Inside the NBA will continue on ESPN, while Warner Bros. Discovery adds TV rights for some college football and basketball games.
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The NBA has reached an 11-year agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery that will continue the development of content like Inside the NBA, which will appear on ABC and ESPN. The settlement comes months after Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA for dropping TNT’s licensing package.
In July, the NBA chose licensing deals with Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney, and NBCUniversal over TNT. This resulted in a lawsuit from Warner Bros. Discovery that accused the NBA of breach of contract. During the 2025-2026 season, dozens of the NBA’s regular-season and playoff games will stream on Prime Video service, while some games will still appear on ESPN, ABC, and NBC.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s settlement includes the highlight rights to NBA games, which it can use to produce content for TNT Sports, the Bleacher Report, and House of Highlights. “We are pleased to partner with the NBA and Disney/ESPN, and to have solidified long-term rights and revenue for WBD,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in the press release.
In addition to its agreement with the NBA, Warner Bros. Discovery also struck a deal with ESPN — one of its partners in the Venu sports streaming service, which a federal court blocked. — that will put 15 live college basketball games and 13 college football games each season from the Big 12 on TNT.
Warner Bros. Discovery will retain live NBA rights outside the US for 11 years in the Nordics, Poland, and Latin American countries except Brazil and Mexico.
