The Paris Summer Olympics opening ceremony takes place this Friday, but action kicks off Wednesday (July 24) with the opening stage of the soccer competition.

NBCUniversal's live coverage of the games on NBC, Peacock and USA Network, along with its celebrity-heavy lineup of shoulder programming, should help keep viewers tuned in throughout the three-week Olympics run, sports TV observers said. 

USA Network and Peacock will feature the opening soccer match between Argentina and Morocco at 9 a.m. ET, with the U.S. men’s soccer team taking the Olympic pitch for the first time since 2008 when they face host country France at 3 p.m.

Also Read: NBCUniversal Looks To Ride Olympic Wave to Gold

In other Wednesday Olympics action, the men’s rugby tournament launches with live, daylong coverage of the qualifying round across Peacock and USA Network. 

On Thursday, the three-time gold medal-winning U.S. women’s soccer team will open its 2014 Paris Olympics schedule against Zambia.

NBCUniversal’s live coverage of the Olympics across NBC, USA Network and Peacock — as well as NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app — should generate strong audience numbers throughout the three-week event, according to sports analyst Lee Berke. Peacock, in particular, will stream every sport and event, including all 329 medal events across 39 sports, according to NBCU.

“NBC has finally said if it’s live, it’s live, so they will be all live on the NBC broadcast network, all live on Peacock and USA Network,” he said. “The time zone is attractive, the setting is attractive and, by process of elimination, the only things people are watching on TV are sports and news. NBC saw great audience numbers for the Olympic trials, so its offering of live sports will be attractive to viewers.” 

NBCUniversal is also looking to attract younger viewers through a series of shoulder programs featuring high-profile celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, who, along with serving as a torchbearer carrying the Olympic flame during the games’ opening ceremony, will provide on-air reports from the game. Other shows, such as Peacock’s eight-episode Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson series and the streaming service’s Watch With Alex Cooper live interactive watch party events, are expected to keep young viewers interested in the Games. 

Berke also said the International Olympic Committee has continuously updated its roster of sports, adding events that appeal to younger viewers. The 2024 Paris Olympics will feature the sport of breaking — commonly known Stateside as breakdancing — a form of dance that originated in the Bronx during the early 1970s. 

According to Olympics.com, breaking will feature dancers facing off in one-on-one battles to music randomly played by a DJ. The sport will debut in the Olympics on August 9 with 16 “B-Boys" and “B-Girls” competing in a round-robin phase consisting of four groups of four. The top two in each group advance to the quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals and the medal round. 

Breaking joins new sports added from the 2020 Tokyo Games, including surfing, skateboarding and sports climbing. 

“Along with a strong U.S. men’s and women’s basketball team, the new sports that have been added will also help attract a younger demo,” Burke said. “[NBCU] is using a range of tactics to reach out to younger audiences in a very aggressive fashion compared to previous Olympics.”  

Michael Phelps, who has won more Olympic medals than any other human, will join NBCUniversal’s Olympics coverage in Paris this summer. Phelps won 28 Olympic medals in swimming, including 23 golds. 

Phelps will offer commentary and analysis on the daytime and primetime shows on NBC and Peacock, and will join Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines in the booth for some swimming events. 

He will be in the booth with Hicks and Gaines in primetime Friday, June 21, for the Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis. 

Phelps picked up eight medals at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, then six apiece at the 2012 and 2016 Games. 

He also worked with NBC on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. 

“We are excited to have Michael return to our coverage across both daytime and primetime, and of course, the place where no one knows more about winning – at the pool,” said Molly Solomon, executive producer and president, NBC Olympics Production. “With his ability to analyze and entertain, our viewers are in for another gold-medal performance.”

The Olympics starts July 26 and ends August 11. 

Controlling 93 of the top 100 most watched U.S. TV programming events last year, the National Football League can command an audience of 12 million ESPN viewers just by convening a room full of college-age jocks in suits, sitting around with their families and girlfriends, nervously waiting for their name to be called, as last month’s NFL draft once again revealed. 

So when the most influential content source in all of technology, media and telecom announces the primetime games schedules for three media partners collectively paying it around $4.65 billion a season ... well, it kind of matters. 

Also read: Amazon Touts Vastly Improved 2024 'Thursday Night Football' Schedule Full of Divisional Rivalries, Fewer Turkeys

Below are the 2024 regular season game schedules for ABC/ESPN's Monday Night Football, NBC's Sunday Night Football and Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football. Next TV, which is hopeful that its Seahawks can turn things around in 2024 after sunsetting venerable head coach Pete Carroll, added some notes on how we think each package shapes up as a TV viewing choice. 

Monday Night Football

Disney is paying the NFL an average of $2.7 billion a season for the rights to show the venerable Monday Night Football package on ESPN and ABC. 

It's not only the prestigious and priciest (by far) of the NFL's three primetime TV packages, it also has the most games (23), with five Monday night doubleheaders split across ESPN cable and ABC broadcast. 

Monday Night Football averaged 17.4 million viewers in 2023, up 30% from 2022. 

Our take on the 2024 MNF schedule: The opening night showdown between New York Jets and Aaron Rodgers, playing his first game in a year following achilles tendon surgery, and the Super Bowl runner-up San Francisco 49ers could draw 20 million or more viewers. 

Disney gets the old-world “America's Team,”  the Dallas Cowboys, twice. Like a lot of football fans, we don’t think the Cowboys have actually been relevant since Troy Aikman wore a helmet. But they remain the league’s biggest regular season TV draw. And our analysis here is based on audience potential.

MNF features the “new” America’s team, the Detroit Lions, two times, as well — including in a late season rematch of the 2023 NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers. The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs are on a couple of times, too, hosting the NFC South Division Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week 9.

But we don't see a single division rivalry game on the schedule until week 15, when the Chicago Bears and No. 1 draft pick Caleb Williams visit the Minnesota Vikings ... in a matchup that may not have playoff implications, with both teams breaking in new quarterbacks. 

Certainly, a lot of things will be learned about the teams from now and Sept. 9, when MNF hosts its first game. But based on what we know right now, there's just not enough on the schedule to get $2.7 billion dollars’ worth of excited about. 

Week 1 (Sept. 9, 2024): New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers (simulcast on ABC)
Week 2 (Sept. 16): Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles
Week 3 (Sept. 23): Jacksonville Jaguars at Buffalo Bills (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Washington Commanders at Cincinnati Bengals (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC)
Week 4 (Sept. 30): Tennessee Titans at Miami Dolphins (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Seattle Seahawks at Detroit Lions (8:15 p.m. ET, ABC)
Week 5 (Oct. 7): New Orleans Saints at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 6 (Oct. 14): Buffalo Bills at New York Jets
Week 7 (Oct. 21): Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Chargers at Arizona Cardinals (9 p.m. ET, ESPN+)
Week 8 (Oct. 28): New York Giants at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 9 (Nov. 4): Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 10 (Nov. 11): Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Rams
Week 11 (Nov. 18): Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys
Week 12 (Nov. 25): Baltimore Ravens at Los Angeles Chargers
Week 13 (Dec. 2): Cleveland Browns at Denver Broncos
Week 14: (Dec. 9): Cincinnati Bengals at Dallas Cowboys
Week 15 (Dec. 16): Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings (8 p.m. ET, ABC)
Atlanta Falcons at Las Vegas Raiders (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Week 16 (Dec. 23): New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers
Week 17 (Dec. 30): Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers
Week 18 (Saturday, Jan. 4): Doubleheader TBA

Sunday Night Football

Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit is paying the league $950 million this season for a package of 18 regular season games. NBC is coming off a 2023 campaign that averaged 21.4 million viewers, up about 8% vs. 2022. 

Our take on the 2024 MNF schedule: NBC will feature the Cowboys three times, including in two history-laden matchups with the Pittsburgh Steelers and 49ers. The Chiefs and Lions will be on SNF twice, as well.

There aren’t many divisional rivalry games, but there are plenty of contests that feel like early conference playoff matchups, including the Los Angeles Rams playing the Lions in the Sept. 8 opener, the Buffalo Bills visiting the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 29, and the L.A. Chargers at the Chiefs on Dec. 8. 

There also aren’t a ton of appearances from teams that didn't make the playoffs last year. And those that did make the cut are in interesting matchups, including the Seattle Seahawks (9-8 last year and barely missing the postseason) hosting the resurgent Green Bay Packers on Dec. 15. 

This seems to be a strong schedule for the licensing money NBCU is paying the NFL. 

Week 1 (Sept. 8, 2024): Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions
Week 2 (Sept. 15): Chicago Bears at Houston Texans
Week 3 (Sept. 22): Kansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons
Week 4 (Sept. 29): Buffalo Bills at Baltimore Ravens
Week 5 (Oct. 6): Dallas Cowboys at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 6 (Oct. 13): Cincinnati Bengals at New York Giants
Week 7 (Oct. 20): New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 8 (Oct. 27): Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers
Week 9 (Nov. 3): Jacksonville Jaguars at Philadelphia Eagles
Week 10 (Nov. 10): Detroit Lions at Houston Texans
Week 11 (Nov. 17): Indianapolis Colts at New York Jets
Week 12 (Nov. 24): Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Rams
Week 13 (Dec. 1): San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills
Week 14 (Dec. 8): Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 15 (Dec. 15): Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks
Week 16 (Dec. 22): Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dallas Cowboys
Week 17 (Dec. 29): Miami Dolphins at Cleveland Browns
Week 18: TBD

Thursday Night Football

Amazon is paying the NFL an average of $1 billion a season (also through 2033, like all NFL TV deals) for TNF. In the package’s inaugural campaign on Amazon Prime Video in 2022, it was a meme as to how many turkey games were featured matching teams with no postseason relevance. 

