Zaslav Takes One to the Knee Cap
Comcast/Universal has put together a bid a $2.5 billion bid for TNT’s contract with the NBA that is currently due to expire at the end of the 24/25 season.
TNT’s owner Warner Brothers Discovery is countering with a bid of…
ZERO.
They will not be challenging Comcast’s bid.
From the Blazer’s Edge:
Comcast’s NBC Universal is prepping a huge bid to take over TNT’s role of the NBA national broadcaster. The Wall Street Journal broke the news Monday, with Deadline reporting details afterward. Turner has broadcast NBA games since 1988, starting with random prime-time games on TBS before eventually moving them to TNT for marquee games. NBC Universal is reportedly planning to offer $2.5 billion, with hopes that a struggling Warner Brothers Discovery may not be willing or able to match.
The NBA has already worked out initial agreement with Disney (ESPN and ABC) and Amazon (Prime streaming) for game broadcasts. If NBC gains rights, it’s unclear if this will feature exclusive games on Peacock, NBC linear channels (such as local networks and USA), or both. If this deal matches the ones made with Disney and Amazon, it will likely span ten years.
If this deal is reached and Turner loses NBA coverage, it’s unclear what would happen to TNT’s flagship show, Inside the NBA.
Warner Brothers’ stock has crashed 10% since this news broke. A lot of people are blaming David Zaslav but the simple truth is, this was a problem he inherited. Warner Brothers has such a crushing debt burden that there was never a chance that the WB could put together a counter bid, let alone a winning bid.
There has not been a challenge from Netflix, which is unsurprising given that they don’t have the infrastructure to support it, this is combined with the fact that the NBA owners aren’t ready to go all streaming yet.
This would appear to be the death of Bob Iger’s sports conglomerate of Disney, Warner, and Fox. Admittedly, that pipe dream was pretty unlikely from the start. None of the league owners would have tolerated it even FCC and the SEC did. Although, it was pretty unlikely to survive any kind of anti-trust scrutiny.
Variety was pretending to take it seriously a couple of days ago but at the end of the day, the Disney/Fox/Warner Sports conglomerate was a publicity stunt by Bob Iger to convince some of the duller knives in the investor drawer that Nelson Peltz shouldn’t be allowed on the board of directors.
ESPN will not be able to retain the same coverage of games over the next ten years.
Amazon appears to have grabbed a very big chunk of ESPN’s NBA coverage but the numbers haven’t been released yet.
In case you’re wondering where Comcast got the money? They got it from Bob Iger, this was part of their latest Hulu Payment.
