Distributors of live sports programming need to be willing to play on both linear and digital TV platforms in an effort to effectively reach sports fans and maximize revenue opportunities, according to executives speaking at the Next TV Summit.

With live sports programming continuing to drive ratings for linear broadcast and cable channels, executives speaking at the “Live Sports: The Last Unbundle?” panel Tuesday — part of NYC TV Week — said that high-profile sports events will not aggressively migrate to streaming services in the near future. That doesn’t mean that streaming services aren’t a suitable and lucrative destination for live sports programming in an effort to reach cord-cutting sports fans.

“There will continue to be this hybrid; there’s not going to be a single solution for any league or broadcaster,” FIFA Plus head of audience Laura Andriani said. “I think there’s going to be a figuring out process of what’s best for each proposition.”

Also: More Coverage from the 10th Anniversary NYC TV Week

Indeed, Bally Sports chief product officer Michael Allen said that while the company offers live, compelling pro sports programming through its 19 linear-based regional sports networks, later this month it will launch Bally Sports Plus, a subscription digital service that will allow consumers to purchase content from their respective regional networks outside of traditional MVPDs and satellite distributors.

“We see Bally Plus as complementary to what’s already in the market,” he said. “If [customers] are cord-cutters or cord-nevers, we now provide a new way in which they can consume this content.”

The recently launched free FIFA Plus digital service will offer more than 40,000 live soccer matches from around the world this year as a complement to the World Cup TV rights deal FIFA has with Fox Sports through 2026. Andriani says the streaming service allows the organization to superserve rabid fans with both live and originally produced content that’s translated into 10 different languages.

“Fans want to see different things, so [FIFA Plus] is really a test-and-learn [service],” she said. “There’s a need for FIFA to have a more constant touchpoint with fans, not just every four years [for the World Cup].”

Ultimately, big-ticket sports properties like the NFL, NBA and MLB will continue to have a major presence on broadcast television, but for second-tier sports like rugby, track and field or bowling, the digital platform can provide opportunities for fans to consume content from their favorite sports, according to FloSports VP of global operations Michael Levy. The FloSports subscription streaming service offers more than 200,000 live sports events across more than 25 sports.

“I see an ongoing conversion of tier-1 sports-TV rights going to the biggest players in the market, and I see more and more of that tier-2 sports-league rights being underserved and set aside,“ he said. ”Someone is going to have to fill that void.” ■ 

MavTV Motorsports Network will discontinue its MavTV Plus streaming service next month after reaching a content distribution deal with sports streaming service FloSports, the two parties announced Thursday.

FloSports's FloRacing streaming motorsports platform and MavTV Plus will co-stream live motorsports programming beginning Thursday (June 30), with FloSports creating a new MavTV on FloRacing streaming channel, according to the streaming service. 

The MavTV Plus SVOD service, which launched in 2021 and retails for $6.99 per month, will continue to stream motorsports events through July 26 before ending its feed. In an e-mail to MavTV Plus subscribers, The Lucas Oil-owned MavTV said that subscribers would have to sign up for FloRacing to watch future content, including the remaining rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motorcross Championship, which runs through September.

“MX Sports Pro Racing and MavTV are grateful for your patience regarding the MavTV Plus streaming platform,” said MavTV in the e-mail. “The goal of the service has always been to bring you the best motorosports streaming coverage possible, which is why MavTV is thrilled to announce a new partnership to do just that.” 

The deal adds to FloSports’s lineup of more than 200,000 sports competitions live or on demand for over 25 different sports.

“We’re incredibly excited to welcome MavTV viewers from across the globe to FloSports," CEO and Co-founder Mark Floreani said in a statement. "Our platform will give current MavTV Plus users access to all of our live and on-demand events including motorsports and so much more. With the first live MavTV on FloRacing event streaming today, we aim to create a seamless viewing experience and ensure not a minute of a live event is missed.”

Added Lucas Oil President Morgan Lucas: “We place enormous value on the fan experience; we want to give our customers the best viewing experience possible. MavTV's mission is to connect race fans to their favorite events - from anywhere. FloSports helps us deliver on that mission, giving subscribers the best support, technology, and access to the motorsports events they love. We are all-in and eager to build this partnership into the best motorsports streaming platform available.” ■

FloSports will drop the puck on its first professional hockey action with a multi-year deal to carry ECHL games, starting with the 2020-21 season.

