(Bloomberg) -- Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. offered to match Amazon.com Inc.’s bid for National Basketball Association TV rights, taking advantage of a clause in its expiring contract with the league.
“Regrettably, the league notified us of its intention to accept other offers for the games in our current rights package, leaving us to proceed under the matching rights provision, which is an integral part of our current agreement and the rights we have paid for under it,” Warner Bros. said in a statement.
The company said it submitted paperwork to the league indicating its intentions on Monday.
A spokesperson for the NBA confirmed the league has received the proposal and is reviewing it.
The NBA is on the verge of signing a new $76 billion, 11-year deal, with current broadcaster ESPN and two new partners: Comcast Corp.’s NBC and Amazon. Amazon has agreed to pay about $1.8 billion annually.
Warner Bros., which owns the TNT and TBS networks, has been broadcasting the NBA for decades. Inside the NBA, featuring basketball great Charles Barkley, is one of its more popular shows.
But after a period of exclusive talks with its current partners, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, the league began fielding interest from new bidders.
Warner Bros. intends to air games both on TNT and its Max streaming service, as it does with its current package. The company, which has over $40 billion in debt, has obtained a letter of credit to support its bid, according to a person familiar with the company’s actions who asked to not be identified.
If it decides to challenge the matching offer, the league could argue that the Amazon package isn’t the same as Warner Bros.’ expiring contract.
The new contracts begin in the fall of 2025.
(Adds NBA statement in the fourth paragraph)
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