What’s next for TNT? That question is on the minds of many TV and entertainment industry observers these days, and it’s a fair one. TNT will continue to air live NBA games this season, but starting in 2025 there’s a good chance the cable network will lose its NBA rights to Amazon’s Prime Video. An ongoing lawsuit to try to stop that from happening has not yet been decided, but it appears that Warner Bros. Discovery is already seeking programming alternatives for TNT in preparation for a post-NBA future.

Key Details:

• TNT has greenlit its first original drama series since WarnerMedia and Discovery merged in 2022.
• The channel has also acquired “The Librarians: The Next Chapter” from The CW.
• WBD has made concerted efforts to build its sports inventory as it faces the probability of losing the NBA.

On Friday, Deadline reported that TNT had greenlit a new scripted series with the working title “Debriefing the President.” The show will be a miniseries focused on the interrogation of captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003. It’s the first scripted original series on TNT since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery in 2022, at which time the channel canceled all of its scripted originals.

The new additions don’t stop there. Deadline also reports that TNT has acquired the rights to stream “The Librarians: The Next Chapter,” the sequel to the 2014 supernatural drama “The Librarians,” which was a popular title for the channel. The sequel series was originally slated to appear on The CW, but it was reportedly pulled from that channel’s fall schedule last week.

TNT was long known for its drama programming, but the popularity of the “Inside the NBA” studio show and the need to cut costs when David Zaslav took over as CEO of the new Warner Bros. Discovery caused a content shift on the network. There was likely also a desire to steer more customers to WBD’s streaming service Max with scripted originals.

What’s the Latest in WBD’s Fight to Keep the NBA?

WBD has sued the NBA over its decision to partner with Amazon starting in 2025. The 2014 contract between WBD and the league gave the media company the right to match any third-party offer for a package of league rights, but when WBD tried to exercise that right to stop the NBA from selling a package to Prime Video, the league countered by saying its matching attempt did not provide the same reach as Amazon could offer.

That lawsuit is still working its way through the Supreme Court of New York, and there's a chance it won’t be decided before the 2024-25 season begins. But it appears from TNT’s actions that it’s already preparing for a world where it does not have the NBA past this season.

In late 2023, NASCAR announced that TNT and Max would be getting a package of Cup Series races starting in 2025 as part of the racing league’s new media deal. Then in June, the Big East conference informed the viewing public that TNT Sports would get 65 basketball games starting in 2025-26, which would air on TNT, TBS and truTV.

Just a few days later, TNT struck a deal with the Mountain West to offer a package of football games starting this season. Those games will serve as a compliment to TNT’s College Football Playoff coverage; WBD sublicensed a package of CFP games from ESPN in May.

Despite protestations to the contrary, these moves have always seemed like a way for WBD to keep providing sports coverage if/when the NBA departs. Adding new scripted content is just another data point to reinforce that opinion, as well as the idea that WBD wants to continue justifying the $3-per-customer asking price it charges for TNT.