The agreement includes carrying regular season games, the annual Warrier/ECHL All-Star Classic and the Kelly Cup Playoffs on the FloHockey platform.

With the ECHL games, FloHockey will be streaming up to 1,600 games per year, including previously announced college conference games.

“We're honored to be able to build a long-term partnership with the ECHL and its teams, as we head into the upcoming hockey season," said Mark Floreani, CEO and co-founder, FloSports. “They have worked tirelessly over the past 30 plus years to elevate professional hockey in all of their local markets and across North America. Our goal is to enhance their efforts to and accelerate the ECHL's engagement with hockey and sports fans around the world.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

The ECHL is a professional minor league with 26 teams in the U.S. and Canada. Last year teams in the ECHL had affiliations with 25 of the 31 teams in the NHL.

“This is an exciting time for the ECHL.TV product and our league as we partner with FloSports,” said ECHL commissioner, Ryan Crelin. “Our fans will now have a platform that houses not only every live and archived game, but additional stories, interviews and features from around the league. This isn’t simply a technology partnership, but rather an opportunity to showcase our teams and players.”

FloSports said it reached an exclusive multi-year agreement with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association to stream regular season and post-season games, starting with the 2021-22 season.

“CCHA represents the best in collegiate hockey, and we are honored to have the conference as a partner of FloSports,” said Phil Wendler, senior VP, global rights acquisition, FloSports. “The excellent team at CCHA have established a truly impressive vision for their future and for the sport of college hockey and we look forward to helping them build their program, reach new fans and collaborate on engaging new content that will elevate the profile of Division I hockey.”

Subscribers will be able to watch every game hosted by one of the seven CCHA schools either live or on demand on the FloHockey platform.

FloHockey also has coverage of Atlantic Hockey and the WCHA.

"We are incredibly enthused to announce this partnership with FloSports.  Fans of the CCHA schools are already familiar with FloSports and this allows us to continue to build on that relationship,” said Dr. Morris Kurtz, the consultant who has been working with CCHA member schools. “I have enjoyed working with these schools as they continue to check-off a number of significant milestone accomplishments that are setting them up for a very exciting future as a powerhouse in collegiate hockey.”

The seven CCHA schools are Bemidji State University, Bowling Green State University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Technological University, Minnesota State University, and Northern Michigan University.

“It’s great to step in as the new leader and have this relationship already in place.  I have obviously been around college hockey for a long time and I am extremely impressed with what FloSports has done to elevate and promote the game by making it more accessible to our fan base throughout the season, recently hired CCHA commissioner Don Lucia.  “I am confident we can continue to grow together as we progress towards launching league play 16 months from now.”

FloSports said it will exclusively broadcast the 2021 Abu Dhabhi Combat Club's World Submission Fighting Championships on the FloGrappling platform.

The championships are scheduled to take place Sept. 25 and 26, 2021 in Las Vegas.

FloGrappling has had live and on demand coverage of the biennial ADCC World Championshp since 2017. This time around, FloSports will also broadcast all eight international qualifying events, beginning with the ADCC European, Middle East & African Trials on Oct. 3 from Moldova.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Tthe company’s proprietary software, FloArena, will once again be utilized throughout the entire series. FloArena allows fans to follow the tournament coverage and results through live brackets with real-time scoring updates, text alerts so fans don’t miss matches.

“Along with my partners at FloSports and our incredibly talented team including Seth Daniels and Shawn Fowler, ADCC 2019 produced a truly world-class event that was unlike anything seen in this sport before,” says Mo Jassim, 2021 ADCC World Championship event director. “We have so much planned for ADCC 2021 and it will blow your mind. Vegas, a state of the art venue, high-tech event production, next-level broadcast quality and coverage from FloSports and the biggest grappling athletes in the world… it’s going to be an incredible year and the best event the world grappling community has ever witnessed.”

In 2019, the 2-day FloGrappling broadcast of the ADCC World Championships accumulated over 22.3 million minutes watched of competition footage, highlights, recaps and interviews.

