The National Women’s Soccer League said it has made deals to have 118 of its games televised by a combination of CBS Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports.

Starting in 2024, the NWSL will get a regular Friday-night slot on Prime Video, which has been adding sports on top of Thursday Night Football.

Scripps’s Ion network will air games on Saturday nights. Scripps has been pursuing local and national sports packages and aired the WNBA on Ion.

A package of at league 21 regular-season matches will air on CBS and stream live on Paramount Plus. Additional games will appear on CBS Sports Network.

The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN will have a package of 17 regular season games appearing on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. These matches will also stream on ESPN Plus in English and Spanish. ESPN also has English, Spanish and Portuguese-language rights in Latin America.

The NWSL’s remaining games will be available through a direct-to-consumer product produced and distributed by the league.

For the playoffs, Prime Video and CBS have rights to one quarterfinal each. ESPN/ABC will air the other two quarterfinals. 

CBS and ABC/ESPN will each have a semifinal game.

CBS will air the NWSL Championship Game in primetime. The game will also stream on Paramount Plus.

Ion will air the NWSL Draft live in January. 

“These partnerships fundamentally change the game for our league and the players who take the pitch each week. On behalf of the NWSL, our owners and players, I want to commend CBS Sports, ESPN, Prime Video and Scripps for investing in our league and affirmatively declaring to the marketplace that this league is exciting, valuable, and important,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said. “We have taken great care to ensure our games are discoverable by increasing our reach in order to expose new audiences to everything that makes our league special, without compromising the economic value of our product. This is the beginning of our future.”

All of the television rightsholders are making significant commitments to marketing and promoting the NWSL, and will cross-promote each other’s scheduled broadcasts, the league said.

“We’re thrilled to extend our relationship with the NWSL, continuing as the home of the NWSL Championship and offering an expanded slate of matches on CBS as we build on the success of the last four years,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said. “Extending this partnership further demonstrates our commitment to elevating women’s sports as we continue to work hand-in-hand with the NWSL to highlight the world’s best women’s soccer players. As we prepare to present the 2023 NWSL Championship this weekend, we are excited to continue to showcase this league across our platforms for years to come and remain the ultimate destination for soccer fans.”

“The NWSL is among the world's best women’s professional soccer leagues, and we are excited to showcase the league, the clubs, and the incredible athletes to sports fans,” said Rosalyn Durant, executive VP, programming and acquisitions, ESPN. “This agreement further strengthens our leadership position as the home for women’s sports.”

“The evolution of women’s sports — and specifically the NWSL — demonstrates that there is a growing audience for remarkable athletes and world-class competition, regardless of gender,” said Marie Donoghue, VP U.S. sports content & partnerships at Amazon. “With the unique power and distribution of Prime Video, and an exclusive window on Friday nights throughout the season, we look forward to expanding that audience as the newest home of the NWSL.”

“Scripps Sports is pleased to create a franchise night on ION for the NWSL that will reach every American household, across every free television platform and further help expand the league’s fan base with appointment viewing consistency,” said Adam Symson, president and CEO of E.W. Scripps. “We’re proud once again to be a part of a historic distribution agreement that will elevate women’s professional sports, benefitting the league, the teams, their athletes and fans.”

Endeavor’s IMG and WME Sports advised the NWSL and handled the negotiations.

“On behalf of the NWSL, we have secured four game-changing, marquee partnerships that will help send the women’s game to new heights of viewership and fandom, growing domestic revenues for the League at a multiple of over 40 times,” said Hillary Mandel, executive VP, head of Americas, IMG.

“The NWSL’s new line-up of media partners are stepping up with significant rights fees, production investment, top-tier platforms and impactful promotion,“ Mandel said. “In lockstep with the NWSL, they are going to transform the ways in which fans can discover and engage with the games, assuring deserved exposure for these world-class athletes on the broadest stage.” 

The Association of Pickleball Professionals said it signed broadcast rights deals with CBS Sports and ESPN, bringing the fast-growing sport to more viewing.

Under the agreement, 12 hours of live matches and highlight programs will appear on the CBS Sports Network, while eight hours of event recaps will appear on ESPN2.

More than 200 hours of coverage of 20023 APP Tour events will be livestreams on ESPN Plus and APP TV.

Also Read: Tennis Legends To Play in Pickleball Tourney on ESPN

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to welcome CBS Sports and ESPN to the APP and are excited to be working with two of the most significant names in sports media to bring the sport of pickleball to fans across the country,” commented Tom Webb, APP Chief Marketing Officer. “Over 36.5 million Americans played pickleball in 2022 and this media package enables those fans to tune in to our world-class tournaments, and introduces the sport and its best players to millions more. The APP exists to expand the sport of pickleball domestically and internationally and this media exposure is an important step in that mission.”

