STRIDES’ Post

The Varsity * Look for Charter and Paramount to sign short-term extension today, which is a positive harbinger that a deal is in sight. Paramount will make its P+ ad-supported tier available to Charter basic subscribers. Charter has a similar arrangement with Disney and D+.  * DirecTV agreed to Diamond's "glide path" strategy that will migrate the Bally Sports RSN's to a digital tier over the next couple of years. Diamond's Comcast deal ends today and unless they agree to a long-term extension, it’s possible that the Bally Sports R.S.N.s will be dark on Comcast systems on Wednesday. And if Diamond is unable to work out a “glide path” deal with Comcast, it’s unlikely that the company will exit bankruptcy. * One of the biggest questions in the NBA rights auction centers on WBD’s matching rights, and how they might be deployed. NBCU has said that if it wins a package, it will carry some NBA games on its broadcast network. WBD doesn’t have a broadcast network, and the company has apparently not reached out to other broadcasters about a potential joint bid. * The NFL is negotiating to take an equity investment in ESPN, but talks have not progressed much in the past couple of months. ESPN is also talking to the NBA, MLB, and NHL, along with major technology companies and telecom players. * RIP Tom Phillips, a man who ran a newsletter company in suburban Maryland that hired me as a young reporter in 1994, where I first covered all aspects of the cable industry. Also, women’s sports has gotten so popular, so fast, that marketing efforts around it have been slow to catch up. The effort to usher more corporate professionalism into the women’s sports space continues on Thursday with the Sports Innovation Lab’s NewFront, in New York. Invites were sent out to more than 200 media buyers and brand marketers.

The Varsity * Netflix and the NFL are talking with CBS and Fox about producing its two Christmas games this upcoming season. They both have made it clear that they want one of the main league partners to spearhead the telecast * Streaming executives consistently tell me that the second-year subscriber numbers are the ones that set the benchmark. That means that we should have a sense later this year about whether Google's $2 billion per year investment in Sunday Ticket will pay out for YouTube TV. * There are several reasons why my sources expect NFL viewership to drop this season. The main reason: Trump v Harris. * Nobody expects that a television analyst—even the greatest quarterback of all time with movie star appeal—will have any effect on viewership. Nevertheless, I’m keeping my eye on at least two Fox games that will benefit from Tom Brady’s magnetism. * I generally don’t watch Hard Knocks, but I'll be watching this season to see a cultural shift for the NFL’s founding franchise in real time. Plus, David Zaslav has had his lawyers and dealmakers attempt to match Amazon’s $1.8 billion ‘C’ package for NBA rights—even if the league appears eager to jettison cable for streaming. Here's the latest in those negotiations. https://lnkd.in/ezFvE3dX

The NFL has embraced legalized sports betting in a big way, striking up partnerships with the likes of FanDuel and DraftKings to name a few 💵🏈. And, by our measure, it looks like it's paying off. When analyzing NFL engagement among Americans, engagement rates are much higher among sports bettors. 💰FanDuel and DraftKings lead, with 85% of users having also engaged with the NFL. 📱Betway and William Hill users are a close follow, with 84% and 83%. 👀What's more, 40% of NFL-engaged FanDuel and DraftKings users would consider purchasing a brand due to its sponsorship of the property. Keep reading for more NFL Sports Bettor insights: https://hubs.la/Q02gGhlm0

NFL-ESPN Marriage On the Table—The sports business could be on the verge of a shake-up as the NFL is reportedly in talks both to buy a stake in ESPN and then turn over management of NFL media to the ESPN team. This tie-up between a major sports league and ESPN-owner Disney could have implications for the entire media industry, as it could effectively give Disney control over the rights to NFL football games, a potent weapon in an industry that still seems to find itself fighting the “streaming wars”. But whether this would be any sort of financial boost to either company or create more problems for consumers who will be funneled to specific products is yet to be seen.  https://lnkd.in/ey6cERRJ 

The Varsity * The NBA is continuing to talk with Warner Bros. Discovery and NBC, but negotiations are not far enough along yet for the league to start conversations around WBD’s all-important matching rights. NBC and the NBA would have to be close to a signed deal for negotiations over those matching rights to truly commence. * Comcast and Diamond have barely spoken in the nine days since the cable operator dropped all of the Bally Sports Networks from its Xfinity cable systems. Both sides are entrenched in their positions, and it doesn't look like any deal is close. * CBS Sports’s deal with the Italian soccer league Serie A expires in a couple of weeks and the two sides are not close on a renewal. The Italian soccer league will either have to accept a much lower rights fee from CBS or find a new partner in the U.S. market. * Former Turner Sports president Lenny Daniels was considered one of the early favorites to replace Norby Williamson, but now has become a much longer shop as ESPN is not moving off its desire that the role will be based in Bristol, Conn. * Streaming, Paramount, women's sports, Spulu and sports betting were the top topics on the minds of NFL lawyers who gathered in Washington, D.C. this week. I spoke to the group on Wednesday morning about the changing media landscape, and these were the focus of most of the questions I fielded. * It looks like Netflix will wind up carrying the two NFL games scheduled for December 25, per a bevy of sources. It’s a first-of-its-kind deal, and almost certainly not the last. https://lnkd.in/eQN-tqcj