“We are honored to once again partner with Mo and the ADCC team for the 2021 World Championships,” says Phil Wendler, senior VP of Global Rights Acquisition for FloSports. “This is a truly collaborative partnership and we look forward to showcasing not only the best grappling athletes in the world, but also continuing to elevate the profile and coverage of this prestigious and global-spanning event to an even wider audience in 2021. There is so much talent both in front of and behind the camera at ADCC and we look forward to another incredible event.”

FloSports plans to produce an all-new original documentary series that will explore the phenomenon of grappling and the incredible stories of the competitors this year and next. 

ADCC  champions and top competitors became highly sought commodities for MMA events and soon became stars in major combat sports leagues including UFC in America and Pride and K1 in Japan.

FloSports said it acquired Speed Shift TV, including the company’s assets and broadcast rights, bringing an additional 400 racing events to its streaming FloRacing platform.

Speed Shift TV specializes in grassroots racing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Combined with FloSports DirtOnDirt unit, which focuses on short-track racing’s Dirt Late Model Division, FloRacing will stream over 800 racing events this year. Subscriptions to FloRacing are up 134% since January.

Speed Shift TV founder Darren Shanley, co-founder and announcer Chet Christner and host and producer Haley Shanely will join FloSports, along with several other Speed Shift TV content and production staffers.

“The team at Speed Shift TV represents the best in motorsports OTT broadcasting,” said Mark Floreani, CEO, FloSports. “Their expertise, production capabilities and knowledge will help us bring grassroots and dirt track racing to a truly global audience. We couldn’t be more excited to have them join FloSports and grow this sport.”

FloSports will begin simulcasting all upcoming Speed Shift TV races starting June 27 with Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa.

"Since the beginning, growing the sport has always been the capstone of the Speed Shift TV brand,” said Darren Shanley, founder, Speed Shift TV. “It is a sentiment that FloRacing shares and thanks to their broad array of resources, everyone from drivers, crews, track operators and most importantly, motorsports fans will reap a tremendous amount of value from our efforts. Buckle up! There will be a lot to be excited about."

FloRacing subscribers receive unlimited access to USAC, the Eldora Speedway’s slate of races along with the All Star Circuit of Champions series. Subscribers also get premium FloRacing content including interviews, behind-the-scenes access and ride-along with drivers and archived races and highlights.

FloRacing subscribers also receive complete access to the entire network of FloSports verticals including cycling, wrestling, football, baseball, softball, grappling and rodeo.

FloSports said it acquired Speed Shift TV, including the company’s assets and broadcast rights, bringing an additional 400 racing events to its streaming FloRacing platform.

Speed Shift TV specializes in grassroots racing. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Combined with FloSports DirtOnDirt unit, which focuses on short-track racing’s Dirt Late Model Division, FloRacing will stream over 800 racing events this year. Subscriptions to FloRacing are up 134% since January.

Speed Shift TV founder Darren Shanley, co-founder and announcer Chet Christner and host and producer Haley Shanely will join FloSports, along with several other Speed Shift TV content and production staffers.

“The team at Speed Shift TV represents the best in motorsports OTT broadcasting,” said Mark Floreani, CEO, FloSports. “Their expertise, production capabilities and knowledge will help us bring grassroots and dirt track racing to a truly global audience. We couldn’t be more excited to have them join FloSports and grow this sport.” 

FloSports will begin simulcasting all upcoming Speed Shift TV races starting June 27 with Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek at Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pa. 

"Since the beginning, growing the sport has always been the capstone of the Speed Shift TV brand,” said Darren Shanley, founder, Speed Shift TV. “It is a sentiment that FloRacing shares and thanks to their broad array of resources, everyone from drivers, crews, track operators and most importantly, motorsports fans will reap a tremendous amount of value from our efforts. Buckle up! There will be a lot to be excited about."

FloRacing subscribers receive unlimited access to USAC, the Eldora Speedway’s slate of races along with the All Star Circuit of Champions series. Subscribers also get premium FloRacing content including interviews, behind-the-scenes access and ride-along with drivers and archived races and highlights. 

