwork was submitted to the league today. We look forward to the NBA executing our new contract.”

While TNT did not mention which contract, WBD reportedly matched the new 11-year, $1.8 billion annual contract the NBA has with Amazon, according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

“While TNT has the contractual right to match an offer, per its current contract, the NBA is expected to decline the network’s right to take the agreed-upon Amazon package, sources briefed on the NBA’s plans said,” Marchand wrote. “The league’s preference is to honor the $1.8 billion per year contract it agreed to with Amazon.”

According to Marchand, the league has received the proposal but has not completed its document review. If the league doesn’t accept the offer from WBD, the two entities could wind up battling it out in court.

TNT and ESPN still have one year remaining on their current contracts with the league, meaning the games will be televised as they have been for the 2024-25 season.