Things got better last season, with viewership increasing 24% year over year to 11.86 million streaming fans, on average. And this year, we think Amazon really scored, with 12 of its 16 games featuring divisional rivalry matchups. 

In fact, we think this is the most intriguing of the three primetime NFL game slates. 

Week 1 (preseason, Aug. 22): Indianapolis Colts at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 2 (Sept. 12): Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins
Week 3 (Sept. 19): New England Patriots at New York Jets
Week 4 (Sept. 26): Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants
Week 5 (Oct. 3): Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons
Week 6 (Oct. 10): San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
Week 7 (Oct. 17): Denver Broncos at New Orleans Saints
Week 8 (Oct. 24): Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Rams
Week 9 (Oct. 31): Houston Texans at New York Jets
Week 10 (Nov. 7): Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens
Week 11 (Nov. 14): Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles
Week 12 (Nov. 21): Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns
Week 13 (Black Friday, Nov. 29): Las Vegas Raiders at Kansas City Chiefs
Week 14 (Dec. 5): Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions
Week 15 (Dec. 12): Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers
Week 16 (Dec. 19): Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 17 (Dec. 26): Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears

ESPN and Amazon Prime Video are reportedly close to scoring television rights to the National Basketball Association, according to published reports.

ESPN is expected to hold on to its current rights package. Prime Video would be a new outlet for the NBA, and move the league into streaming in a major way.

The other current NBA rightsholder, Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports, might be in a dogfight with Comcast NBCUniversal for a third slice of NBA games, unless the league elects to have four big TV partners. NBC aired NBA games during the Michael Jordan era, from 1990 through 2002. TNT, the former Turner Sports, has held NBA rights since 1984. 

Also Read: Amazon Emerges as Favorite for Third National NBA TV Partner 

The NBA’s current nine-year deals are worth $2.6 billion. The league is reportedly looking to double that in the new round of agreements.

According to The Athletic, Amazon and the NBA have a framework of a deal that would include a significant number regular season and post season games. 

The long-term deal would reportedly run for 10 years, starting with the 2025-26 season.

Also Read: NBA Playoffs Will Offer Viewers Something Familiar, Something New

Puck reported that ESPN and the NBA are also close to a new deal to hold onto the league’s biggest package of games, which includes the NBA Finals.

For ESPN, owned by The Walt Disney Co., the new deal could cut the number of games it televises on ABC, ESPN and ESPN Plus. 

ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery had an exclusive negotiating window with the NBA that expired this week without a deal. Both companies also have a right of first refusal that would allow them to match bids by other contenders.

The networks did not respond to requests for comment.

The CW will be the exclusive broadcast home for the final eight races of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series this fall. Coverage begins Friday, September 20 at Bristol Motor Speedway and goes through Saturday, November 9 at Phoenix Raceway. 

NBC Sports produces the races. The races were initially set to run on USA Network. 

“As The CW prepares to be the new broadcast home of the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025, we want to thank our partners at the league and at NBC Sports for welcoming the network into the NASCAR broadcast family and for the early opportunity to showcase these thrilling final eight Xfinity Series races of the season,” The CW president Dennis Miller said. “We can’t wait to give racing fans an early preview of all the exciting action the NASCAR Xfinity Series has to offer on The CW and we look forward to establishing the network as a new destination for live motorsports.”

The CW will be the exclusive home to the NASCAR Xfinity Series from 2025 to 2031. The series features up-and-coming drivers alongside NASCAR’s boldface names. 

When it becomes the exclusive home next year, The CW will broadcast 33 live NASCAR Xfinity Series races annually, along with practice and qualifying events each weekend. NASCAR Productions will produce the events in collaboration with The CW.

This fall’s events on The CW include the one at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee September 20, a race at Kansas Speedway September 28, one at Talladega Superspeedway October 5, Charlotte Roval October 12, Las Vegas Motor Speedway October 19, Homestead-Miami Speedway October 26, Martinsville Speedway November 2 and the championship at Phoenix Raceway November 9. 

“We have incredible media partners who collaborate at an exceptional level to showcase the excitement of live NASCAR racing,” Brian Herbst, NASCAR senior VP, media and productions, said. “We’re looking forward to having The CW get a head start as the home of the NASCAR Xfinity Series with the help of NBC Sports and continuing to deliver our fans thrilling on-track action.”

Rick Allen is lead race announcer and Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte are the analysts. NBC Sports VP of motorsports Jeff Behnke oversees production. 

The NFL and NBCUniversal said the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Buffalo Bills-Los Angeles Chargers game streaming exclusively on Peacock will be commercial-free — a first for an NFL game.

The reduced ad load in the December 23 game — NBCU said it’s 40% lower than normal — is being made possible by presenting sponsors Capital One, Hyundai and Walmart.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, there will be an acknowledgement that there will be no more commercials thanks to the three sponsors.

“We are proud to work with our partners at the NFL to present this first-of-its kind experience,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said. “NBC Sports’s best-in-class NFL production, Peacock’s fan-friendly viewer experience and this innovative advertising model will allow NFL fans an exciting new way to watch the game’s conclusion.”

Instead of commercials, the broadcast will feature content takeovers and game features that integrate relevant Football Night in America studio updates and analysis, brought to viewers by the sponsors.

A Walmart ad during the game produced by NBCU’s Creative Partnerships team will feature NBC Sports analysts Chris Simms and Devin McCourty relying on Walmart for last-minute gifts.

The game will also feature NBCU’s first shoppable moment during an NFL telecast, presented by Walmart. The moment will feature a QR code that takes viewers to Walmart’s holiday hub.

“The power of live sports is more prevalent than ever, and at NBCUniversal, we not only have the scale of our broadcast platform, but we now can reach an entirely new audience through Peacock,” Mark Marshall, chairman, global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, said. “With this one-of-a-kind sponsorship environment attached to our first-ever exclusive Peacock NFL game, we are able to connect an untapped set of consumers to our marketers, and we couldn’t be more grateful to our partners at the NFL for trusting us to creatively launch this groundbreaking format."

NASCAR became the latest sports organization to move some of its televised events to streaming, signing a seven-year rights deal with Amazon Prime Video that revs up in 2025.

NASCAR said it is also continuing its relationships with NBC Sports and Fox and returning Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT to the mix.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sports Business Journal said NASCAR will garner $7.7 billion through the end of the agreements, which The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed source, said would represent a 40% increase over the prior deals' value.

Prime Video will be the exclusive home of five NASCAR Cup Series races per year. 

“With their compelling innovations in streaming multiple live feeds and data-driven insights, Prime Video has quickly become a staple in the homes of millions of consumers and sports fans throughout the country, including many NASCAR fans,” NASCAR president Steve Phelps said. “We are thrilled to pair our proven ability to bring a large-scale audience of passionate fans with Prime Video’s potential to introduce our sport to new viewers utilizing their unique platform beginning in 2025.”

Amazon has already captured the NFL’s Thursday Night Football and last week streamed the league’s first Black Friday game.

“We’re thrilled to bring the excitement and power of NASCAR to our Prime members, with five Cup Series races coming to Prime Video each season, starting in 2025,” said Jay Marine, VP and global head of sports for Prime Video. “NASCAR Cup Series racing is an iconic American tradition, and it will be a sensational addition to the lineup of premium live sports on Prime Video.”

Prime Video is also committed to increasing original content for NASCAR fans, and will be the home of an upcoming documentary from NASCAR Studios chronicling NASCAR’s special Garage 56 entry at the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

NBC Sports remains the exclusive home of the final 14 NASCAR Cup Series races. The races will appear on NBC, USA Network and Peacock.

“We are thrilled that the NASCAR champion will continue to be crowned on our platforms for years to come,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said. “Whether it’s the unpredictability of a superspeedway, a Playoff cutoff race, or the championship finale, NBC Sports will use its wide array of platforms to present the dramatic conclusion to every NASCAR season for what will be 17 years at the end of this extension.”

Under its new deal, TNT Sports will be the exclusive home for five NASCAR Cup Series races that will appear in consecutive weeks each summer during the seven year deal. 

The races will also be streamed on Max’s B/R Sports add-on tier.

TNT has had a 32-year relationship with NASCAR but hasn't televised live races since 2014. The new agreement also provides expansive digital rights for content streaming 

“We are thrilled to welcome NASCAR back to TNT Sports, and build on our rich, shared history of providing immersive fan experiences that only our world-class team can deliver,” Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, said. “This agreement expands our portfolio of premium sports content throughout the summer and further elevates Max and our leading linear networks. We look forward to utilizing all of our resources to create new opportunities for compelling storytelling that connects with our fans, as we present the thrilling action and excitement on the track in innovative ways throughout the entire NASCAR season.”

NBCUniversal said it launched SportsEngine Play, a streaming service for youth and amateur sports.

The platform enables athletes, parents, coaches and administrators to stream sporting events live, so no one ever has to miss a game.

It also offers on-demand viewing of games, highlights and instructional videos by top athletes including Michael Phelps, Larry Fitzgerald, Shaun White, Maria Sharapova, Kerri Walsh Jennings and Justin Jefferson.

Basic live streaming of games and some on-demand video is available free. Other parts of the platform can be accessed as part of a subscription service. 

Subscribers can use the service to create highlights that can be shared with friends and family or posted on social media.

The video can also be used to put together highlight reels for young athletes looking to be recruited by colleges and other teams.

“We’re thrilled to introduce SportsEngine Play to the more than 30,000 youth sports organizations and the millions of players and families we serve through our NBC Sports Next technology platforms and applications,” said Brett MacKinnon, senior VP and general manager, youth and recreational Sports, NBC Sports Next, the Comcast NBCU subdivision that manages digital sports applications.

“Given our sports and media DNA, we’re uniquely positioned to deliver this product to the sports community — a preeminent streaming platform for all youth and amateur sports, with personalized video content, the best instructional and player development videos, and much more to come as we continue to grow,” MacKinnon said.

