A New Sports Streaming Service May Be on The Horizon
Issue #142 — Could this sports streaming service from Disney, WBD and 21st Century Fox be the solution to the fragmented sports streaming era?
A New Sports Streaming Service May Be on The Horizon
A new base for sports programming is on the way for sports fans as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, and 21st Century Fox plan to launch a streaming sports service that will include each of the company's sports properties.
The streaming era has created a fragmented sports universe, making it difficult for fans to find their favorite teams. The coordination of following one’s team from a linear network to a cable network to a streaming network has become cumbersome. It has soured an experience that was supposed to be the next frontier.
Under this new plan, this streaming service will include sports from linear services, including ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, and ESPN Plus from the Disney empire. WBD Sports’(now TNT Sports) properties have the rights to NBA, NHL, MLB, college basketball, and other sports leagues, with all this inventory airing on TNT, TBS, and truTV. 21st Century Fox will have its linear channles consisting of Fox Broadcasting, FS1, FS2, and BTN added to the new streaming service.
The new streaming service, which in reality is actually a pay-TV skinny bundle package, will have a new name, and a new management team will be formed to run this operation, which is expected to launch sometime in 2024.
No price point has been announced yet, but the plan could cost around $40 or above. However, promotional pricing should also be expected to get things going when it launches. It is also likely that this new streaming service could be potentially bundled with the existing streaming services from Disney (Disney Plus and Hulu) and/or WBD (Max).
Interestingly, the sports properties from NBCUniversal (NBC Sports) and Paramount Global (CBS Sports) are not part of this deal. It has been reported that they were not approached about joining this new venture, but the streaming service's success could definitely change the conversation.
This new venture resembles the start of another streaming service pioneer, Hulu, which, in its infancy, was home to programming from ABC, Fox, and NBC.
Hulu and Netflix made consuming content via streaming normal for the masses. They ended the “on-demand” era that was part of a cable package. They created a new on-demand package that put the consumer first and offered more content.
Could this sports version of Hulu do the same thing? For one, it might further accelerate the cord-cutting exodus as sports fans who held on to pay-TV packages because of sports programming now have an out with the new streaming service.
This new venture, though, will face stiff competition from one of its partners, with the House of Mickey set to launch a direct-to-consumer product of its flagship linear channel, ESPN.
The ESPN DTC service is set to launch in the fall of 2025 and will include all of ESPN’s programming as well as its fantasy platforms and its recently launched sportsbook service, ESPN Bet.
Could this new sports streaming service be the answer sports fans are looking for? Time will tell, but with the exclusion of CBS Sports, NBC Sports, and other sports networks, such as the regional sports networks, fans will still have to play the game of moving from one platform to another to watch their favorite teams.
The new service, though, might be the start of what is known as the great re-bundling within the streaming world.
(ESPN Press Room, CNBC, Yahoo Sports, Front Office Sports)
RECAP
CNN’s Reshuffles Its Morning Schedule
When CNN's president, Mark Thompson, finally delivered his agenda for how CNN would be run under his stewardship, one thing was for certain. The status quo for the linear network would not be acceptable as the news organization pivots more into the digital space. This week, he announced some programming changes that included the flagship morning show CNN This Morning no longer existing under this iteration of being produced and anchored from CNN’s New York Offices. Thompson’s changes directly affected CNN's New York operations and staff as he moved all morning programming back to CNN’s world headquarters in Atlanta. CNN This Morning, moving forward, would live in name only as the early morning show anchored by Kasie Hunt, Early Start, would be re-christened to that name and be expanded by an additional hour airing from 5 to 7 a.m. ET. The morning edition of CNN News Central would now occupy the 7 to 10 a.m. slot, and two new Washington D.C.-anchored newscasts occupy the 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. slots. Jim Acosta and Pamela Brown will helm those new time slots, respectively. All these shows will be produced out of Atlanta. In the 2000s and early 2010s, there was an operational battle between CNN’s Atlanta and New York offices as CNN poured more resources into New York, often at Atlanta’s expense. When Jeff Zucker took over the network in 2013, it clearly indicated that New York had won the hierarchy battle. Atlanta recaptures some importance with Thompson’s latest programming shuffle, but it will be interesting to see how things shape out on the digital side of things. (Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
CBS’ Nate Burleson Is A Very Busy Person
