Boston Celtics forwards Jayson Tatum (L), and Jaylen Brown have fun throughout a Sport 3 win over the Dallas Mavericks within the 2024 NBA Finals and might need future video games proven on streaming service Amazon when the 2026 NBA season will get underway. File Picture by Adam Davis/EPA-EFE
July 24 (UPI) — The Nationwide Basketball Affiliation on Wednesday stated Warner Bros. Discovery lacks authorized matching rights for a brand new media settlement with Amazon Prime Video.
The NBA agreed to an 11-year deal value an estimated $77 billion and makes Amazon Prime Video its third streaming associate, together with NBCUniversal Media and Disney.
The three streaming platforms are slated to start showing NBA video games in the beginning of the 2026 season.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most up-to-date proposal didn’t match the phrases of Amazon Prime Video’s supply,” the NBA introduced in an announcement Wednesday.
“We have now entered right into a long-term association with Amazon,” the NBA stated.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s present media deal expires on the finish of the 2025 NBA season and permits it to match any cost supply for video games that air on TNT.
Warner Bros. Discovery tried to match Amazon’s supply on Monday, however the NBA stated the cope with Warner would not embody all-streaming packages to point out future NBA video games. Warner Bros. Discovery additionally owns the streaming platform Max, which airs TNT video games on Max as a substitute of creating them unique to the streaming platform.
Amazon Prime Video will stream the video games solely and not using a broadcast associate.
The NBA stated Warner’s media associate contract with the skilled basketball league solely permits matching affords for particular types of audio and video distribution.
Amazon Prime Video is a streaming-only platform, whereas Warner Bros. Discovery affords streaming and over-the-air and cable broadcasting for the NBA video games it exhibits on TNT and Max.
As a result of Warner makes use of tv distribution in addition to streaming, it might’t match the supply made by streaming-only service Amazon Prime Video.