The streaming service is the result of NBC Sports Next’s 2022 acquisition of youth sports streaming provider Rapid Replay, which had been part of Comcast NBCU’s startup accelerator program. It was combined with SportsEngine, which helps parents locate sports organizations for their kids and provides tools for organizing teams and leagues. 

Rapid Replay founder NIck Busto, now VP of video operations at NBC Sports Next, told Broadcasting+Cable that youth sports is a huge industry, bigger than the NBA or NFL. It contracted during the pandemic but has rebounded, growing at about 20% a year. 

About 4 million people annually already use the SportsEngine app, Busto said. 

“Video is dominant in sports these days, and it is becoming that way in youth sports,” he said. 

SportsEngine Play is available on mobile devices. NBC Sports Next is planning to launch a SportsEngine Play connected-TV streaming app in 2024, so athletes and their families can watch the action at home.

SportsEngine Play content can be recorded by a parent or coach on a mobile phone. SportsEngine is also installing professional cameras in stadiums, arenas and gyms as organizations and leagues sign up.

NBC Sports Next is also building client branded SportsEngine Play platforms for partner organizations. Such as the Frisco Independent School District in Texas. NBC Sports Next launched a Frisco Sports Live web portal powered by SportsEngine Play, which will stream approximately 4,000 sporting events for the district’s 12 high schools and 18 middle schools during the school year.

There are free, premiere and All Access tiers for Sports Engine play. The free plan lets users capture and view live-streamed content.

The $9.99 a month ($99.99 annually) Premiere plan includes lives streaming and on-demand viewing of game replays, plus access to editing tools to create highlight videos.

The $19.99 a month ($199.99 a month) All-Access plan includes all live and on-demand streaming, editing tools, plus access to professionally produced sports content, including player development videos, instructional content from world-class athletes and access to top amateur sports competitions.

SportsEngine Play is offering launch pricing of $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year for the Premier plan and $9.99 a month and $79.99 annually for the All-Access tier.

The videos from top-flight athletes feature their training regimens, and insights on leadership and mental health.

“It’s a powerful thing to create opportunities to learn, grow and inspire within a deserving community, such as youth sports,” Walsh Jennings, the U.S. gold medal volleyball player, said. “I’m proud of the work my fellow champions and I have created with The Pros and so happy our content has found such a great home. My goal is to forever inspire and empower as many people as I can, and this partnership will allow for great and positive impact.”

The 2023 Rugby World Cup is advancing to the knockout stages, and various networks in the NBC Sports universe have the action. The World Cup is taking place in France and eight nations are still in the hunt. 

Peacock is streaming all 48 matches of the Cup, which kicked off September 8 and concludes October 28. It costs $5.99 monthly. 

CNBC has 15 matches and NBC has four replays of matches, including two quarterfinals and the final. 

On Saturday, October 14, Wales plays Argentina. Peacock has the match live at 11 a.m. ET, and NBC has it at 1 p.m.

At 3 p.m. ET that day, it’s Ireland versus New Zealand on Peacock. Interest in the match is sky high, as Ireland holds the top spot in world rugby rankings, and New Zealand, despite a pool-round loss to France and No. 4 world ranking, is always a contender to hold the Cup at the end. 

On Sunday, October 15, England and Fiji face off at 11 a.m. ET on Peacock, with NBC showing the match on delay at noon. 

Also on that day is host France against South Africa at 3 p.m. ET on Peacock. 

The semifinals happen October 20 and 21. The third-place match is on for October 27 and the final is on Peacock and CNBC at 3 p.m. Saturday, October 28. 

NBC has the final showing on Sunday, October 29 at noon. 

Former U.S. captain Dan Lyle and former England international Alex Corbisiero are studio hosts for NBC Sports. 

NBCUniversal said it has promoted Rick Cordella to president of NBC Sports.

The move follows the departure of NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua, who was tapped to be athletics director for his alma mater Notre Dame earlier this year.

Cordella has been president, programming, NBC Sports and Peacock Sports, playing a key role in the way NBCU allocates its sports assets between traditional TV and streaming. 

In his new role, Cordella will report to Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, and be responsible for a portfolio including NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Digital, Golf Now and SportsEngine. He will also work on the company’s regional sports network strategy and continue to oversee sports on Peacock.

Also Read: How NBC’s Rick Cordella Is Feathering Peacock’s Sports Nest

“Rick has been at the epicenter of NBC Sports for years with a proven track record of growth and innovation across platforms, particularly our flagship NBC network as well as Peacock, where he helped architect our leadership role in sports and streaming,” Lazarus said. “Rick will oversee the evolution of our business as we continue to offer the best experiences and content to our viewers, as well as be the best partner to leagues and rights holders.”

Cordella has been with NBCU since 2006. He was part of the team that started Peacock and served as the streaming service’s chief commercial officer and chief revenue officer. 

He joined NBCU when it acquired AllStar Stats, the parent company of Rotoworld.com.

NBCUniversal announced its coverage plans for the 2024 Paris Olympics, with NBC and Peacock offering an unprecedented amount of live coverage.

Given the time zone difference, every day, NBC will provide at least nine hours of coverage of the games during daytime. NBC will broadcast the finals of swimming, gymnastics, track and field and other events live.

During primetime NBC will present a three-hour show that will take Americans up close and inside the Olympics, with behind-the-scenes access, new technology and views from iconic locations around Paris.

“The Paris Olympics are going to be the most binge-worthy event of 2024,“ NBC Spotts chairman Pete Bevacqua said. “Viewers will devour every moment of the Games for 17 straight nights on NBC in primetime where the stories of the day will be retold with special dramatic flair in front of the gathered American audience.

“For those wanting to watch the competition as it happens, Peacock will have everything live, creating the greatest single destination in sports media history,“ he added. “From the spectacular landmarks of Paris to the world’s greatest athletes performing in front of full stadiums and arenas for the first time in six years, viewers can expect one of the most extraordinary Olympics ever.” 

As the Olympics’ streaming home, Peacock will stream every sports and event, including all 329 medal events. It will also have replays, NBC programming and video clips on-demand, along with virtual channels and original programming.

“Peacock is bringing the rich history of these incredible games to our viewers like never before, providing unparalleled and unprecedented access to one of the world’s greatest sporting events,” Kelly Campbell, president, president of Peacock and Direct to Consumer at NBCU said. “Already home to more live sports than any other SVOD service, Peacock is proud to be the streaming home of Team USA and all of their passionate fans.”

NBCU said Telemundo will provide Spanish-language coverage of the Olympics, with additional coverage on its Universo cable channel. Telemundo will focus on the men’s and women’s soccer competitions.

Some Olympic events will also appear on NBCU’s USA Network, E!, CNBC and Golf Channel. 

NBCU will also be television the Paris Paralympics. Coverage plans for those competitions will be released at a future date.

The Olympics will be held from July 26 through August 11.

Comcast NBCUniversal purchased the rights to televise the summer and winter Olympics in the U.S. through 2032.

The final round of the Six Nations Rugby Championship is on NBC, Peacock and CNBC March 18. Unbeaten Ireland faces England at 1 p.m. ET in Dublin live on NBC and Peacock. Six Nations action has run on Peacock and CNBC all season, but it's NBC's first match from the Six Nations Championship this season. 

Ireland, England, France, Italy, Scotland and Wales compete in the Six Nations tournament. 

Action on Saturday, March 18 starts at 8:30 a.m. ET on Peacock and CNBC as Scotland hosts Italy in Edinburgh. France hosts Wales outside of Paris at 10:30 a.m. ET on Peacock and CNBC. 

Ireland is 4-0. France is 3-1 and Scotland and England are 2-2. Wales is 1-3 and Italy is winless. 

Ahmed Fareed is the studio host and the studio analysts are Dan Lyle, former U.S. team captain, and Alex Corbisiero, who played for England. Lyle represented the U.S. 45 times from 1994 to 2003, and was captain for 24 test matches. 

Ireland is going for its 15th title in the championship, and the fifth since the Five Nations tournament became the Six Nations, when Italy joined in 2000. With a win Saturday, Ireland would earn its first Grand Slam title, winning all five matches, since 2018. ■

Peacock will step to the plate April 23 for the second season of its MLB Sunday Leadoff baseball package in hopes of continuing to build on the streaming service’s appeal to sports fans. 

The NBCUniversal-owned streamer will air 19 Sunday-morning games beginning April 23, taking full advantage of its exclusive TV window for MLB telecasts through 1:30 p.m. Last year’s games highlighted Peacock’s growing lineup of live sports content, which includes English Premier League soccer games, rugby and WWE programming, along with simulcasts of NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football, NBC Sports and Peacok Sports president, programming Rick Cordella said.

Cordella outlined Peacock’s Sunday baseball strategy in an interview with Multichannel News. A lightly edited transcript appears below.

MCN: What benefits did last season’s Sunday baseball game package bring to Peacock’s overall strategy to reach sports fans? 

Rick Cordella: Certainly, baseball has an appeal to sports fans and it did drive new subscribers. When you have the [New York] Yankees’ Aaron Judge exclusively on your platform, there are people that don’t want to miss any of the at-bats. It’s a pretty good volume of folks that have come through on Sunday mornings to watch the games, but the key for us is not for them to be transactional and come for just one game. We want them to come in to watch the Yankees, [Boston] Red Sox or any team and then stay for the other sports content we have, or stay for the other entertainment content. Hopefully, those viewers will be exposed to the great offerings we have in movies from Universal and series like Yellowstone and The Office. We’re hoping that baseball is a catalyst for us in that regard. 

MCN: With one year under your belt, what are your expectations for Peacock’s upcoming season of Sunday baseball games?

