By Jill Goldsmith, Dade Hayes
NBA rights battle underway as Warner Bros. Discovery matches Amazon's bid
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels and JB Perrette, head of streaming and games, faced skeptical media analysts on Tuesday after losing to the NBA and reporting a second quarter that fell largely short of Wall Street expectations and with a huge write-down that largely stemmed from what feels like a basketball debacle.
"The NBA is a for-profit right," Wiedenfels said. WBD recently lost the package to Amazon. It had matching rights that it tried to claim, but the NBA rejected it. Warner filed a lawsuit.
Zaslav did not exactly defend the company's case passionately today.
