TNT files lawsuit against NBA following loss of media rights agreement
TNT isn’t about to lose its media rights deal with the NBA without a fight … it just sued the basketball org. — claiming it has a “contractual right” to continue to broadcast its games going forward.
The media company — whose parent organization is Warner Bros. Discovery — filed the lawsuit in New York on Friday … just days after Adam Silver revealed the NBA is moving on with Amazon Prime Video.
In their suit, TNT officials claim the NBA legally cannot accept Amazon’s deal — as they say they matched the offer to a T.
“We have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” TNT said in a statement Friday morning. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading NBA content with the choice and flexibility we offer them through our widely distributed WBD video-first distribution platforms — including TNT and Max.”
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NBA Strikes Media Rights Deal With Amazon Prime Video, TNT Not Giving Up
TNT has been broadcasting NBA games since the ’80s … but, on Tuesday, the NBA said that’ll all come to an end starting in 2025.
The Association was adamant TNT “did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.” A short time later, though, TNT said it did indeed submit the same offer.
The two sides don’t appear to be budging anytime soon … setting up a messy legal battle from here.
In the meantime, Charles Barkley — one of the hosts of TNT’s wildly popular “Inside the NBA” program — slammed the NBA over how everything’s gone down … accusing Silver’s org. of never giving TNT a fair shake.
“Clearly the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning,” the Hall of Famer said. “I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance.”
For the NBA’s part, it has not yet issued a response to the suit.