What's next for TNT Sports around Netflix's acquisition of part of WBD?

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What could a Netflix takeover of the non-Discovery Global side of WBD mean for TNT Sports?

Netflix striking a deal to take over Warner Bros. Discovery's streaming (Max) and studios business is one of the biggest media and entertainment stories in years. But the part of that acquisition that may be the most significant for sports fans is what's not included, or what's yet to be decided as included.

Specifically, unlike competing bids from CBS parent Paramount Skydance and NBC parent Comcast to buy the whole of WBD, Netflix's deal does not cover the linear assets that WBD has announced plans to spin off into Discovery Global. In addition to the likes of CNN, Food Network, and Discovery Channel, those assets include cable channels TBS, TNT, and truTV, which are critical to TNT Sports. However, TNT Sports' streaming rights also mean they're a player on the streaming side, and it's far from certain exactly what will go where in a split.

The most clear element at the moment is that the sports situation isn't clear. For example, Deadline's Peter White wrote about the state of the Discovery Global spinoff (which was announced earlier this year, but paused around Thanksgiving due to the bidding process) Friday afternoon based off the companies' joint announcement that the spinoff is planned to now take place in Q3 2026, as well as a post-sale WBD town hall. Here are some key notes from that piece:

Presuming the sale does go through (a massive question in its own right, which we'll explore in more detail below), there are several likely potential scenarios that could play out with TNT Sports, especially in the U.S. (the global side adds further complications still). Let's go through them briefly.

Option 1: TNT Sports goes entirely to Discovery Global, with no further Netflix/WBD involvement: This was the most-discussed option around the previous spinoff talk. It makes sense on several levels; TNT Sports is mostly associated with those linear networks, and sports are incredibly crucial for any kind of linear network these days. Also, part of Netflix's rationale for bidding for just the WBD portion of the business (unlike the Paramount and NBCUniversal bids) was about staying out of the linear network business. Depending on how those change of control clauses are worded, too, those might not even trip, as the Discovery Global side is not being acquired.
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However, this would likely require a major payment from the Discovery Global spinoff to the new Netflix/WBD conglomerate for TNT Sports' streaming rights. This would also raise questions about just how Discovery Global would stream those events. Yes, they're presumably planning something post-Max to stream their other linear network content (maybe along the lines of past ventures such as Discovery+, CNN+, and B/R Live before it was rolled into Max), but how much of a fit would sports be there? (They've even talked about a sports-specific app, but how much scale would that have?) And how would many leagues, in this era of media consolidation and increased deals with bigger and bigger companies, feel about their streaming rights being with a much smaller streamer?

Option 2: TNT Sports goes to Discovery Global, but strikes some kind of ongoing Netflix/WBD deal: This might be along the lines of what could happen with Comcast's planned 2026 Versant spinoff of its own linear networks (including USA, which is somewhat comparable to TBS and TNT). It's still incredibly unclear exactly how that's going to fully play out in terms of sports rights: many of those will remain with the main Comcast company and its NBCUniversal subsidiary, which is why that side has relaunched a cable channel in NBC Sports Network), but Versant is making its own sports moves with elements like the expanded WNBA/USA deal announced in October. The streaming future there isn't clear (to date, the main Versant streaming announcement has been about MS NOW), but it seems at least possible they could strike a deal to have some of their content also available through NBCUniversal's Peacock, and TNT Sports could conceivably do something similar with Max.

The Comcast/Versant separation has those two companies seemingly staying closer than WBD/Discovery Global, though, as there isn't an outside acquisition involved to complicate things. And while there would be pros to this for TNT Sports and Discovery Global (they'd retain a streaming partner with more scale and reach, and get some money along the way), they'd be trading growth potential for a flat fee. Discovery Global would also face challenges from running a streaming service without sports and not controlling one of the places its sports air.

Option 3: Netflix/WBD buys TNT Sports

This would be the reverse of Option 2, and it seems a bit less likely considering that the Netflix bid here didn't encompass the linear networks that are crucial to TNT Sports. But it does seem possible that this new company could specifically buy the sports rights and the division, but not the linear networks themselves.

Of course, they might need to strike at least some kind of sublicensing agreement. That could see them broadcast key sports events on TNT or TBS as well as their streaming platforms (whether that winds up being Netflix, Max, or some combination of the two) to satisfy contracts with leagues (and even there, change of control clauses could trip). But it's notable that Netflix has been getting more and more into sports and has been picking up big numbers for some of its endeavors, such as the NFL's Christmas Day games. The resistance to Netflix is not what it once was (and it's possible there could even be a separate broadcast carveout for newly streaming-exclusive games, such as the local-market simulcast approach used by the NFL for cable and streaming games). Still, Discovery Global would look a lot weaker without the TNT Sports aspect, so they'd need a big payday here.

Option 4: Someone else buys TNT Sports, or all of Discovery Global

It's notable that Comcast and Paramount Skydance bid for the whole of WBD and came up short (albeit with a caveat, which we'll discuss below). Would they be interested in a smaller deal for either the Discovery Global spinoff or just its sports portions? The whole spinoff would boost their linear network and streaming portfolios significantly, but even just the sports side would be huge for them and massively enhance their sports market share.

There could be other bidders, too. You can never rule out ESPN/ABC parent Disney, and while Fox Corporation is unlikely to buy the whole Discovery Global package given their own shift away from everything not sports and news, they might be interested in just the sports rights. Any of the first three would also solve many of the streaming concerns given their streaming ventures' scale, and while Fox's is newer, even that might work. And all of those companies have broadcast networks, which is a key factor in sports these days (and an important piece that TNT Sports is missing). There's no guarantee that any of these companies would make this kind of move, or that it would gain regulatory approval, but it would certainly be interesting for them (at the right price), and would address many of the scale and streaming issues TNT Sports faces in a post-WBD era.

What if the deal doesn't go through? The last critical piece of the puzzle to consider is that while it's been announced, the Netflix-WBD deal is far from complete at this point. There are going to be regulatory hurdles and challenges both in the U.S. and around the world, and losing bidder Paramount Skydance may be involved in those, offer legal challenges, and/or launch a direct competing bid to shareholders. And even if a deal is approved, that may be with substantial regulatory modifications (such as happened with the Disney-Fox sale, where Disney had to divest the Fox regional sports networks). All of that could have its own impacts on what happens to TNT Sports.

Update, 12/5: added a note reflecting that TNT has previously discussed a standalone sports streaming service post-split.

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