The APP’s fourth season, the 2023 APP Tour, kicked off January 15 in Punta Gorda, Florida, with a sold-out event and over 720 professional and amateur pickleball players from across the USA and around the world. ■

Mediacom Communications said Wednesday it has renewed its carriage deal with Paramount Global, including several cable and broadcast networks as well as access to Showtime OTT. Terms were not disclosed.

As part of the deal, Mediacom will continue to make cable channels like BET, CBS Sports Network, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and others available to its customers. In addition, the operator also renewed retransmission-consent rights to CBS owned-and-operated broadcast TV stations in its service territory.

Mediacom is the fifth-largest U.S. cable operator with about 1.5 million cable, telephone and broadband subscribers in 22 states. ▪️

Cable programmers and streaming services are commemorating Black History Month with numerous African American-themed original scripted series, movies, documentaries and specials. 

Here's a sampling of what's on tap for the first half of February (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):  

Feb. 4 – Phat Tuesdays

(documentary)

Prime Video

Feb. 5 - Single Black Female

(movie)

Lifetime

Feb. 6 -- Power Book IV: Force

(drama)

Starz 

Feb. 7 -- One Thousand Years of Slavery – The Untold Story

(documentary)

Smithsonian Channel

Feb. 8 -- The Loyola Project

(documentary)

CBS Sports Network

Feb. 10 -- Real Husbands of Hollywood More Kevin, More Problems

(special)

BET Plus

Feb. 11 -- Everything’s Gonna Be All White

(docuseries)

Showtime

Feb. 11 -- Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship

(documentary)

National Geographic

Feb. 12 -- Profiled: The Black Man

(documentary)

Discovery Plus

Feb. 13 -- Bel-Air

(drama)

Peacock

Feb. 14 -- Special Black History Month Roundtable

(special)

MSG Network 

ViacomCBS’s CBS Sports unit said it made a deal that will put Barclays FA Women’s Super League soccer matches on Paramount Plus and the CBS Sports Network in the U.S. during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

CBS Sports will televise 57 matches per season with the majority streaming on Paramount Plus. CBS Sports Network will have a number of games exclusively.

“The Barclays FA Women’s Super League features some of the most recognizable soccer brands in the world, and is an excellent addition to CBS Sports’ premium soccer portfolio,” said Dan Weinberg, executive VP, programming, CBS Sports. “We look forward to bringing the exciting action of the BFAWSL to fans across Paramount Plus and CBS Sports Network. With our wide array of soccer properties and robust year-round match coverage, we are a must-have for soccer fans.”

ViacomCBS has been using sports to boost Paramount Plus in the streaming wars. Adding the Super League will give it 2,000 soccer matches per year. It also had deals with the UEFA, Italy’s Serie A, Argentina’s Liga Profesional, Brazil’s Campeonato Brasileirão Serie A, and the Asian Football Confederation.

“We are delighted to be partnering with CBS Sports for the next two seasons and are looking forward to the coverage they beam to households across the United States,” said James Ralley, the Football Association’s head of broadcast and media rights. “Their delivery of soccer, whether men’s or women’s, is of the highest quality, and their reputation within the industry is one that is growing rapidly. We look forward to working with them over the next few years.”

The Barclays FA Women’s Super League features 12 clubs, including popular teams such as Manchester United and star players including Arsenal and U.S. Women’s National midfielder Tobin Heath and Chelsea star forward Sam Kerr, the all-time leading goalscorer in NWSL history.

It’s pretty rare when a team owner gets called out -- positively -- when a TV sports rights deal is announced by a league and a programmer, but that’s what happened in ViacomCBS’s three-year deal for exclusive U.S. rights to stream games from Italian soccer league Serie A. But then again, Rocco Commisso isn’t just any team owner.

ViacomCBS made good on its promise to double down on soccer rights on March 25, agreeing to a three-year deal to carry the league on its fledgling streaming service Paramount Plus as well as CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. While the terms of the deal weren’t announced, reports have put the value at about $200 million over the three years.

In announcing the deal there were the usual niceties -- both sides praised each other’s foresight in agreeing to the transaction -- but further down in the release, Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo personally thanked the league’s American club owners, specifically pointing out Mediacom Communications chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso, who also owns the ACF Fiorentina team, for his help in landing the agreement. 

“Today it is not a point of arrival, but rather the beginning of a process of investments in human resources and editorial contents to support the continued growth of Serie A in the North America territory,” De Siervo said in the release. “This is the result of the work of the last 18 months and of the increasing number of American owners who have decided to invest in our teams. Finally, I would like to thank the President of Fiorentina Rocco Commisso for his important contribution to achieve this agreement.”

