WBD, NBA Extend Media Partnership; TNT To Produce Inside the NBA for ESPN

WBD, NBA Extend Media Partnership; TNT To Produce Inside the NBA for ESPN By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Monday, November 18, 2024 - 9:50 am

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The National Basketball Association and Warner Bros. Discovery have reached an agreement that will extend the long-standing media partnership by 11 years; most important for NBA fans around the globe, Inside the NBA will continue to be produced by the TNT team but will now air on ESPN.

Together, these agreements ensure that fans will continue to enjoy TNT's Inside the NBA and create tremendous value for our entire portfolio as we accelerate the growth of TNT Sports, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and our global sports business, says Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. We are pleased to partner with the NBA and Disney/ESPN and to have solidified long-term rights and revenue for WBD.

TNT will continue to produce Inside the NBA for ESPN.

Per the terms of the agreement, the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery will expand their business partnership, including several components that will promote NBA content and accelerate the global growth and reach of TNT Sports and its leading digital brands Bleacher Report (B/R) and House of Highlights (HoH). The deal also includes a reimagined and enhanced NBA Digital partnership between the NBA and TNT Sports and a full package of live-game rights in a number of territories outside the U.S., strengthening WBD's global portfolio.

Concurrent with this agreement, WBD and ESPN have agreed to enter an innovative partnership. TNT Sports will continue to create and produce Inside the NBA, with the iconic studio show distributed on ESPN and ABC. Beginning with the 2025-26 season, Inside the NBA, recipient of 21 Emmy Awards, will air on ESPN and ABC throughout the regular season and NBA Playoffs. TNT Sports will continue to develop new content to air on its WBD platforms, featuring TNT's Inside the NBA studio talent and including innovative programs, such as an Inside Sports show currently in development for next season.

The opportunity to continue the iconic and Emmy Award-winning Inside the NBA is a huge win for basketball fans everywhere, says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. We look forward to building on our longstanding partnership with TNT Sports and working together to promote NBA content across key WBD and NBA platforms.

TNT Sports CEO/Chairman Luis Silberwasser says that TNT Sports takes great pride in Inside the NBA and knows that its success is a reflection of both the iconic talent on set and the people behind the scenes who consistently demonstrate the creativity and craft of the team. We are thrilled to continue to produce Inside the NBA for ESPN and ABC, ensuring that fans are able to keep enjoying the magic of this show during the NBA season.

Adds ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, Inside the NBA is universally recognized as one of the best and most culturally impactful shows in sports. We have long admired the immensely talented team and are thrilled to add their chemistry and knowledge to our robust set of NBA studio offerings to super-serve NBA fans like never before. The addition of Inside the NBA further solidifies ESPN as the preeminent destination for sports fans.

Under the agreement between WBD and ESPN, starting with the 2025 season, TNT Sports will televise an exclusive slate of Big 12 football (13 games each season) and men's basketball (15 games each season). This builds on TNT Sports' agreement under which ESPN will present the College Football Playoffs and TNT will showcase a pair of First Round games beginning next month.

ESPN will continue to produce NBA Countdown and NBA Today, both of which remain integral to ESPN's NBA offerings. Malika Andrews hosts both with a team of industry-leading analysts and reporters: Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins, Richard Jefferson, Chiney Ogwumike, Bob Myers, Shams Charania, Brian Windhorst, Ramona Shelburne, and more.

In addition, WBD and the NBA have resolved all disputes relating to the NBA's recent media agreements.

The new deal also allows TNT Sports and its portfolio of brands to receive a global license to create, produce, and distribute new and existing NBA content across its platforms. The agreement expands global content and highlight rights for TNT Sports, Bleacher Report, and House of Highlights and enables them to produce and distribute NBA content across the WBD portfolio, along with meaningful promotion, sales, and creative commitments across both NBA and WBD platforms.

In addition, WBD's European and Latin America entities will offer live NBA games. The Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), Poland, and Latin America (excluding Brazil and Mexico) will have games for the next 11 years. In connection with the package of live games, WBD will provide broad reach, local-language commentary, and promotional opportunities for the NBA's marketing partners.

WBD's agreement with the NBA also contains a shared commitment to accelerate the global growth of Bleacher Report and House of Highlights - the top digital destinations for highly engaged, young sport fans - through a new global license that covers expansive content and highlight rights, as well as game access to produce NBA-related content. Bleacher Report and House of Highlights receive widespread promotion across NBA assets, and the NBA will create a section of its digital products (NBA App and NBA.com) that will feature basketball-related content produced by B/R, HoH, and TNT Sports.

The agreement also reimagines and continues the NBA Digital partnership between the NBA and TNT Sports for five seasons: the NBA can engage WBD to provide promotion and a variety of services, including production, content development, and sales-operations services. WBD will also b

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