FloRacing subscribers also receive complete access to the entire network of FloSports verticals including cycling, wrestling, football, baseball, softball, grappling and rodeo.

Streaming service FloSports said it completed a three-year deal with the PacWest Conference to carry its men’s and women’s basketball games live and on demand.

FloSports also gets rights to women’s volleyball.

The agreement extends through the 2022-23 season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“It is an honor to bring The PacWest Conference on to the FloSports network,” Lindsey Ross, director of rights acquisition at FloSports said. “We’re excited to showcase the level of talent among these conference teams to both their fans in California and Hawaii and to a wider audience across the country.”

The PacWest Conference plays in the NCAA Division II and has 11 schools in California and Hawaii. PacWest Conference games will stream exclusively the FloHoops and FloVolleyball platforms. 

“This partnership with FloSports is a testament to the forward-thinking nature of our membership and their dedication to our loyal fans,” said PacWest commissioner Bob Hogue. “FloSports is on the forefront of live streaming and their commitment to Division II athletics will provide our fans with unprecedented access, as they will be able to view all PacWest volleyball and basketball games with one subscription for the first time ever.”

PacWest is the 10th conference to made a streaming deal with FloSports.

The agreement was negotiated by the PacWest Conference and Lindsey Ross with assistance by Collegiate Sports Management Group.

“CSMG continues to build a significant working relationship with the strong team at FloSports,” said Dan Girard, director of media and property partnerships, CSMG. "We applaud the PacWest for their vision and leadership to elevate the conference's content distribution, by broadly displaying its superb quality with respect to producing events and on-field play. This will continue to enhance Division II collegiate athletics worldwide.”

Below are video trailers and premiere dates for several shows debuting the week of April 20 to April 26 on cable networks and streaming services (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

April 20 -- Dummy (comedy) --Quibi

April 22 -- Jane Goodall: The Hope (documentary) -- National Geographic

April 23 -- We’re Here (reality) -- HBO

April 24 -- Bad Cut: The Dangers of Extreme Weight Cutting (documentary) -- FloSports

April 24 -- After Life (comedy) -- Netflix

April 24 -- Beastie Boys Story (documentary) -- Apple TV+

April 24 -- Defending Jacob (drama) -- Apple TV+ (Review)

April 24 -- Extraction (action/thriller) -- Netflix

April 25 -- Bad Education (drama) -- HBO

April 26 -- Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (horror) -- Showtime

April 26 -- Vida (drama) -- Starz

FloSports said it made a deal with the Gulf South Conference to stream college football and the conference championships in other team sports.

The deal runs through the 2023-24 season. 

Financial terms were not disclosed. 

The NCAA Division II conference and FloSports will also collaborate on a new weekly live studio show dedicated to news, interviews, and analysis of the conference’s football programs throughout each season. 

“This is an exciting time for the GSC and our constituents. To partner with an innovator like FloSports who holds our conference, institutions, and student-athletes in such high regard is a great decision by our membership,” GSC commissioner Matt Wilson said. “We cannot wait to begin delivering terrific content through the platform.”

Gulf South becomes the ninth collegiate entity to enter into a multi-sport partnership with FloSports to grow their sports communities.

In addition to football, the deal includes conference championships in basketball, baseball, soccer, cross country, indoor/outdoor track and field, softball, women’s volleyball, and women’s lacrosse.

“We are proud to partner with Gulf South Conference to bring high-quality sports and content to their fans,” FloSports CEO & co-founder Mark Floreani said. “We believe it’s important to open up access to these Division II conference sports and teams to a wider audience and collaborate with partners like Gulf South to deepen their sports communities and strengthen the direct relationship with their fans.”

It was unclear what would happen if college sports were cancelled this year because of the Coronavirus situation, which has already cancelled the NCAA Division 1 men’s college basketball tournament and stopped play by the NBA, NHL and MLB and pushed the summer Olympic into 2021.

"We're hopeful that there will be a college football season of some kind this year. Regardless, we are committed to this partnership with Gulf South," said Phil Wendler, senior VP, global rights acquisition at FloSports. “Should there be a decision that would either curtail or cancel the 2020 season, we would first huddle up with the GSC commissioner and his team and determine how do we handle this. We can collaborate on solutions on how to adjust the relationship as needed.”

