TNT Still In Talks With NBA About Retaining Broadcast Rights for 2024-25: Report

The negotiations between the NBA and its possible broadcast partners for the 2024-25 season are still unresolved, with the fate of TNT and its signature NBA studio show hanging in the balance. For fans of TNT’s Inside the NBA, however, no news might not necessarily be bad news.

On May 23, Sports Business Journal reported that ESPN, NBC Universal, and Amazon were prepared to bid at least $2 billion each for the national broadcast and streaming rights to NBA regular season and playoff games. The three-partner arrangement was widely reported as the only path forward, potentially leaving the parent company of TNT without an NBA package if it could not match NBC’s bid. The resolution of those negotiations was characterized as short-term, if not imminent.

Meanwhile, the contracts of the Inside the NBA crew — Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith — posed obstacles to a potential reunion of the same cast on a different network studio show.

With the clock ostensibly ticking toward a resolution, it appears the negotiations are going to overtime.

Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT, is in negotiations to secure a possible fourth media-rights package, according to Front Office Sports. Reports Michael McCarthy:

TNT is still at the table for a smaller, less-expensive fourth package that could include regular-season and some playoff games. Another scenario? For the NBA to slice off a package of locally televised games from teams and turn them into national games for TNT, according to Puck. Carving out a smaller package for TNT could be a savvy, face-saving strategy for both the Association and WBD. From the NBA’s perspective, it would maintain the former Turner Sports’ iconic 40-year relationship with the NBA.

McCarthy notes that the negotiations go well beyond fan loyalty or even one signature show. TNT operates NBA TV and NBA.com on the league’s behalf, and unwinding that business relationship “would be a messy and expensive undertaking.” That could well be motivating the league and Warner Bros. Discovery to find an alternate path forward.

The uncertainty around the situation has irked even the studio personalities.

“Like, hey man, just tell us something. Everybody’s got an article coming out every day about ‘we’ve still got a chance’ or ‘we’ve lost it,'” Barkley told Mad Dog Sports Radio’s Beadle & Decker. “I’m like, ‘Yo, man, you guys see us every week, how ’bout picking up the phone, saying, ‘Hey, we still negotiating’ or ‘you know what, we’ve lost it.’ Just truth us. Because the one thing that really sucks, we gotta do this next year no matter what.”