Rights Cost Went Up 30%

The deal that Paramount Plus signed was a 30% increase over the league’s last TV contract with ESPN Plus. ESPN was a late round bidder along with one other unnamed company,  but ultimately decided that the price was little too rich for its tastes.

ViacomCBS has been ultra-aggressive in snapping up soccer rights. In addition to the Serie A deal, the programmer has signed rights deals with the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, next season’s Europa Conference League, the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), Brasileiro Série A and Liga Profesional de Fútbol (the top leagues in both Brazil and Argentina), and various Concacaf matches. 

At ViacomCBS’s Feb. 24 Investor Day, CBS Entertainment chief George Cheeks said the programmer was “doubling down” on soccer rights, adding the sport presented the best opportunity to grab young eyeballs for both the linear and streaming networks.

“As we look to the future, we are making soccer a core pillar of sports exclusively available on Paramount Plus,” Cheeks said at the Investor Day. 

According to reports, Paramount had initially bid around $142 million for the rights, but bumped up that offer considerably in later rounds. 

While those reports didn’t offer an explanation for the increased offer, probably just chalking it up to normal bidding dynamics, Commisso may have provided a subtle nudge.

As the head of the fifth largest cable operator in the U.S., Mediacom obviously has a long-time professional relationship with Paramount Plus parent ViacomCBS and its CEO Bob Bakish. But Commisso and Bakish’s connection goes a little bit deeper. Both are graduates of Columbia University, and both left that Ivy League institution with degrees in industrial engineering and MBAs.   

“Rocco and I have enjoyed a long and productive professional relationship,” Bakish said in an email message.  “We look forward to working with Serie A and enhancing our strong lineup of live soccer coverage on Paramount+.” 

Commisso, who was born in Calabria, Italy and came to the U.S. with his family when he was 12 years old, is a huge soccer fan: he was co-captain of his alma mater’s men’s soccer squad in 1970, helping lead the school to compete in its first NCAA men’s soccer tournament that year. The Mediacom founder has been a huge booster of Columbia University soccer, donating millions of dollars to the school for its stadium and soccer programs. In 2017, Commisso dipped his toe into club ownership, buying the North American Soccer League’s (NASL) New York Cosmos. In 2019 he purchased ACF Fiorentina. ACF Fiorentina currently is ranked 14th out of 20 teams in Serie A. The Cosmos have been on pause since the COVID-19 outbreak. 

In an interview, Commisso said he imparted some of his soccer knowledge to Bakish, who he said is “a great guy” and a savvy negotiator in his own right. Talks for the U.S. rights to Serie A lasted about 18 months and  involved several parties. 

“We had a discussion,” Commisso said, adding that the conversation was mainly around the state of Italian soccer. “I was rooting for him to win it. Did he come up with every single dollar that I thought was the right ask? No. Was he better than everybody else? Yes. It would be fair to say that through my involvement, one: he got the bid and two: he increased the bid.”

Commisso has been pretty generous with his knowledge of the soccer game. He counseled Parma owner Kyle Krause, CEO of Krause Group, when he was considering buying the Parma team. Krause Group is based in Des Moines, Iowa, also one of Mediacom’s largest markets, and owns Italian wineries and hospitality businesses, as well as real estate and more than 400 gas station/convenience stores in the Midwest. Krause bought the Parma team in 2020. 

“He picked my brain and I helped him make his mind up,” Commisso said. 

Serie A is considered one of the “Big Five'' leagues in European football: The English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1 are the others. So landing the U.S. rights is a bit of a coup for Paramount. It doesn’t hurt that one of the most recognizable stars in soccerdom, Cristiano Ronaldo, plays for Turin-based Juventus, the 2019-20 Serie A champion.  

Matches Due Mostly On Paramount Plus

ViacomCBS hasn’t said yet how it will parse the games between the streaming and linear services. But it’s probably a good bet that the Ronaldo connection will be played up when it starts airing Serie A games in August. There are a lot of games to watch, which should only raise the profile of the league in general. Paramount Plus, the enlarged former CBS All Access, has the rights to air 400 matches each year -- 388 Serie A games, 25 Coppa Italia matches and the Supercoppa Italiana match (where the winners of Serie A and Coppa Italia meet in a what is akin to the Italian soccer Super Bowl) -- with select matches to be televised on CBS Sports and CBS Sports Network. 

But whatever the ultimate lineup, Commisso said the exposure could only be good for Italian soccer. 

