>From Puck News, a good summary of current status of NBA rights, and what appears to be another fumble by Zaz. TNT still has a chance to match one of these deals, but as explained, not clear how they could, and Zaz may be taking humiliating route of positioning himself for a nuisance relief settlement.
My only quibble with the summary is Puck may be underestimating the significance of the multiple Emmy winning TNT NBA studio show. If I were Adam Silver I would be looking into some kind of creative deal where WBD licenses “Inside the NBA” to like Amazon. *===============* *Matt Belloni…* *“ NBA air ball*: Man, is *Adam Silver* *annoyed* with *David Zaslav* and the Warner Bros. Discovery team, per two sources familiar with his thinking. At this point, the NBA commissioner is basically Ferris Bueller after the credits roll: *Go home, David… it’s over*. As my colleague *John Ourand*reported, the league has selected its preferred broadcast partners, and they’re *not* Warner Discovery/Turner. Disney/ESPN gets the A package for $2.8 billion a year, Comcast/NBC swipes the B package for about $2.5 billion—a big increase from the $1.2 billion that Turner is paying, and for far *fewer* games—and Amazon Prime Video lands a new C package for just under $2 billion. That’s about $7 billion a year for the NBA, *waaay* up from $2.6 billion in the current deals, and it allows the league to escape the cable TV quicksand for more broadcast, with the favorable demos of streaming and the financial heft of Amazon. Not bad. But Zaslav won’t let it go, today floating in a CNBC *story <https://email.puck.news/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnVDJ4Z1lEQU9lN0FlYTdBUUdQcU04MXlSQnVScFRZUm4zNFJQRT0iLCJocmVmIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY25iYy5jb20vMjAyNC8wNS8yMy93YXJuZXItYnJvcy1kaXNjb3ZlcnktY29uc2lkZXJzLW1hdGNoaW5nLW5iYS1wYWNrYWdlLXNsYXRlZC1mb3ItYW1hem9uLmh0bWw_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPVdoYXQrSSUyN20rSGVhcmluZystK1NVQlNDUklCRVJTKyUyODUlMkYyMyUyRjI0JTI5XHUwMDI2dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQ9V2hhdCtJJTI3bStIZWFyaW5nKy0rU1VCU0NSSUJFUlMrJTI4NSUyRjYlMkYyNCUyOVx1MDAyNnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWxfYWN0aW9uXHUwMDI2dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1jdXN0b21lci5pb1x1MDAyNnV0bV90ZXJtPWY2YzYwNjAwZTZiYjAxZTdiYjAxIiwiaW50ZXJuYWwiOiJmNmM2MDYwMGU2YmIwMWU3YmIwMSIsImxpbmtfaWQiOjg5NDU2Mn0/5742a4957745f0d23ea47ff1a71117a17b1d4235e5cba11e67fbc9a8a2a7bab1>*that WBD might try to match not the package he’s losing but *Amazon’s*—a position previewed on Sunday by my partner *Bill Cohan*. Once the three deals are presented to Warner Discovery (the NBA still needs clarity on All-Star Weekend and a couple international and local issues, I’m told), Zaz & Co. will have five days to match—but it’s unclear what that even means. The packages awarded and the platforms offered look *very* different from the current deals—and the “matching rights” language is old and doesn’t contemplate the disparity of assets. What’s clear is the NBA no longer *wants* Turner. Comcast’s *Brian Roberts* is reportedly offering the prime real estate of two primetime games a week on NBC, which WBD can’t “match” because it doesn’t have a broadcast network. Nor can Zaslav likely “match” Amazon’s offer because he would never put all the games exclusively on his streamer, even if he could scrounge together the huge fee for a small selection of games. Zaz wants to upsell Max subscribers to watch some games, limiting their reach. Why would the NBA want that? Silver has been irked by Zaslav since his “We don’t have to have the NBA” comments back in 2022, a clear misstep. During the exclusive negotiation window, Disney’s *Bob Iger*and *Jimmy Pitaro* locked in a handshake deal while Zaz and his sports guy, *Luis Silberwasser*, whined about the cost, according to two sources familiar with the negotiation. Bloomberg *reported <https://email.puck.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>* the disparity was just $200 million, a number that Warner Discovery shareholders might soon put on placards if they start picketing on Olive Avenue for Zaslav’s removal. Having bungled the negotiations, Zaz now wants to prevent the NBA from getting into business with Amazon? And if Silver says no, Warners might sue? That would be one of the all-time loser moves. (And remember, this is a company that threw finished movies in the garbage to write them off.) CNBC even noted that WBD might try to use the uncertainty over matching rights to extract a settlement to go away. I haven’t confirmed that, but if true, it suggests that Zaslav sees the writing on the wall and is looking for backup plans. This week’s sublicense of a few College Football Playoff games from ESPN suggests the same. It’s never a good sign when your marquee broadcaster, in this case *Charles Barkley*, compares your company to *Boone’s Farm <https://email.puck.news/e/c/eyJlbWFpbF9pZCI6ImRnVDJ4Z1lEQU9lN0FlYTdBUUdQcU04MXlSQnVScFRZUm4zNFJQRT0iLCJocmVmIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY25iYy5jb20vMjAyNC8wNS8yMy93YXJuZXItYnJvcy1kaXNjb3ZlcnktY29uc2lkZXJzLW1hdGNoaW5nLW5iYS1wYWNrYWdlLXNsYXRlZC1mb3ItYW1hem9uLmh0bWw_dXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPVdoYXQrSSUyN20rSGVhcmluZystK1NVQlNDUklCRVJTKyUyODUlMkYyMyUyRjI0JTI5XHUwMDI2dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQ9V2hhdCtJJTI3bStIZWFyaW5nKy0rU1VCU0NSSUJFUlMrJTI4NSUyRjYlMkYyNCUyOVx1MDAyNnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWxfYWN0aW9uXHUwMDI2dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1jdXN0b21lci5pb1x1MDAyNnV0bV90ZXJtPWY2YzYwNjAwZTZiYjAxZTdiYjAxIiwiaW50ZXJuYWwiOiJmNmM2MDYwMGU2YmIwMWU3YmIwMSIsImxpbmtfaWQiOjg5NDU2Mn0/5742a4957745f0d23ea47ff1a71117a17b1d4235e5cba11e67fbc9a8a2a7bab1>* . Zaslav and Silberwasser could still match one of these deals, or they could somehow finagle a tiny fourth package to keep *some* NBA. But why would Silver allow that to happen? He’s got great deals at the finish line that will grow the game and serve his owners, his players, and his fans. It’s not like Zaslav is bringing him a platform or an audience he can’t get elsewhere. *Inside the NBA* can be reconstituted. And will Warner Discovery exist in 18 months? Just yesterday, former WarnerMedia C.E.O. *Jason Kilar* predicted that it won’t. Faced with these grim options, the right move here for Zaslav is to wish the NBA well, walk away, scream fiscal prudence, pray the shareholders understand, and invest some of those billions elsewhere in sports to keep the cable channels at least semi-viable. UFC, more baseball, whatever. The fact is, when the NBA decided it didn’t want Turner, the relationship was over. Zaz should admit it and move on” Sent from Gmail Mobile -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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