Warner Bros. Discovery contends that the NBA’s supply with Amazon was structured in a method that made it unimaginable for them to match.
The Amazon deal required that NBA video games be proven on a platform that additionally reveals NFL video games, which might enable for cross-promotion.
“First, the Amazon Supply required cross-promotion of NBA video games throughout “Thursday Evening Soccer on Prime Video,” WBD’s counsel wrote of their reply transient. “As a result of Amazon holds the unique rights to TNF, solely Amazon might carry out that obligation.”
The NBA’s take care of Amazon additionally included a $3.2 billion escrow provision whereas no such requirement was included within the NBC deal. On the time, WBD had solely $2.98 billion in money, which might make it troublesome to deposit that quantity in an escrow account inside 5 days.
Moreover, the Amazon deal features a provision if the corporate’s credit standing is downgrading, the league might pull the plug on the deal. That is an unlikely situation for Amazon, however could be a definite chance given the monetary peril of WBD.
“The NBA by no means meant to permit TBS to match the Amazon Supply,” wrote WBD’s attorneys.
“The NBA did every little thing it might to frustrate [WBD’s] capacity to match a suggestion by Amazon. And when that tactic failed, the NBA merely ignored its obligations and baselessly rejected [WBD’s] match,” added the WBD attorneys.
