Aug 7, 2024

Amazon Posterizes Warner

...and Charles Barkley remains upset, but will remain with TNT?

To mix sports analogies, while it was already quite clear that Warner Bros Discovery had fumbled the ball here, it now looks like it was a scoop-and-score by Amazon (which, by multiple accounts, WBD invited into discussions with the NBA!):

Warner’s TNT, which has been an NBA media partner for more than three decades, had a contractual right to match a rival offer to carry games. The NBA’s deal with Amazon included several provisions that Warner couldn’t match, say people familiar with the situation, including one spelling out the promotion of the NBA in Amazon’s NFL telecasts. TNT doesn’t carry NFL programming.

The league considered Amazon’s Thursday NFL telecasts an advantage, because they have helped build a sports-streaming audience that the NBA can benefit from. Amazon’s deal ensured that it would treat NBA games similarly to NFL games, some of the people said. Amazon intends to air NBA games on Thursdays as well.

As I wrote back in April when it was still just rumored that Amazon would be getting some NBA rights...

I think this is smart. Imagine if Amazon "brands" Thursday nights as "Sportsnight". In the fall/winter that's the NFL, in the winter/spring that's NBA (with some overlap, of course). I'm reminded of yesteryear when NBC made Thursday night "Must See TV". People complain about fragmentation of all the various sporting events now (not to mention shows in general), and rightfully so. But Amazon could do something smart here...

And it sure sounds like they're doing exactly that.

Also, Amazon seemingly piled on even more provisions to ensure WBD couldn't match, back to Amol Sharma and Joe Flint:

In its deal, Amazon also pledged to provide three years’ worth of payments for NBA rights into an escrow account that the league can draw down automatically. Warner provided a letter of credit, which the league deemed inferior, the people familiar with the situation said. One of the people said the NBA would only be able to draw down Warner’s funds if it missed a payment.

Amazon’s deal also stipulated that its reach in U.S. streaming won’t fall below 80 million households, a level it can easily clear but that wouldn’t be workable for Max, Warner’s streaming service.

It's almost like Amazon was playing chess while WBD was playing, I don't know, something stupid. Certainly not basketball. Not even checkers. Tiddlywinks?

One more thing: Just to add one more wrinkle here, it seems that Charles Barkley who previously stated he would retire if TNT lost the rights (which, let's be honest, was never going to happen), is now saying – surprise – that he will not retire. But instead he will... continue to work for TNT?

This may simply be a last-ditch attempt to try to get the network at least some games to air, so that Barkley's show, Inside the NBA, has something to talk about. But he's saying it's bigger than that:

“I love my TNT Sports family," Barkley said in a statement. "My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible. We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do. I'm looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future. This is the only place for me. I have to say ... I’ve been impressed by the leadership team who is fighting hard and have been aggressive in adding new properties to TNT Sports, which I am very excited about. I appreciate them and all of my colleagues for their continued support, and most importantly our fans. I’m going to give my all as we keep them entertained for years to come.”

It seems pretty hard to be impressed by a leadership team that bungled this deal so badly. But if they're paying you a reported $210M over 10 years (we're in year 3 of that), I guess the goal posts shift a bit... So what on Earth might Barkley talk about if not the NBA on TNT – back again to Amol Sharma and Joe Flint:

Among the ideas the company is exploring for Barkley is a show tentatively titled “Inside Sports” that would allow him to talk about other sports that TNT and its sister channels carry, including hockey, college football and basketball, and Major League Baseball, a person familiar with the matter said.

I guess that's fine as Barkley's persona is a large part of what makes him great. But the other big part is obviously his deep and fundamental knowledge of basketball and stardom in the NBA. I'm not saying he wouldn't say interesting things about other leagues, but it wouldn't be the same perspective – it would literally lose the "Inside" part of the equation.

And then there's the other key element of the actual show: his chemistry and banter with his co-hosts. Will all of them be staying? To no longer talk about the NBA? Again, the league they all know and love? My guess would be 'no'. So they'd have to surround him with other talent specific to those other sports. Maybe that could work, but it's an entirely different proposition.

Regardless, hopefully he'll find his way to, say, Amazon, on loan perhaps – I bet WBD would gladly take a loan fee to send Barkley elsewhere one night a week, and I bet Amazon would pay it! – to keep Inside the NBA going after next year.

🏀

The recap of the game thus far...