“In Italy, they give some of the bigger teams preferential treatment when there are multiple games during the day,” Commisso said. “Not always but for the most part, they’ll make the last game the Game of the Week. We have games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’m sure they [Paramount] will utilize Ronaldo. If I were them I would do the same thing.”

Commisso said in Italian soccer, TV money isn’t split evenly among teams -- bigger teams get bigger shares -- but the additional cash will help the smaller clubs get better players and improve facilities. Adding to the coffers is the sale of Italian TV rights to the league, which went to streaming sports service DAZN for about €2.5 billion ($2.95 billion) over three years. DAZN bested Comcast-owned Sky, which had owned Serie A rights in Italy since 2003. Sky, according to reports, agreed to pay about €70 million ($82 million) for non-exclusive rights for a smaller package of games. 

Commisso also is encouraged by the growing number of American owners in Italian soccer. Today there are five clubs owned by Americans in the 20-team league: A.C. Milan, A.S. Roma, A.C.F. Fiorentina, Parma and Spezia Calcio. A sixth club, Bologna F.C., is owned by a Canadian.

That influx of American ownership has occurred only recently. In 2017, only one club, Roma, was U.S.-owned. Commisso said the new blood has been good for the league, bringing in a fresh perspective as well as money. Italian soccer, he added, has been held back by the condition of its stadiums, which are generally owned by the towns and cities the clubs play in and are leased back to the teams. But that means improvements have been few and far between. Commisso said the stadium where his club plays, Stadio Artemio Franchi, was first opened in 1931. And he believes as other Italian owners look to sell their clubs in the future, American businessmen should take advantage of the opportunity. Juventus's 10-year-old Allianz Stadium is one of the unusual club-owned arenas.

“I think there are going to be other sales taking place in the next 12 months,” Commisso said. “Is it going to be Americans? I can't say that for sure. But the fact that you have five American owners is changing things. We bring a new way of looking at things, some people don’t like it, and we have a big push to improve the infrastructure. We all want to get things done on the infrastructure side.”

Commisso himself is in the throes of building a new state-of-the-art sports complex near Stadio Artemio Franchi, to be called Viola Park, an €85 million ($99.6 million) project that would include training facilities and fields for men's and women's senior and youth soccer teams.  The project, which began construction earlier this year, has recently hit some regulatory snags.

Still, Commisso is confident that he will eventually get the project through.

“I’m a tough guy when it comes to most things,” Commisso said. “I’m not doing this to make money, I’m doing this to give back to soccer what soccer has done for me and to give back to my native Italy. It’s very hard for other people to understand that, but it is a fact.” 

CBS Sports Network will be the new home for live Bellator MMA mixed martial arts events beginning Oct. 1, the companies announced Friday.

Bellator MMA fights, which have aired on Paramount Network -- formerly Spike TV -- since 2013, will now air on CBS Sports Network, beginning with the Oct. 1 Bellator 247 event and including the Bellator Paris event on Oct. 10.  CBS Sports Network will also telecast the Oct. 15 Bellator 249 fight card, said the company.

Undercard fights from Bellator MMA events will stream on CBSSports.com and Bellator MMA’s YouTube channel.

“We’re excited to have CBS Sports Network serve as the new home of live Bellator MMA events. It’s a great opportunity to showcase some of the best events and biggest names in the sport,” said CBS Sports Executive Vice President of Programming Dan Weinberg in a statement. “Adding Bellator MMA to the CBS Sports portfolio will allow for greater promotion, engagement and exposure across all our platforms and assets including CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports HQ as well as our various social accounts.”

CBS Sports Network will continue to march as the primary home of Army football.

The cable network has inked a new five-year renewal, terms of which were not disclosed, with Army Athletic Association, under which it maintain the rights to all of the Black Knights home games, as well as neutral site games in which the Cadets are the home squad through the 2019 season.

The agreement provides that a majority of Army home football games will be played in noon (ET) window on Saturday afternoons.  Additionally, a live web stream of all Army home telecasts will be made available free of charge to soldiers and military personnel around the world.

CBS Sports Network began airing Army home football games in 2009. Broadcast brethren carries the annual Army-Navy football game.

"CBS Sports has been a great partner for Army West Point over the years and we are thrilled to extend our contract with them,” said Army director of intercollegiate athletics Boo Corrigan. “Our alumna and fans appreciate us being on national television for each home game with the highest quality broadcast in the business. From coast to coast, our games will be on at set times, allowing fans to know kickoff times well in advance. It also ensures our military across the globe can continue to watch Army football at no cost.” 