One person who will definitely need an offseason for recovery once the Super Bowl concludes is CBS’ Nate Burleson. The former NFL player turned sports analyst/news anchor has had an active schedule this weekend. Prior to the Super Bowl match-up, Burleson would have taken part in CBS’s Super Bowl pregame show, The NFL Today, his usual Sunday gig during the regular and post-season. The pregame show naturally was an extended version airing from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET. At some point towards the end of the pregame broadcast, Burleson made his way into the broadcast booth to be the in-game analyst for the Super Bowl alternative broadcast airing on Nickelodeon, a first for CBS Sports and Nickelodeon. At half-time, Burleson was back with The NFL Today show members for the halt-time update, and then sometime during the half-time show, he quickly made his way back to the booth for second-half duties. It was back to hanging out with his The NFL Today compadres for the post-game show, and once that concluded, that was not it for Burleson. He has prepare for his hard news assignement and be up and ready to join his CBS Mornings co-anchors at 7 a.m. ET to discuss all that is happening in the world and the post-Super Bowl roundup. To prepare for his hectic schedule, Burleson said in a GQ piece that he will be focusing on sleep, saying, “Sleep is a priority. I've never in my life scheduled sleep or nap times. I just take them as they go. But for the first time, I have sleep in my itinerary.” Here’s hoping he has followed his advice and managed to get some good sleep. (Variety, GQ)
QUICK RECAP
In Memoriam: NFL Network paid tribute to its producer Larry Campbell, who recently passed away. (Steve Wyche/X)
Profile: NewsNation's Nichole Berlie on how she fights breast cancer while still being on-air. (Los Angeles Times)
Design: CBS News refreshes the graphics for CBS Mornings and rebrands CBS Mornings News. (NewscastStudio)
Black History Month: NBC News Studios partners with Westbrook Studios and BET Studios on a Black Cotillion documentary. (Deadline)
CBS News: CBS News Digital forms a union. (Variety)
Tennis Channel: The parent company, Sinclair, is looking to explore strategic alternatives. (Front Office Sports)
Fox News: Sean Hannity addresses an incident that happened on his air on Tuesday. (TVNewser)
Design: An analysis of where the broadcast industry will go in 2024. (NewscastStudio)
Streaming: Netflix and the MLB announce two new series featuring the Boston Red Sox. (MLB/X)
Awards: Fox News’ Bret Baier receives the 2024 Horatio Alger Award. (TVNewser)
Awards: Journalists from ABC News, CBS News, and NBC News will receive the 2024 First Amendment Award from the RTDNA Foundation. (RTDNA)
Out: John Avlon departs from CNN for politics. (TVNewser)
Out: Piers Morgan is no longer on UK’s TalkTV to focus on YouTube; Mike Graham is taking over. (Press Gazette)
Politics: News networks provided special coverage of SCOTUS Hearings on Trump ballot removal. (TVNewser)
Politics: How did the cable news networks cover the SCOTUS hearings? (NewscastStudio)
CNN: Wolf Blitzer had an on-air health scare and was quickly taken off-air. (Yahoo)
CNN: Kasie Hunt departs from State of the Race to focus on her new morning assignments. (TVNewser)
CNN: CNN Center is now available to be leased. (TVNewser)
Sports: Amazon Prime Video will stream an NFL playoff game next year. (Sports Media Watch)
Sports: Former NBA Player and current ESPNer J.J. Redick is the front-runner to take over Doc River’s broadcast spot. (The Athletic)
Sports: Fox Sports’ Joy Taylor cooly continues to anchor during an earthquake. (Joy Taylor/X)
Sports: Could current Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce join a sports network? (Front Office Sports)
In: Dr. Mark Esper and Leah Wright join CNN as on-air commentators. (TVNewser)
In: CBS News’ Jim Axelrod gets a new on-assignment, and Alturo Rhymes gets a new editorial assignment. (Deadline)
In: James Brown will return to CBS Sports’ The NFL Today for an additional two years. (The Athletic)
In: Former college football coach Nick Saban joins ESPN as a college football analyst. (ESPN Press Room)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz reveals his unusual eating habits. (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: How ESPN's Creative Studio team designed a betting guide. (ESPN Front Row)
Super Bowl LVIII: Which was the most-watched game? (Sports Media Watch)
Super Bowl LVIII: With Nickelodeon's alt-cast, the NFL is opening itself to a younger demographic. (Front Office Sports)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Sports president Sean McManus admitted he told Tony Romo to ‘calm down a little bit.” (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: How the ‘Doink Cam’ used in the game came to fruition. (The Athletic)
Super Bowl LVIII: How CBS Sports made Las Vegas look good. (Sports Video Group)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz on his chemistry with Tony Romo. (Awful Announcing)
Super Bowl LVIII: ESPN's studio shows descended upon Las Vegas. (ESPN Press Room)
Super Bowl LVIII: CBS News’ established a presence in Las Vegas leading up to the game. (TVNewser)
Super Bowl LVIII: What TV events have topped the Super Bowl in the ratings? (Sports Media Watch)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #142 - 2024