TNT says the NBA has been on the decline and won't overpay for their product.

[Hey Yo]

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav plans not to overpay to retain the NBA on TNT, the flagship cable network under the company banner.

Tuesday, Zaslav spoke with the RBC in a wide-ranging conversation about the company’s sports portfolio. He lamented the favorable broadcast deals with MLB, the NHL, and March Madness. He then oozed pessimism over Discovery’s forthcoming negotiations with the NBA.

“We don’t have to have the NBA. And if we do a new deal with the NBA, it’s gonna look a lot different,” Zaslav said. “I’d like to do a deal with the NBA, but it has to be a deal for the future. It can’t be a deal for the past.”

The NBA’s rights deals with Warner Bros. Discovery (formerly WarnerMedia) and Disney expire after the 2024-25 season.

The current agreement between the two partners accounts for $24 billion. However, a report from CNBC in 2021 says NBA officials hope to see that number triple. Optimism around the NBA follows the NFL securing an 11-year, $110 billion deal with NBC, Fox, CBS, Disney (ESPN/ABC), and Amazon.

But the NBA is not the NFL. The interest in professional basketball continues to wane. The NBA has been on a downward spiral for at least five seasons.

Regular season games are increasingly lackluster in both quality and ratings. TNT presently airs half of the NBA postseason and a doubleheader a week.

Last season, the network bumped the first half of the doublepheader package from Thursday to the lesser-viewed Tuesday night after struggling to hold up against the NFL’s increased priority on Thursday Night Football.

Furthermore, Warner Bros. Discovery is embroiled in debt. Zaslav described the advertising market as “weak” on Tuesday. Discovery’s premium brand, HBO, lost $3 billion last year after spending almost $7 billion on content. Its cable news network, CNN, is on pace to drop below $1 billion in profit for the first time since 2016 as ratings hemorrhage.

So, overpaying for a declining product in the NBA is hardly an advantageous business decision for Discovery.

Zaslav suggested the company could move some NBA games to HBO Max next go-around to monetize the package more effectively. But if that’s the case, a streamer with unlimited resources — say Amazon or Apple — could greatly complicate negotiations between the NBA and Discovery.

Zaslav and Co. could not prevail in a bidding war with Amazon and Apple, assuming Disney retains its portion of the NBA package.

Perhaps the NBA would re-sign with Warner Bros. for a rate lower than a streamer to keep the NBA on cable. Streaming platforms remain relatively ratings-challenged compared to television averages. For reference, viewership for this NFL season is down year-over-year merely on account of Amazon airing Thursday Night Football exclusively.

“Sports is hard,” Zaslav elaborated on the NBA. Yes. Especially sports of diminishing returns.


https://www.outkick.com/warner-bros-discovery-pessimistic-about-keeping-nba-on-tnt/

[FultzNationRISE]

Yeah.

Despite the age of some of us around here :lol the NBA remains largely a youth market I think (compared to other sports). And youth in particular are the ones trending toward less conventional viewing habits. So while having popularity in the youth market may give the NBA certain long term advantages over other sports, I can see why it could have challenges in the near term. Sports leagues already know how to market and monetize conventional viewing platforms. It’s not as clear how to make the emerging ones most profitable.

[tontoz]

Just a negotiation. Of course they are going to try to get the deal as cheaply as possible. Problem is there are sure to be other bidders. Apple and Amazon are looking for content and have deep pockets.

Playoff ratings were up last year and ratings are looking good so far this year.

[Phoenix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvD4NlouPs

It is time.

[Real Men Wear Green]

These guys spent 100 mil to make a Batgirl movie and then shelved it for a tax write-off. They blew up the entire CW DC line-up. They are also looking at erasing the DC shpws on HBO. These guys are quite serious about getting rid of programming. Just be glad that the NBA has options. Sorry if you end up missing Barkley, who I am certain they are ready to pay money to stay at home. Their business model appears to be tax write-offs.

[John8204]

David Zaslav is a hatchet man it wouldn't shock me if TNT goes the way of MTV and just runs Big Bang Theory reruns 24/7

[Im Still Ballin]

Zaslav is the scariest and most feared man in the game right now. This guy is a killer! The Grim Reaper!

[Full Court]

I think watching cable channels in general is on the decline. If the NBA was smart, they'd be the ones looking for a "deal for the future" instead of the past. And a deal of the future wouldn't be a cable TV platform.

[Overdrive]

If they want viewership they should offer cheap streams of NBA games worldwide on the internet. Like a 5 dollar/month for the few games they host.

It would rapidly increase their vierwership and the NBA's.

Press for rulechanges aswell. Why is interest lost in the RS?
Because hosts made the legacies of players about winning chips. TNT is as much guilty about this.
And..any given game ist he ****ing same crap nowadays. So it doesn't really matter what marquee players do and the games independent of them suck.

[fourkicks44]

Yeah.

