“Inside the NBA” will appear on ESPN and ABC beginning next season as part of a settlement between Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, sued the NBA in New York state court after the league did not accept the company’s matching offer for one of the packages in its new 11-year media rights deal, which will begin with the 2025-26 season.
The settlement is expected to be announced on Monday, three people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Saturday night.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because litigation remains ongoing. The deadline to have the lawsuit dismissed is Tuesday.
The settlement was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Even though “Inside the NBA" will be on ESPN and ABC beginning with the 2025-26 season, TNT Sports will continue to produce the popular studio show and it will air from Atlanta, except when the show goes on the road.
The quartet of Ernie Johnson Jr., Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal will remain with the show. Barkley signed an extension with WBD in August despite the company losing the NBA.
“Inside the NBA” is expected to air during key moments on the league's calendar — opening night, Christmas Day, the playoffs and the NBA Finals. It is also likely it will be on during Saturday nights the second half of the season when ABC has a prime-time package of games.
The settlement gives TNT Sports, Bleacher Report and House of Highlights a global content license for NBA content with no rights fee for the next 11 years.
Warner Bros. Discovery will also continue its relationship with the league's digital operations, including NBA.com, for five seasons.
Even though TNT Sports will not be airing games in the United States beginning next season, it does have rights to air a full package of games in select countries, including Latin America and Poland.
TNT Sports will also begin showing Big 12 football and men's basketball games next season as part of a sublicense with ESPN. TNT will air two College Football Playoff games beginning this season also under a sublicense with ESPN.
Warner Bros. Discovery acquired rights to the French Open tennis tournament as well as Big East basketball earlier this year.
Turner Sports has had an NBA package since 1984 and games have been on TNT since the network launched in 1988. That will end after this season.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
FILE - Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson Jr., left, and analysts Kenny Smith, center, and Charles Barkley speak on the set at the TNT studios in Atlanta, Feb. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser, File)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide, according to excerpts released Sunday from an upcoming new book ahead of the pontiff's jubilee year.
It's the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip. In September, he said Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon have been “immoral” and disproportionate, and that its military has gone beyond the rules of war.
The book, by Hernán Reyes Alcaide and based on interviews with the Pope, is entitled “Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world." It will be released on Tuesday ahead of the pope's 2025 jubilee. Francis’ yearlong jubilee is expected to bring more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome to celebrate the Holy Year.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the pope said in excerpts published Sunday by the Italian daily La Stampa.
“We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies,” he added.
Last year, Francis met separately with relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians living through the war and set off a firestorm by using words that Vatican diplomats usually avoid: “terrorism” and, according to the Palestinians, “genocide.”
Francis spoke at the time about the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians after his meetings, which were arranged before the Israeli-Hamas hostage deal and a temporary halt in fighting was announced.
The pontiff, who last week also met with a delegation of Israeli hostages who were released and their families pressing the campaign to bring the remaining captives home had editorial control over the upcoming book.
The war started when the militant Hamas group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250 as hostages and taking them back to Gaza, where dozens still remain.
Israel’s subsequent yearlong military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, whose count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and fighters, though they say more than half of the dead are women and children.
The Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza has triggered several legal cases at international courts in The Hague involving requests for arrest warrants as well as accusations and denials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
In the new book, Francis also speaks about migration and the problem of integrating migrants in their host countries.
“Faced with this challenge, no country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” Francis said.
“On the contrary, just as we see that there is a globalization of indifference, we must respond with the globalization of charity and cooperation,” he added. Francis also mentioned the “still open wound of the war in Ukraine has led thousands of people to abandon their homes, especially during the first months of the conflict.”
Pope Francis looks at the cross as he presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis holds the cross as he presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A view of St. Peter's Basilica as Pope Francis presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Abel Eduardo Balbo, former soccer player from Argentina, reads during a mass presided by Pope Francis on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
A priest carries Pope Francis skull-cap as he presides over a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Francis delivers his speech during a mass on the occasion of the World Day of the Poor in St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
