At this point, the NBA and TNT are synonymous. Fans are so familiar with watching “Inside the NBA” on TNT, especially during the playoffs. Now, some basketball experts are reporting that TNT may lose NBA TV rights, although TNT is working hard to try to keep it.
Will TNT Lose Their Longstanding NBA TV Rights?
There’s chatter that Warner Bros. Discovery could be having difficulties in NBC Universal in negotiations, meaning it’s possible the NBA could leave TNT Sports. If that happens, it will mark the first time in decades the NBA hasn’t been available on TNT, and TNT would lose those NBA TV rights. According to the Wall Street Journal, NBC wants in. Their experts report that NBC is ready to pay a mighty $2.5 billion a year to broadcast a package of NBA games. What’s more, the Wall Street Journal states that Warner Bros. Discovery is working hard to keep its current rights, but NBC is ready to double Warner’s TNT’s average price of $1.2 billion. That honestly makes me sad. TNT, of course, doesn’t have the resources of NBC. But, they have the tradition of carrying the NBA, and in my opinion, the NBA should be loyal to them. But, money talks, so we’ll see what happens.
Aside from the money, NBC is promising to carry two prime-time games a week, which would top Warner Bros. Discovery, since the latter doesn’t own a broadcast network. NBC would also reportedly include both regular season and playoff games and also offer them on their streaming platform, Peacock.
Warner Bros. Discovery does have the right to match any third-party offer, according to the Wall Street Journal. So, they could come back and try to match NBC’s offer and win out rights. I really hope that happens.
As for other sports TNT carries, they have March Madness, the NHL and NASCAR. But, losing their NBA TV rights would be huge. It might make distributors want to drop TNT or, at the very least, lower carriage rates, which would hit revenue.
In the article, the Wall Street Journal also notes that, “Disney the parent of ESPN and ABC, is the other major TV partner and is expected to pay an average per-year fee of about $2.6 billion to renew its deal, the people familiar with the situation said, up from about $1.5 billion a year now.” They add that, “Each TV partner would air fewer games under their new deals than under the current pacts. The league took some games away from its TV partners during this year’s rights negotiations to create a package for a streaming partner. Amazon’s Prime Video has already reached the outlines of a streaming rights deal with the NBA.”
If the TNT does lose their NBA TV rights, Charles Barkley says he’ll be able to walk away from his TNT deal. “I just signed a 10-year deal two years ago, but one of the things I did was I put an opt-out in a couple years because I wanted to cover my a** when it comes to this situation,” Barkley said in a recent interview with 850 ESPN Cleveland (via X, formerly Twitter).
Ernie Johnson, however, would likely stay. According to Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend, Johnson will probably stay with TNT because he’s a big personality in other properties there, including March Madness and Major League Baseball on TBS. Time will tell if TNT loses their NBA TV rights, but I’m rooting for them.