Wendler noted that the deal includes sports other than football. “So there would be no reason for a knee-jerk reaction to any cancellation of the football season,” he said. “We wanted to announce this now and start producing content for the conference's fans in anticipation of a football season. We're excited about this and following a very successful partnership with Colonial Athletic Association, we're confident about the prospects for GSC and FloSports."

Gulf South fans can access live and on-demand coverage of exclusive content and games by subscribing at FloSports.tv. 

The agreement was negotiated by the Gulf South Conference and Lindsey Ross, director, rights acquisition at FloSports with assistance by Collegiate Sports Management Group.

Sports streaming service FloSports has reached a multi-year rights deal with the Gulf South Conference, the service announced Wednesday.

The four-year deal includes full streaming rights to the Division II conference’s complete football and other championships across the conference’s 18 official and associate member schools, said network officials.

Related: FloSports Brings Underserved Sports to Center Court (Video)

“We are proud to partner with Gulf South Conference to bring high-quality sports and content to their fans,” said FloSports CEO & co-founder Mark Floreani. “We believe it’s important to open up access to these Division II conference sports and teams to a wider audience and collaborate with partners like Gulf South to deepen their sports communities and strengthen the direct relationship with their fans.”

FloSports is shining a spotlight on underserved sports through its subscription video streaming service, according to FloSports co-founder and CEO Mark Floreani.

The $29.99 per month service offers live and on-demand access to hundreds of thousands of competition events across 25+ vertical sport categories in the US and abroad, including college wrestling, bowling and track and field. The service's more than 300,000 hours of premium content also includes news, expert commentary, films, documentaries and more.

Floreani talks about the origins of the service as well as its plans to survive in an increasingly crowded digital sports marketplace in a new OTT Spotlight video segment. 

Sports streamer FloSports said it is launching FloBaseball, a new platform featuring collegiate and youth baseball.

This season, Flo baseball will stream more than 700 games, some featuring top-ranked NCAA teams competing in tournament play. 

Exclusive coverage starts Feb. 14 with the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic and the Snowbird Baseball Classic.

“The launch of FloBaseball brings a new and much-needed focus to a previously underserved segment of America’s favorite past time. Baseball fans around the world will now have one destination to follow the best amateur players and those who have the potential to become the next professional superstars,” said Mike Levy, VP, global rights acquisition at FloSports.

“FloBaseball will bridge the viewing gap between competitive youth, high school and collegiate baseball that has been either restricted to regional networks or unavailable altogether to baseball audiences. With the ongoing success of our other verticals, FloSports has proven that audiences are ready for sports programming that has been overlooked by major networks,” Levy said.

FloBaseball is a subscription service available via the FloSports app on Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV the App Story and Google Play Store.

FloSports, a digital sports platform, said it will be streaming more than 300 days of racing during 2020, including the exclusive presentation of the Tour de France in Canada.

In all FloBikes will stream more than 10,00 hours of competitive cycling programming.

This year will mark the first time the Tour de France has been carried in Canada exclusively on a digital platform.

Some of the competitions FloBikes will feature in North America include Giro d’Italia, Men’s and Women’s Tour of Flanders, UCI Road World Championships, La Vuelta a Espana, DVV Trofee Cyclocross Series. 

In addition to live event coverage, FloBike will have commentary and analysis for subscribers.

FloSports and Eleven Sports have agreed to air U.S. regional games from the Jr. NBA World Championship for boys and girls, the NBA said.

FloSports , a subcription OTT service, will live-stream coverage from six courts during the U.S. regional competitions, carrying more than 800 games on FloHoops plus FloSports apps on the Apple TV and Roku platforms.

Related: FloSports Scores Big Ten Network Deal

Eleven Sports will air some of the U.S. regional competition on its Eleven Sports TV network.

“FloSports and Eleven Sports will tip off an exciting summer of Jr. NBA World Championship coverage in the U.S.,” said Kathy Behrens, NBA president, social responsibility and player programs.

“We are thrilled to bring the on-court competition to our fans, as elite boys and girls teams from across the country showcase the values of the game while competing for the opportunity to represent their region in our global event,” Behrens said.