RC: We went into last year hoping that the earlier window and the exclusivity of that window up until 1:30 [ET], would drive fans to it. We saw in the data that we have a national audience for baseball on Peacock that came and watched each and every week. It’s good to be in business with baseball — it’s the sport of the summer, and having live sports each and every weekend is something that’s important to Peacock and our overall media mix, and it fits in a great place on our schedule overall. We were really happy with how the season went last year and we’re looking forward to this season. 

MCN: Is Peacock looking to make any major changes or tweaks to its offering this year? 

RC: The only tweak we made was to not be so pigeonholed in the 11:30 am or 12 pm start time for our games. You’ll see on the schedule that we’ve gone a little later to grab a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, which wouldn’t be possible at those earlier times. Besides that, it’s sort of the same formula.

B+C: Baseball has made several rules changes to the game this season. What is your opinion of those changes, and do you think it will help drive greater viewership appeal for the sport? 

RC: I think baseball is being progressive, and that’s what you want from our partners. They are asking the right questions as to what the fans want and what’s going to appeal to the fans overall. I’m not sure there will be a discrete correlation to the game-to-game audience, but you have to give Commissioner [Rob] Manfred and the entire baseball brass a lot of credit for making these pretty drastic changes to the sport. ▪️

As Sinclair continues to play bankruptcy chicken with its creditors and league partners in an attempt to restructure more than $9 billion in debt tied to its Bally Sports channels, Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly told teams tied to its four regional sports networks that they have until March 31 to buy back their TV rights.

According to Sports Business Journal, WBD told 10 teams affiliated with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League they have until March 31 to negotiate a buyback of their rights. If an agreement can’t be made, WBD will conduct a Chapter 7 liquidation filing. 

Also read: Is WBD Cool to the RSN Biz, Too? Light AT&T SportsNet Envelopes Stir Concerns Among Sports Media Watchers

WBD’s declaration means that currently, key revenue streams from TV rights for a collective 52 teams across three major sports leagues are in limbo, factoring in the 42 teams impacted by the Bally Sports issue.

And things are tough all over for regional sports networks, which routinely generated profit margins of 50% or more just four years ago. 

Earlier this month, for instance, The Walt Disney Co. disclosed that its SEC Network ended 2022 with 51 million subscribers, down 14% since 2019. (See page 7 on Disney's 10K filing.) 

NBCUniversal, meanwhile, said it has only 15 million remaining customers for its five NBC Sports RSNs, down from 21 million in 2021. (That's page 8 on Comcast's 2022 10K. Some of that loss can be attributed to NBCU selling its share of its Washington/Baltimore RSN back to its partner teams a year ago.)

And the moribund Pac-12 Networks might, according to a published report, sign a distribution deal with Apple “because no one else will give them money,” a individual familiar with the negotiation told Next TV. 

“The RSNs are definitely the hot-house flowers of pay TV,” Patrick Crakes, a former Fox executive turned sports media consultant also told Next TV. 

The “decade-long phenomenon that is cord-cutting“ is taking are particularly acute toll on programming networks with narrowly focused content, Crakes explained, but this shouldn’t fool anyone to believe the leagues will suddenly shift their rights to streaming. 

”Nobody has been able to make that work yet, including Netflix,” Crakes said, noting the more than decade — and billions of dollars — of deficit spending it took the streaming giant to get to a place where it could report a profit. 

Also read: Scripps Sports: Phones ‘Already Ringing’ as Regional Sports Nets Implode

On Friday morning during an earnings call, E.W. Scripps CEO Adam Symson said his phone has been ”ringing off the hook” with those seeking to discuss moving live sports programming on RSNs to local broadcast, as the RSN business experiences what he called an ”implosion.” 

Crakes bristles at that hyperbolic word choice — there’s simply too much tread left on the RSN business, he said, and the OTT ”plus” business simply can't generate replacement revenue yet. 

To Crakes’s thinking, the RSN business has indeed peaked, but channels can still yield margins of 10% to 20% for those such as NBCU who aren’t carrying any debt on them. 

And he believes that once the dust settles with the current Sinclair and WBD restructurings, that’s exactly the kind of mature business RSNs will settle into — one that will let both media companies and pro sports team partners bide their time until digital models do generate enough revenue to support the lifestyles in which they’ve all become accustomed. 

Sinclair Has 'Very Effectively Used Bankruptcy'

While MLB commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to issued a stern ultimatum when he suggested nearly two weeks ago that pro baseball was prepared to replace TV distribution for 14 of its teams should a bankruptcy filing by Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group disrupt TV rights revenue, Crakes doesn't think the MLB really has any such alternatives. 

Digital distribution can’t replace the 10% to 30% of overall revenue teams receive from their RSN deals with Diamond. It’s still overwhelmingly in their best interest to find a way for Sinclair, Diamond and Bally Sports to go on. 

Diamond, Crakes also said, isn’t actually as cash-strapped as many have been led to believe. But the cost of maintaining all the debt on the Bally Sports channels has reduced margins to razor-thin levels. Sinclair, he explained, has “very effectively used bankruptcy” to move forward with a reshuffling of the deck, hoping to trade equity in the 19 Bally Sports channels for its debt. 

Sinclair hopes to come out of all this as a minority owner of an RSN group that generates around 15% margins, debt-free, with a new ownership group — perhaps private equity — in control. 

Meanwhile, some of the 19 Bally Sports channels might be offloaded to other RSN groups, such as NBC Sports, that could provide a better fit for them, Crakes said, noting the networks’ origins under Fox Sports ownership. 

”That portfolio was designed for us at Fox in a different era, where they would be bundled with news channels and FX and local affiliates,” Crakes said. 

As for the AT&T SportsNet channels serving Denver, Houston and Pittsburgh, they were inherited by AT&T amid its DirecTV purchase in 2015, and then spun off with WarnerMedia and tied up into the $43 billion merger with Discovery. 

Crakes called this AT&T SportsNet portfolio — which also includes a minority stake in Root Sports Seattle — an ”orphan,“ a poor fit for an indebted WBD that’s conducted around $4 billion in synergy cuts recently. 

In fact, AT&T itself tried to sell the channels to Sinclair, before Sinclair paid $10.6 billion for the Fox Sports networks in 2019, later rebranding them as “Bally Sports.”

AT&T, too, is leveraging the bankruptcy threat to push its debt and team partners to help restructure the AT&T SportsNet business. 

“The teams are going to work with the distributors to keep the value chain intact,” Crakes predicted. The RSN business is “never going to be a growth business again,” but it will reemerge after the Sinclair and WBD restructurings as still viable, at least in the near term. ■

NBC Sports announced that it has signed up for the U.S. television rights for Tour de France for six more years through 2029.

Beginning in 2024, all stages of the famed bicycle race will be presented live exclusively on Peacock, Comcast NBCUniversal’s streaming service. Some stages of the race will be simulcast on NBC.

NBC Sports will produce daily pre-race and race recap shows that will stream on Peacock. 

The deal includes other events represented by Amaury Sports Organisation, including Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, La Vuelta, Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris and the Dakar Rally.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We’re excited to reach this long-term agreement with A.S.O. to present the world’s most prestigious cycling event live on Peacock for years to come,” said Jon Miller, president, acquisitions and partnerships, NBC Sports. “With the Tour de France and our extensive cycling portfolio, we are proud to continue as the home of cycling in the United States, while continuing to bolster Peacock’s best-in-class slate of live sports programming.”

Comcast/NBC Sports has been the U.S. home of the Tour de France since 2001.

Also Read: How NBC’s Rick Cordella Is Feathering Peacock’s Sports Nest

“We are delighted to be able to extend our long-term partnership with NBCUniversal, which promotes the Tour de France and all the major A.S.O. sporting events to the American public on a cross-platform basis, including women's cycling such as the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift that NBC Sports has supported since the first edition in July 2022,” said Yann Le Moenner, CEO of A.S.O. 

“The combined coverage via Peacock, which will show the entire races from the beginning to the end, and network television, will ensure that everyone has access to the best of world cycling. Super fans won't miss any of the twists and turns that cycling holds. NBC Sports will remain the home of cycling in the United States for another six years and in 2029 we will celebrate the 29th anniversary of a historic partnership that is proof of America's sincere love for cycling and the Tour,” he said. ■

Peacock will step to the plate in 2023 with the second season of its Sunday morning MLB Sunday Leadoff baseball package beginning April 23.

The 19-game package launches with the National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies hosting the Colorado Rockies, said the streaming service. NBC Sports will offer pre- and post-game shows for each live Peacock game. 

The MLB Sunday Leadoff package will feature six games starting at 11:30 am, 10 games at 12:05 pm and three games at 1:05, and will feature exclusive live MLB action until 1:35 pm each Sunday, according to the streaming service.

Also: YouTube TV Drops MLB Network

Peacock in 2022 launched its inaugural 18-game baseball schedule, joining Apple TV Plus as streaming services offering a live package of Major League Baseball games. 

“We’re excited to continue our partnership with Major League Baseball and build upon last season’s MLB Sunday Leadoff success,” NBC Sports President of Programming Rick Cordella said in a statement. “The exclusive presentation of MLB games in a unique Sunday morning time slot, which caters to baseball fans and families alike, continue to make Peacock the go-to streaming destination for sports fans.”

Peacock’s 2023 MLB Sunday Leadoff lineup of games is as follows:

Streaming service Peacock tonight (December 2) debuts its inaugural Peacock Classic game between the 2021 NCAA men’s college basketball finalists — No.6 Baylor and No. 14 Gonzaga — as it continues its live Spanish-language coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament alongside sister NBCUniversal broadcast service Telemundo. 

The events are part of an ever-expanding lineup of live sports programming the streaming service features, including Premier League soccer games, simulcasts of NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football telecasts and, beginning next year, Big Ten College football and basketball games.