Despite the age of some of us around here :lol the NBA remains largely a youth market I think (compared to other sports). And youth in particular are the ones trending toward less conventional viewing habits. So while having popularity in the youth market may give the NBA certain long term advantages over other sports, I can see why it could have challenges in the near term. Sports leagues already know how to market and monetize conventional viewing platforms. It’s not as clear how to make the emerging ones most profitable.

Yeah and it's not really our problem (us hardcore fans) tbh.

Still got local broadcasts and league pass. That's all you need these days.

I don't often watch games on TV otherwise. It's TNT's problem. I can't argue with some of his reasoning tho. Regular season games have become more meaningless over the years and the COVID era has just fuelled the decline in quality. Once again an issue for TNT. We, the hardcore fans, will watch anyway.

[Phoenix]

To be perfectly honest I haven't watched a NBA cable broadcast in at least 4 years( same amount of time I haven't had cable), I just stream the games free. Admittedly I'm part of the problem.

[WhiteKyrie]

These guys spent 100 mil to make a Batgirl movie and then shelved it for a tax write-off. They blew up the entire CW DC line-up. They are also looking at erasing the DC shpws on HBO. These guys are quite serious about getting rid of programming. Just be glad that the NBA has options. Sorry if you end up missing Barkley, who I am certain they are ready to pay money to stay at home. Their business model appears to be tax write-offs.

That’s not exactly what happened however. So not totally accurate. Warner Bros. has been bought out and bounced from ownership to ownership over the past 4 to 5 years a couple times.

Their DC film properties have been all over the place. For a long time they were trying to play catch-up to Marvel, which always was a stupid losing battle, considering they had so much established rapport with audiences, and the material itself inherently was meant to have crossover appeal with multiple characters.

Whereas all of the DC characters were originally meant to occupy their own worlds. Gotham was a metaphor for Chicago/New York just as it was with Metropolis. Just different takes on it as a city. And at some point in time they ended up trying to cross pollinate characters. For DC it works a lot less effectively. Because the tonal shift from character to character is so alarming, it doesn’t fit.

Batman is a psychologically wounded character who is a detective and fights primarily Street level criminals, mob bosses, serial killers, and terrorists.

Green Lantern is a cosmic goofy ass space patrol character, and Aquaman is a half man half fish super powered being. They don’t jive well.

All of the Marvel characters inhabited our world, particularly New York from their inception.

In regards to the canceling of Batgirl, it actually makes a lot of sense, the movie was reportedly CW level trash. And if you even saw the costume for her, fans were critiquing how cheap and shitty it looked. The movie was apparently even worse.

DC‘s biggest successes have been the more adult oriented, gritty, black label type stuff. The Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie, amazing. The Robert Pattinson The Batman movie, amazing. And they’re not canceling all the HBO series, that is inaccurate. They have a Matt Reeves produced Colin Farrell Penguin series that’s meant to bridge the gap between this years The Batman and the sequel. That shows his rise as a crime boss in Gotham like Tony Soprank or Scarface. Enriching his solo universe.

Which is what DC should’ve been doing and focusing on to begin with instead of trying to ape somebody else, who did it better. That’s their niche. This is DC’s.

Black Adam was trash. And the mess that was the Snyder verse, and the upcoming Flash movie that I’m surprised they haven’t shelved yet due to the criminal charges of the lead actor being a disgusting, weird, pedophile, who knows what will happen. Hopefully they cancel it and write it off too.

But DC was able to write off that Batgirl movie.

And all they were doing with that is what the MCU is foolishly doing right now, which is making female versions of all their better more likable male characters.

[Real Men Wear Green]

That’s not exactly what happened however. So not totally accurate. . Nowhere in that diatribe did you point out what I said that wasn't true. They spent 100 million to make a movie that was never released. That is a 100 million dollar loss and thus a tax write off. They killed all the CW DC programming and they are killing the HBO DC programming. A lot of those programs are attached to actors, writers directors etc with contacts that must still be paid... and thus become further tax write offs.

[WhiteKyrie]

Nowhere in that diatribe did you point out what I said that wasn't true. They spent 100 million to make a movie that was never released. That is a 100 million dollar loss and thus a tax write off. They killed all the CW DC programming and they are killing the HBO DC programming. A lot of those programs are attached to actors, writers directors etc with contacts that must still be paid... and thus become further tax write offs.
Yes I did. There’s still HBO series coming out. Bat girl was trash anyway so canceling it, it’s actually probably better for Warner brothers and the DC brand. They’re not trying to minimize content. They’re trying to narrow it down to good content.

[nineiron]

that's what happens when you have a balding, no skill, team hopping douchebag as the face of your league.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Yes I did. There’s still HBO series coming out. Bat girl was trash anyway so canceling it, it’s actually probably better for Warner brothers and the DC brand. They’re not trying to minimize content. They’re trying to narrow it down to good content.

https://screenrant.com/titans-season-5-renewal-chances-showrunner-response/

Titans season five is in doubt. The entire CW DC line up had been killed off. I am not arguing whether or not the shows are good I am pointing out that Warner is getting rid of shows.