The winning teams advance to the Jr. NBA World Championship in Orlando, Fla., Aug. 7-12. Fox and its cable colleagues will air the finals.

"The Jr. NBA World Championship is an ambitious event with global appeal, and we’re excited to provide coverage of the inaugural event,” said Adam Fenn, senior VP, global rights acquisition & strategy at FloSports. “For basketball fans looking for the next generation of stars, there’s no better place to tune in this summer than FloHoops.com.”

Here’s the schedule for the U.S. Regional Competition:

• Central Regional: Lawrence, Kan., June 8-10
• Midwest Regional Westfield, Ind., June 15-17
• South Regional: Frisco, Texas, June 15-17
• Mid-Atlantic Regional: King of Prussia, Pa., June 22-24
• Northeast Regional: Ardsley, N.Y., June 29-July 1
• Northwest Regional: Salem, Ore., June 29-July 1

“Coming off our NBA G League deal, we are thrilled to distribute these inaugural games,” said Anthony Bailey, senior VP, managing directors at Eleven Sports U.S.

Related: Eleven Sports Gets the Itch for Twitch

“With FloSports, this unique collaboration connects all of us, over any device, to an enormous number of young athletes whose stories will inspire the next generation of sports fans," Bailey added. "This is the best youth basketball in the world. Eleven Sports’ mission is to serve dedicated fans in innovative and interactive ways. Our collaboration with FloSports and the NBA is instrumental to our mission and brings us one step closer to our vision."

The Jr. NBA presented by Under Armour is the league's youth basketball participation program. It is designed to provide a fun environment for kids to learn the fundamentals and values of the game. The Jr. NBA is focused on helping grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents, and offers a free curriculum covering all levels of the game that includes 48 practice plans and more than 250 instructional videos featuring NBA and WNBA players.

FloSports, a subscription-based OTT service dedicated to sports such as wrestling, swimming, volleyball and cycling, has notched a deal to acquire The Rugby Channel from Rugby International Marketing.

FloSports said the deal will add 51 new competitions each year and 200 matches to FloRugby, including USA Rugby National Team Matches, England International Test Matches, and the Men’s and Women’s USA Rugby College Championships.

RELATED: FloSports Scores Big Ten Network Deal

The deal comes about a year after the launch of FloRugby, a service that sells for $30 per month or $150 per year.

With the deal, FloRugby will offer more than 100 days of live rugby coverage annually.

RELATED: Sports Fans Going With the ‘Flo’

Flo also said Phaidra Knight, a World Rugby Hall of Famer, has come aboard as a regular contributor for live coverage, columns and other content. 

FloSports, a subscription-based OTT service dedicated to sports such as wrestling, swimming,  volleyball, cycling, gymnastics, and softball, has inked a deal with Big Ten Network (BTN) that gives it the distribution rights to more than 1,000 non-televised BTN events.

Events tied to the FloSports deal, which include basketball and ice hockey games, exclusive to BTN Plus, a service that costs $119.95 per year or $14.95 for a “Conference Pass” and less for offerings that are tied to individual schools in the conference. Following the new deal with FloSports, BTN Plus will continue to be available within BTN2Go, the 24/7 online video stream of the Big Ten Network, with no charge to current subs.

Related: OTT Players Could Change Television’s Sports Game [subscription required]

FloSports will offer BTN events on sport-specific subscription channels such as FloWrestling, FloTrack and FloVolleyball.

“We’re excited to partner with the Big Ten Network, as they bring incredible student-athletes and events to our die-hard community of sports fans,” FloSports co-founder and CEO Martin Floreani said, in a statement. We look forward to building up these event properties to bring more value to the events, athletes, and fans.”

Launched in 2006, FloSports landed a $21 million B round last fall, with Discovery Communications and WWE among the contributors. FloSports surpassed 150,000 subscribers following a record Q1 2017.

“Our subscriptions are really driven by the growing fan base of the individual sports that we’re in. Each sport gives us a different view, but when you add them all together, we’re creating a massive global audience of highly passionate and engaged fans,” Floreani said in an interview (subscription required) earlier this year.