Noted CBS Sports president David Berson: “West Point represents the finest our country has to offer on and off the field, and we are proud to remain the television home for Army football. Army has been a tremendous partner the last six years, and we’re excited to continue televising the Black Knights as well as the tradition and pageantry at West Point.” 

Alaska’s top telecommunications company will tip off its title sponsorship of the largest state’s biggest basketball event.

The 2014 GCI Shootout begins tonight in the new 5,000-seat Alaska Airlines Center on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage campus.  The event runs through Nov. 29 and features the host Seawolves in eight-team men’s and four-squad women’s fields.

GCI, which is also the venue’s official technology partner, is using the event to expand its brand presence and product sampling with a number of on-site and on-air executions.  The MSO, which succeeded Carrs Safeway as the tourney's title sponsor, will give attendees a chance to win 1 million Alaska Airlines miles, as well as the latest smartphones, tablets and accessories via its Tech Toy Giveaway.

Every child in attendance can take home a free GCI Great Alaska Shootout basketball, as well as become festooned with temporary tattoos at the operator’s new retail store within the venue. 

“As Alaska’s leading telecommunications company, it is fitting that we would be the company now dedicated to renewing the original interest and excitement around this tournament,” said GCI senior vice president and general manager of consumer services Paul Landes. “GCI is looking forward to finding new ways to engage Alaskan fans and families. Our goal is to get everyone in the community excited about coming to experience the Great Alaska Shootout at the new Alaska Airlines Center.”

From a television perspective, GCI will televise five of the games on its origination channel.  CBS Sports Network, which is not distributed by GCI, will air eight of the games nationally.

In addition to the host team, former tournament champion Washington State, four-time competitor Pacific University and newcomers Colorado State, Mercer, Missouri State, Rice and University of California Santa Barbara will vie for the men’s crown.

On the distaff side of the court, the she Seawolves will be up against Boise State, Long Beach State and Yale for the title of GCI Shootout champion.

CBS Sports will break down another gender barrier in the sports world next month when it premieres the first nationally televised genre talk show featuring all women.

We Need To Talk will debut in primetime Sept. 30 on CBS Sports Network at 10 p.m. Taking on key topics from the sports realm, including distaff issues, the program will feature a rotating crew, involving such CBS Sports personalities as Lesley Visser (pictured), Amy Trask, Tracy Wolfson, Dana Jacobson and Allie LaForce.

CBS This Morning’s Norah O’Donnell and Gayle King will appear as guests. Additionally,  NFL Network’s Andrea Kremer, boxer Laila Ali (daughter of Muhammad Ali), former WNBA legend Lisa Leslie and current player Swin Cash, Olympic medalist Dara Torres, veteran sports reporter Summer Sanders and former tennis player and vice president of the United States Tennis Association Katrina Adams will be in the mix.

It will be led by Emmy Award-winning coordinating producers Emilie Deutsch and Suzanne Smith, the only woman currently producing or directing NFL games. Amy Salmanson and Julie Keryc will produce with Smith directing. The show will be filmed at CBS's studio facilities on 57th Street in Manhattan.

“CBS is very proud to be launching the first ever all female sports talk show. This is something that’s been long overdue in our industry,” said CBS Sports president David Berson, noting that the programmer has many women in its executive ranks, as well as many working in front of and behind the camera in production.

Berson said the move has generated widespread enthusiasm: “There is a real excitement here at CBS and there has been a tremendous reaction throughout the industry."

The show had been talked about internally for a well over a year, with the development pace quickening over the past few months. “It didn’t take long before our talent and crew wanted to get on board and move full speed ahead,” he said.

“This is nothing less than a cultural pivot point,” said Visser. “There are many shows have a woman on, but not one that has a table filled with women. When I started covering sports in 1974, the credentials often said, ‘No Women or Children in the Press Box.’ Forty years later we are accepted as members of the media, assistant coaches (Becky Hammon with the San Antonio Spurs) college officials and executives.  We have learned to love sports the same way boys and men do - not all of them played the game either. I'm proud to play for CBS.”

Added Smith: “With so many women already working in prominent roles across CBS Sports, it’s a privilege to be a part of this unique project, bringing all their talents and experiences together under one show. We have an opportunity here to have some of the most knowledgeable and passionate people in our business talk sports, offer opinions and have some fun.”

We Need to Talk will be topic-driven, with the discussions centering on what’s bubbling up that week. “We’ll address women’s sports issues as their pertinent, but this show will be for all sports fans, not just women,” Berson said.

Asked if the show could expand its frequency, Berson said: “We Need to Talk is starting during football season and leading out of the highly acclaimed Inside College Football. We’ll see how the schedule works out from there.”

Will this start a new talk show trend? “Perhaps others will follow suit. I hope so,” he said.