As much as I hate WB, I believe they are right in that everyone overpaid and NBC in particular. Weird the article doesn't mention one of the conference finals are going to NBC & Amazon every other year while ESPN gets the other each year. They act like it's only Amazon. This deal should come back to bite he league in the ass since interest is definitely decreasing in the whole product. Partially due to ESPN's coverage, constantly bickering and being negative to the point where nothing is truly celebrated, respected and seen in a positive light. Doesn't help that reviews make games extremely long. My main questions right now are how in the world did NBC agree to such an awful package, why the league didn't push for NBC to get the finals every other year, why the league caters to Disney like they have dirt on them and what we can expect from an Amazon broadcast? They hire their own broadcasters? Is it a NBA TV type of situation where it's like a local game with just Amazon presentation splashed over it?
“They don’t really care about anything but how to make the most money possible. We should never put money above the regular fan. Everybody can’t afford streaming. There’s nothing wrong with streaming, but when you start just going to the highest bidder and you’re not on regular television, I think you do a disservice to the fan.”
So TNT is regular TV now, got it. Man I miss the days when the Rockets and Astros were actually on regular tv.
Uhm well yeah Charles, so do you. You sit there with your lazy ass, not watching games and doing your homework and you get paid millions to talk out of your ass instead of giving fans a fair assessment of how their team is performing. A bit hypocritical no?
It’s gonna be skip and Charles soon https://nypost.com/2024/07/15/sports/skip-bayless-leaving-undisputed-in-fs1-bombshell/
WBD Intends To Match Amazon's $1.8 Billion Per Year Media Rights Deal With NBA Warner Bros. Discovery intends to match Amazon's "C" package for NBA media rights, sources tell Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal. The NBA will soon turn over three written contracts to WBD in ESPN's $2.6 billion per year bid, NBC's $2.5 billion per year bid, and Amazon's $1.8 billion per year bid. WBD CEO David Zaslav will have five days to match either NBC or Amazon's bid. Zaslav believes Amazon's deal that contains alternating Conference Finals, a Thursday package, Friday or Saturday games, NBA Cup, early round playoffs and international rights is the most fiscally responsible package for them. WBD can potentially use its own streaming service, Max, while also airing games on TNT. The NBA is expected to argue that Max is not the equal to Amazon as the former has a reach of 100 million worldwide compared to 200 million with the latter.
Not sure which is the lesser of two evils between Amazon and WB. TNT would make out like a boss tho and leave NBC feeling they got screwed.
Honestly, whatever kills regional sports channels and moves us to an a la carte sports streaming model is for the best.
Id rather just have space city network. I hate the idea of non local region games where they know nothing about my team
I thought Amazon's rights were for streaming only. If that is the case, WBD matching would be incredibly stupid. However, if they can air the games on TNT instead, it might work for them. Is there clarity on this issue?
Up until I’m not forced to pay for fundamental tv basic packages just so u can upgrade to what I really want (sports channels) - I’m not doing tv. The only thing I care about on TV is live sports so I’ll stick with internet and pirate streaming until I’m offered a product that makes sense. It’s ridiculous how much filler crap you have to buy before you can get rockets access on tv.
Seems like a massive fumble by WBD. They turn down the original deal, then their star (Barkley) says he's retiring, so they decide to re-up for a worse deal they'll have to headline with Jamal Crawford. I don't think you'll be so happy when you find out that a late sports streaming model is basically the same cost as cable. These guys all know we only care about the live sports, that's why these TV deals are so crazy even with shaky ratings.
