Is it about the money? One of the broadcasters sues the NBA

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the parent company of TNT, has filed a lawsuit against the NBA over a matching rights clause in a previous television contract, as the league announced the end of its long-term partnership with TNT.

The lawsuit was filed on Friday in the Supreme Court of New York County, with WBD being represented by the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

"Due to the NBA's unjustified rejection of our matching offer with a third party, we have taken legal action to protect our rights. We believe this is not only our contractual right but also in the best interests of the fans who want to continue watching our industry-leading NBA content on our WBD platforms, including TNT and Max," stated TNT Sports.

Earlier this week, the NBA announced that it would remain with ESPN/ABC (owned by Disney) and enter into new agreements with Amazon and NBC (owned by Comcast) at the end of 2025.

The core of the dispute centers around "matching rights," a common clause in sports rights contracts that allows the current rights holder to match competing offers at the end of the deal.

"The latest proposal from Warner Bros. Discovery did not match the terms of the Amazon Prime Video offer, and therefore we have entered into a long-term agreement with Amazon," the NBA said in a statement released earlier this week.

Although much of the lawsuit is sealed, WBD claims that TNT has the legal right to a rights package similar to Amazon's. The NBA argues that WBD cannot match Amazon in part because the global reach of WBD's Max streaming service is approximately half that of Amazon's Prime Video.