As its parent company, Time Warner Inc., is throttling back on the amount of content it licenses to outside SVOD platforms like Netflix, Turner Networks is getting set to deliver a direct-to-consumer OTT offering.
The companies just made the terse announcement that they have “mutually decided to restore service of CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, truTV, TCM, HLN, CNN en Espanol and Boomerang, and extend the carriage of TBS and TNT” — but will have no “further comment.”
On Monday the National Basketball Association confirmed it has extended its current rights deals with Turner Networks and Disney, parent company of ESPN and ABC, through the 2024-2025 season. The new deal is impressive: It’s worth double what the networks paid for the last deal, which will expire after the 2015-16 season. Right now Disney, whose ABC carries the NBA finals, pays $485 million per year. Turner pays $445 million. The TV rights portions of the deals are expected to remain the same. But what might be most interesting about the new deal is the digital aspect.
