Warner Bros. Discovery files lawsuit against NBA to prevent Amazon’s new streaming package
Warner Bros. Discovery has taken legal action against the NBA after the league rejected its bid for broadcasting rights. The media company filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court following the NBA’s decision to go with Amazon’s streaming package for the 2025-26 season.
The conflict stems from Warner’s belief that its current contract gives it the right to match any bid that replaces Warner as the home of TNT’s NBA games (and the iconic Inside the NBA) in a future deal. As for the league’s stance, The Athletic reported that because the current contracts were signed when streaming was “on the horizon but not part of the deal,” the NBA disagrees with Warner’s claim.
The lawsuit was expected as soon as the league announced its new broadcast and streaming package, which also includes Disney (ABC and ESPN) and Comcast (NBC). The NBA told Warner it rejected that offer because it wanted to put all its games on its streaming service Max, in addition to TNT. Amazon also offered to pay for the first three years in full, while Warner offered a three-year credit line. Finally, the NBA believed that Amazon’s reach was simply greater.
“Warner Bros. Discovery’s most recent proposal did not meet the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer, and as such we have entered into a long-term arrangement with Amazon,” the NBA said in a statement Wednesday.
Unless Warner can force the NBA’s hand, a new deal will almost certainly spell the end of Inside the NBA. The decades-old sports show, starring Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, has harnessed a rare mix of comedy, chemistry and (sometimes taking a back seat in the first two) sports analysis. The beloved show, which has won 19 Sports Emmy Awards, began in 1989 as Johnson’s solo show before fleshing out its tight-knit cast over the next few years and (in Shaq’s case) decades.
Turner has been with the NBA since the 1984-85 season, which coincided with Barkley’s (and Michael Jordan’s) entry into the league out of college.
Barkley blasted the NBA after hearing about the new rights package, accusing it of wanting to “get rid of us from the ground up” in a statement to X. “I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance,” the Hall of Famer described as “a sad day when owners and commissioners choose money over fans.”
“It just sucks,” Barkley wrote before thanking Turner’s fans for the past 24 years he’s been on the show. Inside NBA will return next season, possibly its last, along with the network’s regular lineup of NBA games before a new deal kicks in for the 2025-26 season.
