NBA Chooses New Broadcast Partners, Warner Bros Stock Falls

Walt Disney Co’s DIS ESPN, Comcast Corp CMCSA owned NBCUniversal, and Amazon.com Inc 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 FOX 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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