Newly named Peacock Sports and NBC Sports programming president Rick Cordella spoke to Multichannel News about Peacock’s sports strategy, including tonight’s Peacock Classic college basketball event, as well as the streaming service's World Cup performance, which has accounted for a record 26% of Telemundo’s total viewership for the tournament through November 26, according to NBC Sports.

Peacock’s Nov. 26 Argentina-Mexico match was the most streamed FIFA World Cup match in US media history regardless of language, averaging more than 2 million viewers, according to NBC Sports. 

Overall through the first seven days of  the tournament, NBC Sports is averaging  2.57 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, which is up 24% compared to the 2018 World Cup tournament, according to Nielsen. 

An edited version of the interview appears below: 

MCN: How did the inaugural Peacock Classic event come about and how does it fit into NBC Sports’ strategy for airing exclusive, live sports content on the streaming service?

Rick Cordella: It came to us as an opportunity. Sports has been an anchor of the Peacock service, and we have one of the widest and deepest sports portfolios of a streamer out there. That includes all of the simulcasts of games we have to offer, the exclusivity of the Premier League, what we're currently doing with the World Cup, what we have for golf, the WWE and all the other various sports. This past summer we completed a Big 10 rights agreement, and with that deal, we're going to have eight or nine football games exclusively on Peacock and another 15 or so on NBC, which will be simulcast on Peacock, as well as 35-plus men's basketball games from the Big 10 in the 2023-24 season. So as we’re getting into college basketball anyway, the [Peacock Classic] is an opportunity for us with Baylor and Gonzaga attached to it. The game also has a NIL (name, image and likeness) component, where the players will promote the game or the service overall. So we're experimenting and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited and hopefully, it’ll be a good game tonight. 

MCN: Is the Peacock Classic franchise something that you’re looking to continue annually? 

RC: For sure. We’re certainly a data-driven organization — if we see the data tonight that says this performed well in terms of driving subscribers, engagement and sponsorship, that’s something we would want to repeat. 

MCN: Do you see college sports content as a driver to bring in younger viewers to Peacock?

RC: Yes. The way I look at it, where the intensity of viewership is high, that's the content that typically resonates on the streamer. Certainly, there’s some lean-back content that’s on broadcast TV that has high numbers, but when you have a World Cup, Premier League or, in this case, college basketball, the fans of those teams and schools are really into the games. Just look at the passion every Saturday afternoon in any given stadium in America — people are really into it. That’s the kind of content we want to bring to Peacock.

MCN: Tonight’s game comes right in the middle of Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup, which is streaming on Peacock. How have the games performed on Peacock through the first round of the tournament? 

RC: It’s doing remarkably well for us — beyond our expectations, honestly. I think there’s an opportunity here to attract a younger audience that may exist outside of pay TV that didn't have access to this content. Peacock is effectively the exclusive (direct-to-consumer) deliverer of the World Cup, so I think we’re taking advantage of that to a certain degree. We’re seeing great numbers. ■  

Rick Cordella has been named president, programming for NBC Sports and Peacock Sports.

Cordella is rejoining NBC Sports from Peacock, where he was chief commercial officer. He will focus on maximizing distribution on broadcast, cable and streaming, and oversee sports betting and sports fantasy efforts.

NBC Sports also named Tom Knapp executive VP, golf. He was executive VP, programming at NBC Sports Group and executive VP, partnerships & programming at Golf Channel previously.

"We are thrilled to strengthen our leadership team on multiple fronts,” said NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua.

“Rick had a tremendous track record in 13 plus years with NBC Sports and was the architect of multiple NBC Sports Digital platforms before undertaking a central role in the development and launch of Peacock. We are excited to welcome him home to NBC Sports, where he will continue to work closely with the executive team at Peacock, which is integral to the growth of NBC Sports,” Bevacqua said. “ In addition, this move will allow Tom to maintain a singular focus on golf – his area of expertise and deep relationships with the Tours, organizations, and properties – which will greatly benefit our businesses across the industry.” ■

NBC Sports said it made a deal with BetMGM that will integrate BetMGM into Football Night in America and other NBC Sports content.

During Football Night in America on Sundays on NBC, BetMGM will be featured in segments hosted by former NFL quarterback Chris Simms and sports betting and fantasy expert Matthew Berry. The segment will look at betting lines and situation that could expect wagering on that weeks Sunday Night Football game. 

Betting lines from BetMGM will also be featured on the score and stats ticker at the bottom of the screen during Peacock Sunday Night Football Final.

“It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with the talented team at NBC Sports and have the ability to engage with football fans nationwide,” said Matt Prevost, chief revenue officer at BetMGM. “We look forward to delivering NBC viewers our BetMGM trading team insights as well as entertaining segments that showcase the excitement of betting with BetMGM.”

NBC Sports will also feature BetMGM odds and lines in all betting and fantasy content hosted by Berry on platforms including Peacock, and on co-branded content hosted by Simms, including the Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast.

“As we continue to innovate within the rapidly growing sports-betting marketplace, this new partnership with BetMGM will allow NBC Sports to engage more fans across multiple platforms,” said Will McIntosh, president of NBC Sports Next & Fandango. “We’re looking forward to collaborating with BetMGM and are excited about the future activation opportunities this partnership will present.” ■

The launch of the 2022-23 Premier League soccer season kicks off the lineup of live TV sports events slated for the first weekend of August. 

NBC Sports will mark its 10th year of Premier League coverage with eight live games on streaming service Peacock over the weekend, while USA Network will provide live coverage of the Chelsea-Everton matchup. 

Also on the soccer field, ABC on Saturday will air MLS action featuring Seattle at Atlanta, while Fox will televise the Dallas-Portland contest. 

On the links, USA Network and NBC will offer final round coverage of the LPGA British Open while CBS and the Golf Channel televise weekend coverage of the PGA Wyndham Championship.

ESPN will enter the octagon Saturday night for a UFC Fight Night telecast featuring a main event bout between light heavyweights Thiago Santos and Jamahal Hill. 

Peacock’s Sunday afternoon baseball game will feature an American League battle between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Guardians, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will showcase National League West rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. 

ABC will hit the hardwood Sunday with WNBA doubleheader action, beginning with the Connecticut Sun-Chicago Sky contest, followed by the Las Vegas Aces-Seattle Storm game.■ 

Al Michaels, a part of NBC’s Sunday Night Football since 2006 and now the play-by-play announcer for Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football, will continue to contribute to NBC Sports broadcasts in an emeritus role.

NBC Sports said Michaels will be involved in high-profile events such as the NFL playoffs and the Olympics.

“Revered by viewers and colleagues, Al has been the soundtrack for many of the greatest moments in sports television history,” said NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua. “We are thrilled that he’s staying in the family and raising the stature of our events for years to come.”

Michaels’ move to Amazon was part of an unprecedented round of musical chairs that also saw Troy Aikman and Joe Buck move to ESPN from Fox and Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady sign with Fox Sports — although he won’t start till he hangs up his cleats and retires from the NFL as a player.

“I’m looking forward to continuing my longtime NBC relationship while also launching the Thursday Night Football package on Amazon this fall. A special thanks to NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua and the folks at NBCUniversal for their help in making this happen,” Michaels said.

Michaels called his 11th Super Bowl in February. His most memorable call might have come when he said “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics. ■

DirecTV is taking a big swing covering the 126th Roland Garros French Open tennis tournament.

Starting Sunday, the satellite TV provider will have seven separate channels dedicated to live action. 

DirecTV is also planning to air one women’s semifinal and one men’s semifinal and the men’s final and women’s final in 4K ultra high definition produced by NBC Sports.

“DirecTV is always looking to create the most immersive experience possible for all sports fans,” said Chief Content Officer Rob Thun. “Watching some of tennis’ all-time greats competing against an exciting field with new rising stars, culminating in semis and finals captured in brilliant 4K UHD from the red clay, is just about as good as it gets.”

DirecTV’s “Roland Garros Experience” will be anchored by a mosaic channel showing simultaneous actions, with channels focused on the match play on the Phillipe Chartier, Suzanne Lenglen and Simone Matthieu courts located outside Paris.

Viewers will also be able to access several on-demand enhancements to enable Grand Slam fans to call up up-to-the-minute match results; an onscreen ticker with real-time scores; the updated women’s and men’s tournament draw; individual player bios; and recent results.

Beyond DirecTV’s 4K coverage, the Tennis Channel, available to DirecTV subscribers, will also be providing French Open content. ■

Peacock said Jason Benetti will be the play-by-play voice for MLB Sunday Leadoff, the streaming service's weekly package of early baseball games.

Benetti, who does White Sox games on NBC Sports Chicago, will be joined by a local analyst during each game. 

“Jason is one of the best baseball announcers in the business,” said Sam Flood, NBC Sports executive producer. “We’re excited to expand his role within the NBC Sports family with a new national MLB platform to complement his role as the voice of the White Sox for NBC Sports Chicago.”

The first MLB Sunday Leadoff game on Peacock will be May 8 when the White Sox play the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The telecast will start at 11:30 a.m. ET and Peacock’s coverage will be simulcast on NBC.

“I am simply ecstatic to be a part of MLB Sunday Leadoff,” Benetti said. “One of the true joys of calling games is knowing that each partner I work with provides a new perspective, energy and personality to the telecast. To get to start the baseball day on Sunday every week with analysts who are so knowledgeable about their teams and distinct as people will be an absolute pleasure.”

Sports is becoming an increasingly important piece of ammunition in the streaming wars. Apple TV Plus also has a deal with MLB to stream national doubleheaders on Friday nights and Amazon, a part owner of the YES Network, will stream Yankees games in a TV package local to the New York City market.

Benetti has been calling MLB games nationally on ESPN and ESPN Radio since 2011. Last summer Benetti was NBC Sports' lead baseball play-by-play announcer during the Tokyo Olympics. 