I am sure their executives believe these are the right business moves.

[jayfan]

The title should be, "The Company that acquired TNT three years ago says it won't overpay...."

The TNT folks would love nothing more than to keep the NBA, I'm sure.

.

[jayfan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvD4NlouPs

It is time.


ESPN is who took out NBC. Turner has had a partnership with the nba since 1984.

.

[90sgoat]

The NBA has put all their money on feminized youth culture, obsessing over dribbling and shoes and outfits and drama, instead of the basics of sports, which is fighting to win, proxy war, tribalism.

Just make it a grown man's game again and watch the old fans return.

[Kblaze8855]

I suspect Everyone even loosely involved in entertainment knows Warner has been trying to do everything to save money. Smaller Tv networks like tnt aren’t the future at this point. The nba, nfl, and college football are gonna get carved up among the streaming giants. Apple and Amazon are relying on getting the entire country paying them 5-8 dollars a month and live sports is a path to it. It’s the last thing propping up traditional tv.

Whoever the nba sells exclusive league pass access to is gonna be paying out the ass.

Inside the nba might end up an Amazon prime exclusive in a couple years. They have the money to pull it off and it helps the end game.

Apple is even more desperate. There is nothing but original programming ln Apple TV. They’re trying to shoehorn mlb into peoples life. That isn’t going to get them where they wanna be.

The bidding war is no longer tnt and espn. It’s apple vs Amazon in a world where A la carte tv lineups will kill traditional cable packages.

TV companies don’t care as much as you think they do about ratings because the real long money isnt advertising dollars as much as mandatory subscription fees. Espn and tnt negotiate what cable and satellite have to pay them per subscriber because they are in every single cable package.

You pay for espn if you have cable or dish because they pay espn for the rights to air it. You don’t need to watch it. You need to have cable. It’s 8 bucks a month or whatever they decide to Espn out of your cable bill because you have it even if you never tune in.

When the next generation has grown up without cable in the first place? When it’s all streaming and they aren’t gonna pay 160 a month to flip through channels?

The old networks die.

Over the air lives off advertising. Cable and dish based companies? They need subscription fees.

When it’s all piece by piece and can’t be supported by packages of channels people don’t want?

Apple and Amazon will be there. Warner knows a full cable tv station isn’t sustainable with high rights fees in a world they’ll lose subscription fees. They have to run it on the cheap.

It wouldn’t matter what they ratings were. It’s a dying business model because streaming is where subscription fees will live in the future.

Apple gets 250 million people paying an extra 7 dollars a month they don’t care if you actually watch.

They know if they get exclusive access to the wcf or a wildcard nfl playoff game enough will subscribe the ratings don’t matter.

[RogueBorg]

4 Tickets cost us about $1,200 on opening night to see the Celtics/Magic. I was willing to pay that because I was fairly certain Tatum and Brown would play. It was a gamble and fortunately it paid off. I really would like to see Lebron and AD when they come to town but there's no way in hell I'm dropping that money in advance when these guys (not just Lebron and AD) take off as much time as they do either by injury or load management.

[Kblaze8855]

I can’t genuinely say I would pay $1200 to not see that game you went to but I can say I would pay 120. Just to avoid the hassle. Though I guess I don’t know how much of a hassle it is in Boston or Orlando.

In some cities a live game is a hassle. Too much of one for Celtics/Magic.

[Patrick Chewing]

that's what happens when you have a balding, no skill, team hopping douchebag as the face of your league.

Correct.

[RogueBorg]

I can’t genuinely say I would pay $1200 to not see that game you went to but I can say I would pay 120. Just to avoid the hassle. Though I guess I don’t know how much of a hassle it is in Boston or Orlando.

In some cities a live game is a hassle. Too much of one for Celtics/Magic.

Each ticket was $250 (bought 4) which isn't bad. After taxes and whatever fees they add in it came out to $1,250. A big part of going was to see Banchero's 1st game and seeing Tatum and Brown.

Magic games are easy to get in and get out. But it is the Magic, there has to be a star from another team coming in to town.

[90sgoat]

The ultimate problem with NBA and probably most sports orgs are that they're extremely greedy.

With tickets that expensive, you're missing out on ordinary people, fans and blue collars. Those that created the rowdy fans of the 80s and 90s.

Maybe the owners could make an effort to have a certain number of tickets be cheap and then do a draw for them for the passionate fans. If you're someone going to multiple games a year, have some prominent seats be available at lower prices, so that you can get that passion back on the stands.

[Street Hunger]

Sounds like a pretty standard negotiation tactic that isn't usually public but happens to now be public