It´s Game Time! 🏈🎰🎤 Excitement is soaring as the Super Bowl collides with Sin City and a touch of Taylor Swift! This Sunday marks a historic moment as Vegas hosts its first-ever Super Bowl, promising an event that's not just about touchdowns but also big bets and superstar performances. 🌟 With the rise of legalized sports betting sweeping across the nation since the landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision, this year's Super Bowl is poised to shatter records. 📈 According to the American Gaming Association, a whopping $23.1 billion is projected to be wagered during the game, a staggering 35% increase from last year. 🤑 But as the stakes get higher, it's essential to recognize the darker side of the betting boom. 🚨 Gambling addiction rates, particularly among young adults, have surged since legalization, prompting calls for increased awareness and support. And for some lucky winners, the thrill of victory can turn sour when faced with challenges like payout disputes, as recently highlighted by The Washington Post. 💔 Nevertheless, the allure of sports betting continues to reshape industries and ignite investor interest, with companies like FanDuel and DraftKings riding the wave of this lucrative trend. 📈 Whether you're rooting for your team on the field or making strategic bets off the sidelines, this Super Bowl promises to be a game-changer in more ways than one! 🏆🎉 📣 Ready to get in on the action? Join the conversation and share your Super Bowl predictions in the comments below! #SuperBowlLV #SportsBetting #BusinessTrends #TaylorSwift #VegasBound

Even during the offseason, the NFL makes noise. Per reports, ESPN will take over the NFL Network while “the league gain an equity stake in the family of networks." Now, I don't think ESPN needs to augment its talking heads + highlights package with more talking heads + more highlights + old games no one really watches. Not sure if that is much of a win. BUT… The NFL will presumably own part of ESPN, ESPN+ and Sports-Hulu (and no doubtably impact ABC's MNF) AND offload all the production capital expenditure of having to run the NFL Network in a deteriorating cable environment. That's a win right there. https://lnkd.in/gk_cwgjb hat tip: Lee Kyle Gaither

The Varsity * Amazon's last-minute bid for the NFL's Christmas games. * The still doesn’t have a signed deal with Netflix for the two Christmas Day games. Complicating matters is the fact that in recent days, Amazon tried to pry the games away by submitting its own bid to the league. * The vibe coming out of the NBA is that the league prefers NBC’s bid over Warner Bros. Discovery's. The NBA likes NBC's plan for two primetime broadcast windows per week and the type of promotion that has turned Sunday Night Football into the most watched primetime show in the land. There’s also a real question about whether WBD's matching rights can actually match NBC’s bid. * Optimum Sports' Jeremy Carey on this week's Upfronts: “We know that we’re going to see more sports and bigger areas of exposure across the board. There’s no doubt we’re going to see more women’s sports in bigger areas across the board." * Sinclair is selling 60 local TV stations—about 30 percent of its total—to pay down its $4 billion in debt. It’s not hard to draw a straight line from its disastrous 2019 purchase of the Fox Sports-branded R.S.N.s to this decision. * At some point in the blowout second half of the atrocious Game 4 of the Knicks-Pacers series, I realized just how much I missed Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, who were part of ESPN’s top NBA broadcast team alongside Mike "Bang Bang" Breen for nine years before leaving at the end of last season as the network cut costs. * Despite its deal to carry MLB's Sunday morning games, Roku isn’t about to become a real competitor for exclusive sports rights anytime soon. The streaming service is not set up to compete with the likes of broadcast networks, or even streamers like Amazon or Netflix. Rather, as the media business continues to unbundle and become more fragmented, it is positioning itself as a place where content companies can find scale again. https://lnkd.in/eYMb6TeC

The announcement of the ESPN-Fox-TNT sports bundle reflects a consolidation trend in the media landscape, offering a streamlined solution for sports fans amidst the fragmentation of streaming services. While it addresses some of the challenges associated with accessing diverse sports content, questions remain about the long-term implications for consumer choice and competition. Do you believe this consolidation will ultimately benefit sports fans, or could it lead to monopolistic control over sports broadcasting? https://lnkd.in/eWedmYij Blue Chip Sports Management Marymount Sports X Marymount Storytellers ESPN FOX Sports Turner (Turner Broadcasting System, Inc) National Football League (NFL) National Basketball Association (NBA) Major League Baseball (MLB) #SportsStreaming #MediaConsolidation #BusinessOpinion #ESPN #FoxSports #TNT #StreamingServices #SportsBroadcasting #ConsumerChoice #Competition #MediaIndustry #FutureofSports #StreamingTrends #ContentAggregation #MonopolyConcerns #MarketImpact #IndustryAnalysis #ViewerExperience #DigitalTransformation #CableTV #SportsEntertainment #TechIntegration #ContentAccess #AudienceEngagement #SubscriptionModels #BroadcastingRights #ContentPartnerships #RevenueGrowth #IndustryDisruption #MarketTrends #SportsBusiness