Warner Bros Discovery‘s sports network TNT Sports said on Monday it would exercise its rights to match one of three bids to carry National Basketball Association games, to preserve its four-decade-long partnership with the league.
TNT Sports did not say which of the NBA programming packages it was seeking to match, however one source familiar with the offer said the company is seeking to match Amazon Prime Video’s offer of $1.9 billion per season, on average, over the life of the 11-year deal, Reuters reported.
Amazon declined to comment, referring inquiries to the NBA, which could not be immediately reached.
TNT Sports’ announcement comes days after the league informed team owners it had finalized deals with Walt Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal andAmaz
The league notified Warner’s sports unit last week, triggering five days to inform the NBA whether it would seek to match one of the bids, according to the source.
“We have reviewed the offers and matched one of them,” TNT said. “This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage.”
The Warner unit has been bulking up its sports programming, in June announcing a six-year deal with the Big East Conference to carry men’s and women’s college basketball and a decade-long agreement with the French Tennis Federation to carry the French Open.