Peacock's package will have it airing baseball for 18 consecutive weeks. The first six games start at 11:30 a.m. ET. The following 12 will start at noon.

Each game will be surrounded with pre-game and post-game shows produced by NBC Sports on Peacock. Ahmed Fareed is the host of MLB Sunday Leadoff. ■

NBC Sports is talking to Major League Baseball about bringing some of its games to its Peacock streaming service, according to the New York Post.

Apple is also in talks to stream games, the paper said.

If NBC Sports is able to make a deal, some games would be broadcast on NBC, but the majority would appear on Peacock, which could use the kind of boost that sports programming could provide.

Also: NBCU Will Stream All Winter Olympic Coverage on Peacock

NBC Sports had no comment.

Rights to the games would cost about $100 million to $150 million of they get played. Baseball owners have locked out the MLB Players Association and have said they will shorten the season if an agreement isn’t struck by Monday.

MLB baseball games are currently televised by Fox, Turner Sports and ESPN, but ESPN has cut back on the number of games it carries, leaving room for another carrier. ■

The TV sports lineup for the weekend leading into the President’s Day holiday starts on the basketball court with the 2022 NBA All-Star Game from Cleveland. 

On Saturday TNT will provide live coverage of the All-Star Skills Challenge, which features the 3-point contest and the Slam Dunk Contest. On Sunday TNT and TBS will offer alternative live feeds of the All-Star Game.

NBC Sports will wrap up its Winter Olympics coverage on Saturday with coverage of the finals in figure skating, ice hockey, speed skating and women’s curling across networks USA, CNBC and NBC. On Sunday NBC will air the closing ceremonies live at 7 am (ET) and repeat in primetime.  The full schedule of Olympics events can be found here.

In other sports, FS1 hits the auto racing circuit Saturday with live coverage of the ARCA Menards Series Lucas Oil 200 race and the Xfinity: Beef. It’s What’s For dinner 300 race.

On the greens, CBS and Golf Channel will provide weekend coverage of the PGA’s Genesis Invitational golf tournament. On the soccer field, USA, NBC and Peacock will offer live Premier League game coverage on Saturday, while USA will offer a Premier League doubleheader on Sunday.

Fox on Sunday will rev up coverage of the NASCAR’s Daytona 500 race, while CBS saddles up to telecast the Professional Bull Riders’ Ticketmaster Invitational championship round. 

ESPN Plus will offer a live Saturday night boxing card headlined by a welterweight matchup between former champions Amir Khan and Kell Brook. The streaming service will also telecast live a UFC Fight Night card featuring a light heavyweight tilt between Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill.

Top-10 college basketball teams in action on national TV nets Saturday include second-ranked Auburn against Florida on ESPN, third-ranked Arizona facing Oregon on ESPN, and fourth-ranked Kentucky battling No. 25 Alabama on CBS. Also on tap are No. 6 Kansas-West Virginia (ESPN), No. 7 Baylor-TCU (ESPN 2), No. 9 Duke-Florida State (ESPN) and No. 10 Villanova-Georgetown (Fox). Sunday’s lineup includes No. 5 Purdue-Rutgers (FS1) and No. 8 Providence-Butler (FS1).

With no NFL games scheduled for this weekend, NBC’s coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics highlights this weekend’s top TV sports events. 

USA Network, CNBC, NBC and Peacock will feature live weekend coverage of the Olympics from Beijing. Events to be featured include men’s and women’s speed skating, women’s ice hockey, team figure skating, freestyle skiing and curling. The full schedule of Olympics events can be found here.

In other sports, ABC will continue its Saturday primetime NBA telecasts with coverage of the New York Knicks-Los Angeles Lakers contest. On the ice, ABC on Saturday will air the NHL All-star Game.

In the squared ring, Fox Sports will distribute a pay-per-view boxing card featuring a main event fight between welterweights Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios. 

Also, NBC Sports will provide weekend coverage of the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship on CNBC and streaming service Peacock. 

On the college basketball court Saturday, top-seeded Auburn faces Georgia on the SEC Network, second-ranked Gonzaga plays BYU on ESPN, and third-ranked UCLA battles Arizona State on ESPN2. Other games include fifth-ranked Kentucky-Alabama (ESPN),  seventh-ranked Arizona-No. 19 USC (Fox), eighth-ranked Baylor-No. 10 Kansas (ESPN), and ninth-ranked Duke-North Carolina (ESPN). On Sunday, sixth-ranked Houston will battle Cincinnati on ESPN2.■ 

NBCUniversal said its broadcast of Super Bowl LVI is sold out across NBC, Telemundo and all digital platforms including Peacock, with only a handful of pre-game spots still remaining.

NBC said the game will set a record for the average price for a spot and that multiple 30-second spots sold for $7 million.

Every in-game advertiser will run spots on NBC, NBC streaming assets including Peacock and Telemundo.

Also: Amazon Buys Super Bowl Spot To Promote ‘Thursday Night Football’

“The NFL has never been stronger and has led us to new records this year,“ NBCU president, advertising and partnerships Mark Marshall said. “From Sunday Night Football to Football Night in America and through the nail-biting playoffs, we’ve seen an increased appetite for fans to watch the NFL across all our platforms.  

“This multiplatform consumption has attracted even more advertisers who have the desire for the immediate scaled reach of sports,“ Marshall added. ”And with the power of our One Platform, we’re able to utilize these major moments to maximize viewership and drive business impact for our advertising partners.” 

Also: Fox Is Selling 2023 Super Bowl Spots as Sports Ad Market Heats Up

Two weeks ago, NBC said it had a handful of Super Bowl spots to sell, but that it was holding those until the game’s matchup was decided to give last-minute advertisers a shot at the big game.

The Los Angeles Rams will be playing the Cincinnati Bengals.

NBC has also been busy selling ads in the Beijing Winter Olympics, which will be taking place before, after and during the Super Bowl. 

NBC said there were more than 30 advertisers in this year’s game who weren’t in last year’s Super Bowl. They represent about 40% of Super Bowl advertisers. The new advertisers are in 12 different categories, including automotive, technology and travel.

The categories showing the largest growth in this year’s Super Bowl, compared to last year’s game are automotive, technology, entertainment, travel and health and wellness. ■ 

NBC Sports has the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship, which begins February 5. The annual competition features England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, with each team playing the other ones over the course of six weeks. 

All matches are live on Peacock, with delayed viewing on CNBC and, in some cases, NBC. 

Ireland and Wales play February 5. Peacock has the action live at 9:15 a.m. ET, and CNBC airs it starting at 12 p.m. ET. Scotland plays England on Peacock at 11:45 a.m. that day, then CNBC at 2 p.m.

On February 6, France and Italy face off at 10 a.m. on Peacock, then 3 p.m. on CNBC. 

Dan Lyle is in the studio with Alex Corbisiero. Lyle captained the U.S. rugby team starting in the late '90s, and played seven seasons for the Bath club in the U.K. Corbisiero played for England in the Six Nations in 2011 and 2012. 

Both Peacock and CNBC will have live coverage of all three matches February 26-27, and then for Wales versus Italy March 19.

Wales won the Six Nations title last year, with France finishing in second. ■

Looking to try to grab a big audience for springtime professional football, the new USFL’s first regular season game will be broadcast live by both NBC and Fox in primetime on April 16.

NBC Sports and Fox have split the broadcast rights to the new league under multi-year deals.

The game will feature the New Jersey General playing the Birmingham Stallions at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama.

“Having two broadcast networks combine and start something like the USFL is not only unique but represents our commitment to making spring football succeed,” said Pete Bevacqua, chairman, NBC Sports. “We’re excited about the opportunity, and we appreciate the partnership and cooperation that we’ve had with Eric and his team at Fox Sports.”

NBC will produce pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Fox will produce coverage of the game itself, with the same sportscasters appearing on each network.

Both networks will run the same commercials during the broadcast.

“The first game played in any new league is itself historical and having the USFL’s inaugural game simulcast by NBC and Fox makes it even more so,” said Fox Sports CEO and executive producer Eric Shanks. “It’s rare when two competitors can come together and see how cooperation can lead to long-term benefit, and it wouldn’t be possible without having terrific relationships with Pete, Jon Miller, and so many others at NBC Sports.” 

Also: Fox Talent Takes Top Posts at New USFL Football League

Historically, the first Super Bowl was broadcast by both CBS, which aired NFL games and NBC, which had a deal with the newer AFL. More recently in 2007, NBC, CBS and the NFL Network all carried the Patriots final game of the regular season against the Giants as the Patriots pursued a perfect season.

Between them, NBC and Fox plan to carry 43 regular-season and postseason USFL games this season. 

NBC Sports will present nine games on NBC, four on Peacock and nine on USA Network. Fox will have 14 on Fox and eight on FS1. ■ 

With the ushering in of the the new year came the demise of several cable networks which ceased operations by January 1.

NBC Sports pulled the plug on its national sports network NBCSN, nearly a decade after being rebranded from the former Versus network. The network had served as the outlet for NBC Sports Premier League Soccer and NASCAR auto racing programming – all of which will now shift to USA Network and NBCU’s streaming service Peacock, according to network officials. 

Year's end often brings at least temporary outages of channels as carriage agreements expire. In other cases, disputes get settled, as was the case with Mediacom's cable operations and Paxton Media's NBC-affiliated TV station in Paducah, Kentucky. 

Originally launched as the Outdoor Life Network in 1995 and later renamed Versus in 2006, NBCSN was also the home of NBC Sports’ National Hockey League coverage before losing league TV rights to ESPN/TNT in 2021. 

 “We are excited to transition the cable coverage of many of our premium sports events to USA Network, Peacock, and other widely-distributed NBCUniversal platforms, which will give us a significant boost in television homes and will put us in an even stronger position as we grow our business,” said NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua in a statement.

