In yet another shocking turn of events, Warner Bros. Discovery has taken legal action against the NBA over the recent deals made with Amazon and the unsealed agreements. The entertainment giant has filed a lawsuit, claiming that it matched the Amazon offer, and as part of that lawsuit, the NBC and Prime deals were filed under seal.
This legal battle stems from the NBA’s decision to team up with Amazon and enter into undisclosed agreements. Warner Bros. Discovery argues that these deals have created an unfair advantage for the NBA, which will ultimately harm their business operations and market share.
Earlier this month the judge overseeing the case ruled some of the contracts had to be unsealed and that occurred today.
Much of the contracts via Awful Announcing on the public docket remains redacted, like financials (even though macro terms have been publicly reported) to even the number of tickets teams are required to grant the media companies.
The Amazon contract runs 82 pages with exhibits, while the NBC one is a far more efficient 60 pages with exhibits. The following are some more details we flushed out of the contracts.
Amazon gets 60 regular season games, plus the NBA Cup. Most of its games will fall on Thursday and Friday, and some on Saturday. It gets all the play-in games, nine to 17 games in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, and a conference finals in six of the 11 years of the contract.
It will deploy features viewers of TNF are familiar with, like X-Ray, rapid-recap and key plays. Other categories are listed as needing NBA approval including AI-powered visualizations, AWS data, and betting and shopping integration into the broadcast.
The contract envisions interactive ads that allow the viewer to buy merchandise they see on screen, presumably like a player jersey or a baseball cap. The NBA also has the right to receive branding on Amazon delivery boxes or vans.
In the event of a work stoppage, Amazon will continue to pay, and receive deductions off its payments once play has resumed.
NBC receives two preseason games and 100 regular season games, falling largely on Mondays and Tuesdays, with at least eight on Sundays. NBC gets an annual game on President’s Day, MLK Day, the day of the NCAA Championship game, and Veterans Day, as well as one on New Year’s Day 2029. It also gets a minimum of 22 total playoff games in rounds one and two, and a conference finals in six of the 11 seasons of its contract. There are no Christmas Day games. NBC gets all of All-Star weekend, excluding the celebrity game. NBC also gets a season tip-off doubleheader.
It sounds like the NBC lead in programming for the NBA will be called “NBA Tonight.” The contract terms name a “new ancillary programming block,” though the text after that phrase is redacted.
NBC’s streaming platform Peacock is only mentioned twice, which makes sense as the NBA chose NBC for its broadcast reach. “Licensee will create an NBA-branded hub on the Peacock home page for all Games and related content.”
As the legal battle unfolds, industry experts and fans alike will eagerly await the outcome. The result could shape the future landscape of sports broadcasting. Only time will tell if this lawsuit will result in a victory for the entertainment giant or if the NBA’s deals with Amazon will go unscathed.
You can read the entire contracts here.
