Warner Bros. Discovery sues NBA over media rights dispute

Warner Bros. Discovery made good on its legal threat against the NBA, filing a lawsuit on Friday over the league's decision to reject its matching rights in its new TV deal.

Why it matters: The dispute between the two longtime partners will now be settled in a courtroom, which could force the league and TNT to remain in business.

Catch up quick: The NBA announced new TV deals with Disney, Comcast and Amazon worth $77 billion on Wednesday afternoon, after rejecting WBD's attempt to match Amazon's deal.

Zoom in: The lawsuit was filed in the New York State Supreme Court.

• In the court filing, Warner said the NBA "breached" its "rights to match any third party offer," which it claims it did when it submitted a proposal to match Amazon's deal.
• WBD claimed that it would suffer "irreparable harm" if it loses the NBA rights.
• "Given the NBA's unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights. We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans," TNT Sports said in a corresponding statement.

The other side: "Warner Bros. Discovery's claims are without merit and our lawyers will address them," NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement.

Between the lines: Amazon's deal is a streaming-only agreement, while WBD's matching proposal included both its Max streaming service and cable network TNT.

• The league argued that the matching rights only work if the distribution mechanism is the same, a source with knowledge of the situation tells Axios. Essentially, WBD would have to agree to put all of its games on Max, which has a smaller subscriber base than Amazon.
• WBD and CEO David Zaslav believe its matching rights extend to any new deal including games that were part of its existing agreement, regardless of platform, a separate source previously told Axios.