Another national sports network, ESPN Classic, closed its doors on Jan. 1. The service, originally launched in 1995 by Brian Bedol and Steve Greenberg as Classic Sports Network, was purchased by ESPN in 1997 and featured replays of vintage sports events and some live programming. The network in recent years had lost carriage to other ESPN-owned sports services before being decommissioned on Saturday.

Univision on December 31 also ceased operations for its English-language cable news and lifestyle network Fusion TV. The Spanish-language network launched Fusion TV in 2013 in an effort to reach young, Hispanic viewers.

Univision pulled the plug on Fusion TV to turn its focus toward serving Spanish-language audiences, according to Forbes. 

In a statement Univision said: “As a company and a brand, Univision is committed to serving Spanish-language audiences, currently in the U.S. and soon globally with the launch of our streaming service in 2022. To continue delivering on that mission, our sole focus will be on this growing audience – currently nearly 600 million strong – and, to that end, we ceased operations of English-language network, Fusion TV on December 31, 2021. With this renewed direction under our new leadership, Univision is doubling down on its focus and strategic investments to fill the need for in-language and in-culture content for Spanish-speaking audiences around the world.”■

NBC Sports will join Fox Sports in carrying live games from the reincarnated USFL pro football league as part of a multi-year deal reached between the parties. 

NBC Sports will carry all 21 games from the Fox Sports-controlled USFL league, which will begin play in April 2022 with eight-teams playing a 10-week regular season schedule. Of NBC Sports’ 21 USFL telecasts, eight will air on NBC, nine will air on USA Network, and four will stream on Peacock.

NBC Sports joins Fox Sports, which will air 22 USFL games split between Fox (12) and FS1 (10). The eight USFL teams – all franchises that were part of the inaugural USFL league that ran from 1983 to 1985 before folding – include The Birmingham Stallions, Houston Gamblers, New Orleans Breakers, Tampa Bay Bandits, Michigan Panthers, New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Pittsburgh Maulers.

"We're excited to partner with the USFL and Fox Sports to present this new era of professional football," NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua said in a statement.  "With our multiple platforms across broadcast, cable, and streaming, football fans throughout the country will be able to experience the USFL's opening season this spring." 

Added Fox Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks: "We're thrilled to have NBC Sports join Fox Sports as an official media partner of the new USFL. Like Fox, NBC has a reputation for excellence in football production, and the exposure both companies have committed to the USFL, including a combined 20 games on broadcast television, will provide fans unprecedented access all season long."

The USFL is the latest pro football league to attempt to compete against the powerful National Football League. The WWE-backed XFL launched in 2020 but cancelled its season the same year due to the pandemic. The XFL was purchased in 2020 by a group including former wrestler and current movie star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and is reported to launch sometime in 2023. ■  

NBCUniversal will remain the home for the English Premier League soccer games as part of a new six-year television deal announced Thursday. 

The agreement calls for NBC Sports to remain the Premier League’s official broadcast partner through 2028. NBC Sports, which has aired Premier League games in the U.S. since 2012, will telecast all 380 matches each year across such networks as NBC, USA Network and Peacock, as well as Spanish-language rights for Telemundo Deportes, according to NBC Sports.  

“We are excited to come to this long-term extension with the Premier League,” said  NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua in a statement. “Our Premier League team, led by Jon Miller, has been incredibly dedicated to growing the Premier League in the United States over the last nine years. This new agreement is also a testament to the hard work of production, marketing and other areas of our company, as well as the tremendous partnership that has been established with the leadership and club owners of the Premier League.”

Added Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters: “We are delighted to announce our new US broadcast deal with NBC Sports, who have been brilliant partners for the Premier League over the last nine seasons. NBC Sports has significantly strengthened the popularity of the League in the United States in that time through its fantastic coverage and promotion.”

The deal comes as NBC Sports plans to shut down its NBCSN national sports network -- which has carried a significant amount of Premier Soccer games over the years -- at the end of 2021. Much of that inventory is expected to move to USA Network as well as NBCU streaming service Peacock. Miller and Bevacqua said in a Thursday afternoon press conference that Premier League games will maintain a strong presence on the linear platform as well as on the streaming service. ■ 

Also: NBCU Pushes More Sports Programming onto USA Network

NBCUniversal said several of its NBC Sports franchises will be finding new homes on cable on USA Network in 2022, including Premier League soccer, NASCAR and IndyCar races.

The shift comes as the company shuts down the NBCSN cable network at the end of the year. Some sports programming will also be appearing on CNBC and Peacock.

“We are excited to transition the cable coverage of many of our premium sports events to USA Network, Peacock, and other widely-distributed NBCUniversal platforms, which will give us a significant boost in television homes and will put us in an even stronger position as we grow our business,” said Pete Bevacqua, chairman, NBC Sports.

Sports coverage on USA in 2022 will kick off with a Premier League triple-header starting at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Day.

NBCU said that during the Tokyo Olympics, USA Network was the top sports and entertainment network in primetime, averaging 1.6 million viewers. USA had live coverage of track and field, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball and softball. 

In September, USA hosted the most-watched Premier League game with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo as Manchester United took on Newcastle.

The list of sports that will appear on USA in 2022 also includes Atlantic 10 basketball, horse racing, Olympic sports, golf and the Tour de France.

“We expect this expansion of our live sports offering will both engage existing fans and bring in new communities to USA, further cementing the network as a top destination for the best and broadest entertainment in all of its many forms," said Frances Berwick, chairman, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Television & Streaming, in a release.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, NBCSN will display a slate to inform viewers about tune-in information. NBC Sports will also mount a marketing effort within telecasts to let fans know where to watch the sports they want to see.

NBCU’s Peacock will be streaming Sunday Night Football and the Super Bowl, all Notre Dame football home games, Premier League, NASCAR and Olympic competition. 

Peacock streamed Stanley Cup Final games last season before NBCU gave up rights to NHL hockey this season to ESPN and Turner Sports.

ESPN Wednesday officially pulled on-air personality Rachel Nichols from any of its future NBA coverage and has canceled the Nichols-hosted NBA daily show The Jump amid continuing fallout over controversial comments she made against a former colleague.  

The move, first reported by SportsBusiness Journal, comes a month after a New York Times report revealed Nichols was heard making controversial comments about fellow ESPN colleague Maria Taylor, after Taylor replaced Nichols as host of ESPN’s NBA Countdown show during the NBA Finals in 2020. 

After Nichols' comments that Taylor was named NBA Countdown host to to cover up the network’s "crappy" record on diversity were made public, ESPN last month pulled Nichols from working the network’s NBA Finals coverage while Taylor hosted ESPN’s NBA Countdown pre-game and halftime program. After the NBA Finals concluded, Taylor left ESPN for NBC Sports.

ESPN senior VP of production Dave Roberts said in a statement that the decisions were “mutual” and the best moves for the network's NBA coverage going forward.  

In a Wednesday afternoon tweet, Nichols said The Jump was "never built to last forever," adding that her five-year experience with the show "was fun." 

It's unclear if Nichols will appear on the network in the future.

Comcast streaming service Peacock will have exclusive coverage of Notre Dame football’s home opener as part of the company’s push to use sports to get more people to sign up and use Peacock.

Notre Dame will be playing Toledo on Sept .11. The rest of Notre Dame’s home games will be streamed on Peacock and broadcast on NBC.

NBC Sports acquired the broadcast rights to Notre Dame football in 1991. This is the first time a game can only be watched via streaming.

“Peacock exemplifies how we’re innovating as a company, and Notre Dame has consistently been a tremendous partner in making progressive choices for sports programming,” said Pete Bevacqua, chairman, NBC Sports. 

Comcast and NBCUniversal have been streaming big chunks of the Olympics to get viewers to use Peacock. Peacock has featured a number of other sports events, including the Stanley Cup Final.

Last week, Comcast announced that Peacock had 54 million sign-ups and 20 million active users, a 50% gain. The streaming service lost $363 million in the second quarter on revenue of $122 million.

“Fighting Irish TV and Peacock shows the evolution of how media is consumed by our fans and television viewers, alike,” said Notre Dame VP James E. Rohr and Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. “We want to provide a great experience to not only our fans who travel around the world to cheer us on, but also to our supporters who are either cable subscribers or ‘cord-cutters,’ and these two streaming platforms do just that. I see no better example of this than Peacock’s success in delivering fans wall-to-wall content during the Tokyo Olympics.”

This season will mark former Purdue and NFL star quarterback Drew Brees’ debut as a game analyst for Notre Dame games on NBC. Mike Tirico will do play-by-play and Kathryn Tappen will be the reporter on the sidelines.

Just months after the major pro sports leagues resumed play after the pandemic forced an unprecedented shutdown of live sports for nearly a year, COVID-19 is still having an adverse effect on the live sports event business.

While the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines has paved the way for a return of most pro sports events in 2021 — and has allowed fans to attend events at full capacity in many venues — observers said the industry has not yet declared victory against the virus.

“We’re not out of the woods yet with COVID,” sports analyst Lee Berke said. “The industry still has to be cautious. There will be these outbreaks that will cause last-minute switches and cancellations.”

Indeed, last Thursday (July 15), several New York Yankees players tested positive for COVID-19, forcing a postponement of the Yankees-Boston Red Sox game two days after Major League Baseball's high-profile All-Star Game. Fortunately the series was able to be completed, but baseball and ESPN missed out on a chance to showcase one of baseball’s fiercest rivalries in a primetime window with very little sports competition. 

Two marquee pay-per-view boxing matches — the scheduled June 19 Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos fight and the July 24 Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder trilogy bout — were postponed after fighters Lopez and Fury tested positive for COVID-19. Both fights have been rescheduled. 

