NBA Chooses New Broadcast Partners, Warner Bros Stock Falls
Walt Disney Co’s (NYSE:DIS) ESPN, Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) owned NBCUniversal, and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) have secured an 11-year deal valued at $77 billion to broadcast National Basketball Association games (NBA), the league announced on Wednesday.
The NBA rejected a last-minute offer from Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports, ending a four-decade relationship with the media company after next season, Reuters reports. Warner Bros Discovery stock is down Thursday premarket.
The new deal is a setback for Warner’s sports division, exacerbating investor concerns about its role in the new sports-streaming partnership with Disney and Fox Corp (NASDAQ:FOX) (NASDAQ:FOXA).
Under the new agreement, the companies will broadcast 75 regular-season NBA games on TV each season, substantially increasing from the minimum of 15 games under the previous deal.
Disney’s ESPN will air 80 regular-season games, including 20 on ABC, which will continue as the exclusive home of the NBA Finals, according to Reuters.
NBCUniversal will broadcast 100 regular-season games, with over half on NBC and doubleheaders streamed on Peacock every Monday night.
Amazon will carry 66 regular-season games on Prime Video, including a game on Black Friday.
In a separate announcement, the Women’s National Basketball Association renewed its partnerships with Disney and Amazon and signed a new deal with NBCUniversal.
Warner Bros Discovery stock lost 32.4% in the last 12 months. The company hoped for a turnaround from the Disney+ bundle and NBA deal.
Price Action: WBD shares traded lower by 2.83% at $8.23 premarket at the last check on Thursday.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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