The NBA is “reviewing” TNT Sports’ $1.8 billion media rights offer, which matches the deal it struck with Amazon Prime earlier this month.
TNT Sports announced early Monday its intention to match one of the offers accepted by the NBA, and the league confirmed receipt of the contract.
“We have received the proposal from WBD and are in the process of reviewing it,” an NBA spokesperson told DailyMail.com.
The NBA has the right to reject TNT’s offer and stay with Amazon Prime
Representatives for TNT Sports did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com.
‘Inside the NBA’ is a fan-favorite segment of NBA television programming and is exclusive to TNT.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will be involved in choosing which media rights deal will be accepted
The new media rights agreement with the NBA will begin next season and is expected to last for 11 years.
With TNT Sports matching Amazon Prime’s offering, the fan-favorite pregame show, “Inside the NBA,” featuring basketball legends Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, has a chance to last beyond next season.
With this round of media rights deals, the NBA has increased its reach into the world of broadcasting, signing an extension with ESPN and deals with NBC and Amazon for the next 11 years and worth around $76 billion.
All of these moves come without completely leaving out TNT Sports, which has exclusive rights to many of the games the NBA has sold through the end of this season.
For example, the popular In-Season Tournament was broadcast in the United States on TNT and ESPN. Now, those games would move exclusively to Amazon, according to The Athletic.
