Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns TNT, has matched Amazon’s $1.8 billion bid for the rights to air NBA games.
Transcript:
Conway Gittens: Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Wall Street is fixated on a cavalcade of corporate results. Cola-Cola kicked things off by topping profit estimates and boosting its outlook for the year. General Motors did the same. UPS, however, missed sales and earnings forecasts. Package deliveries continue to slow from the frenetic boom seen during the pandemic years.
Turning now to other headlines: Warner Bros. Discovery says it has matched Amazon’s $1.8 billion attempt to steal away NBA games that currently air on TNT, one of Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable channels.
“This will allow fans to keep enjoying our unparalleled coverage, including the best live game productions in the industry and our iconic studio shows and talent, while building on our proven 40-year commitment for many more years,” said the company in a statement.
Under the current deal, which expires at the end of next season, Warner Bros. Discovery has the right to match any new offer.
Despite that contractual right, Warner Bros. Discovery is coming in as the underdog. Its cable business is hemorrhaging viewers and its Max streaming service only has 100 million subscribers. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video has more than 200 million global subscribers. And that’s not Amazon’s only advantage. It has deep pockets and a $1.9 trillion market cap it can leverage. On the other hand, Warner Bros. Discovery is laden with debt and only has a market cap of $20 billion to lean on.
Adding to the drama, other media companies are offering more for their pieces of the NBA TV pie. Disney is reportedly ponying up $2.6 billion a year and NBCUniversal is paying $2.5 billion a year.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I”m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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