As NBC Sports kicks off its live coverage of the Tokyo Summer Olympics coverage today (July 20), several high-profile U.S. Olympians will not participate in the two-week event due to positive COVID tests. Tennis sensation Coco Gauff and U.S. gymnastics alternate Kara Eaker both recently tested positive for the virus and will not participate in the games. U.S. men’s basketball stars Bradley Beal, Zack LaVine and Jerami Grant were placed under USA Basketball’s health and safety protocols and will not travel with the team. 

The men’s basketball team cancelled an exhibition game against Australia last Friday out of an abundance of caution.

Berke says while the COVID-19 vaccines have allowed live sports producers and programmers to entertain the prospect of returning to a sense of normalcy, he says that for now the industry has to remain vigilant. 

“We’re still in this new normal,” Berke said. “We’re not out of this yet.” 

No sooner did Sinclair Broadcast Group tell analysts that yes, indeed, it does plan to offer direct-to-consumer versions of its 19 regional sports networks next year, than Comcast’s NBCUniversal possibly stole its thunder, with reports that the media giant is looking to shift its RSNs to its Peacock streaming service, or even sell them off.

Sinclair reiterated Wednesday that it would launch a DTC service for its Bally Sports Networks next year -- it had originally expected to launch it this year but back in February said the debut would be moved to 2022. Yesterday was more like a reassurance that plans to go the DTC route were still on, with Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley talking about a vast untapped market for streaming sports. The news comes as Sinclair is still hoping to gain carriage for the channels on YouTube TV, Hulu Plus Live TV, Fubo TV and Dish Network.

That NBCU was considering a DTC future for its sports networks first appeared in the Wall Street Journal. But it shouldn't come as a shock. Earlier this year NBCU said it would shutter its NBCSN sports channel, and shift programming to Peacock and USA Network. This seems to be a logical extension of that plan.

Also Read: One Month Later, Still No Streaming Deal for Sinclair RSNs 

While NBCU is also considering selling its seven RSNs to the teams whose games they carry, that could be difficult. Except for the New York Yankees, which bought a majority interest in its YES Network from Fox in 2019, teams haven’t been big players in recent RSN auctions. 

According to the Journal, NBCU considered testing the idea of streaming its RSNs earlier this year, with NBC Sports Philadelphia, the hometown of parent Comcast. But it scrapped the idea for two reasons -- pricing and customer confusion. The paper said that NBC executives balked because the service would have to be priced differently in markets where there were RSNs. That, they feared, would confuse the service’s marketing efforts. 

Also Read: Sports and OTT Streaming Could Squeeze the last Vestige of Appointment TV 

NBCU and Sinclair aren’t the only RSN owners that are considering direct-to-consumer offerings. As traditional pay TV bleeds subscribers at a steady rate, pretty much every network is considering going off on its own. 

Every network has an app in one form or another -- Sinclair launched its Bally Sports  app in April -- though at the moment they are all authenticated, meaning that to watch actual games via streaming viewers have to have a traditional pay TV package. But that could be easily solved. What’s harder to figure out is how a true DTC app would be priced. Some pundits believe that a standalone streaming RSN could be priced as high as $30 per month.  

At that price, plus the cost of a standalone broadband service ($80) and a monthly Netflix ($15) and Amazon Prime ($13) subscription, a typical cord-cutting sports fan would be paying about as much as their pay TV counterparts with 100-plus video channels. 

There also is a wide range of numbers delineating the size of the potential markets for the channels. On its conference call with analysts, Sinclair said it had 52 million subscribers to its 19 RSNs last year, of which 35 million were unique households. 

Also Read: RSNs Scramble for Streaming Deals as Opening Day Approaches 

“The 35 million households represents less than half of the total subscribers possible in the RSN teams' geographic territories, meaning the total number of addressable subscribers under the D2C model is theoretically more than double,” Ripley said on the call. 

Now, that is making a couple of pretty big assumptions. One: there are another 35 million homes out there that really want to watch games but don’t because they think their local RSN costs too much. Two: there is something that will make most of them either get a subscription to a pay TV service that has the RSNs -- meaning they would have to pay even more -- or they would pay for an app that would allow them to watch the games. Three: The app would be priced at a level that would give the buyer the sense that he or she is getting a bargain, the distributor the sense that they weren’t paying too much for the linear channel; and Sinclair the sense that it was receiving the proper remuneration for its content. That’s a lot to consider. 

Also Read: Live Sports Events Are Moving to Streaming 

Analysts have been saying for years that probably only 30% of pay TV customers watch sports. And of the non-pay TV customers that consider themselves sports fans, about 8% say they would definitely buy a streaming sports service, according to a 2020 Verizon Media survey. 

But at the same time, RSNs are faced with a double dilemma: a rapidly deciding traditional pay TV customer base and virtual MVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu that are trying to gauge whether they can do without them. The next few months are going to be crucial for RSNs -- baseball fans don’t usually get ultra serious about their teams until after the July All-Star break. If the vMVPDs don’t see a notable loss in subscribers during that period tied to not carrying the RSNs, that could embolden them to drop the channels altogether. 

If that happens, it could influence the next cycle of traditional MVPD carriage deals, where operators could decide to either do without the channels totally or pay a lot less for them. 

“That’s why from an RSN standpoint, you have to be able to say you’re going direct-to-consumer,” sports consultant Lee Berke, CEO  LHB Media & Entertainment, said. “There is a reckoning that’s going to come to pass and it's coming to pass for every network. You're seeing the strategies being laid out with all the streamers, how they’re laying out programming, how they're categorizing it, how they’re pricing it, how they’re producing content, sports, entertainment and news. When it comes to the RSNs in particular, they are going to have to move in the next few years. And they have to start preparing for it now.”  

Berke has been a big proponent of direct-to-consumer offerings for RSNs, but he sees them as a complement to the existing relationship with pay TV distributors, not a replacement. At least not yet.

According to some analysts, pay TV lost about 13 million subscribers in the past two years, ending 2020 at 76.8 million customers, not including vMVPDs, down from 89 million in 2018. It’s expected to get worse in 2021-2022.

“The crunch time is happening for the RSNs sooner rather than later,” Berke said. “It’s imperative that they make these changes and offer themselves up on as many different platforms as possible, which I realize necessitates tough conversations and revamping the agreements, but the time has come.”

One factor that could help offset the cost of standalone streaming RSNs is gambling. On the Sinclair conference call, Ripley mentioned the “gamification” of the app, a polite way to say they are going to eventually make it really easy to gamble on practically anything to do with the game you’re watching. That’s been the elephant in the room ever since the U.S. Supreme Court scrapped the federal law that prohibited states from allowing sports gambling and decided to leave it up to individual states to make sports betting legal. Networks and leagues and casinos have been waiting patiently for the flood gates to open. 

According to the American Gaming Association, about 21 states and Washington D.C., have live, legal sports betting, meaning that single-game sports betting is legally offered to consumers through retail and/or online sportsbooks. Six states are classified as “Legal – Not Yet Operational” meaning they have sports betting, but haven’t launched yet, and 13 states are “Active or Pre-Filed Legislation” meaning that bills to legalize single-game sports betting have been introduced or a voter referendum has been scheduled. The prevailing wisdom is that 30 states will have live, legal sports betting by the end of this year.  

Maybe gambling will soften the blow for sports channels, especially if they get a cut of every wager that is made through the remote, but it is a very slippery slope. Currently federal law prohibits the exchange of gambling funds across state lines. But if that law -- The Wire Act -- was repealed, it could open up whole new avenues of revenue. 

While gambling in many forms has been associated with football and basketball for years, in-game betting to some pundits is where the real opportunity lies. Also called prop betting, it means that wagers can be placed on any number of scenarios that happen during a game, outside of the final score. Baseball, which averages about 170,000 at-bats and 950,000 pitches thrown during the regular season, by some estimates, is seen by some as a huge potential gambling opportunity. But it will still be dwarfed by the amount of money spent by traditional distributors for the networks. 

“Sports betting alone is not going to take the place of affiliate revenue,” Berke said.” It could be very valuable, but your affiliate revenues for most any sports network are still going to be the most valuable stream you have. What you’ve got to do is figure out the way to distribute that network in the midst of people changing how they consume content.”

Dish Network said its satellite and Sling TV subscribers can no longer receive MASN and the NBC Regional Sports Networks because they were unable to renew their distribution agreements.

The announcement came on opening day of the Major League Baseball season.

Also Read: Changes at Sinclair's RSNs Just Start with Name Change

The dispute affects views in 10 states and the District of Columbia. 

MASN--Mid-Atlantic Sports Network--is owned by the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals. NBC Sports Washington, NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California are the NBC RSNs impacted.

Also Read: Dish Dropping NBC RSNs as it Bets on Sports Wagering

Dish previously dropped NBC RSNs in Philadelphia, Boston and the Pacific Northwest in 2019 

Dish Network has been deciding not to renew regional sports networks, including those owned by Sinclair, which were rebranded as Bally’s Sports.

“The current RSN model is fundamentally broken,” said Brian Neylon, group president, Dish TV. “This model requires nearly all customers to pay for RSNs when only a small percentage of customers actually watch them. As the cost of these channels continues to escalate, we no longer think it makes sense to include them in our TV lineup.”

Dish said it is proposing an a la carte approach to the RSN, letting subscriber choose whether or not they want to pay to watch local sports.

“With this updated RSN model, no customer would be forced to pay for content they don’t watch, and the RSNs would determine the price customers would pay for their channels,” Neylon said.

A spokesperson for the NBC Regional Sports Network noted that distributors that continue to carry the RSNs are listed on their websites.

"The NBC Regional Sports Networks offered to continue distribution on fair market terms. DISH and Sling declined those terms and have dropped the networks," the spokesperson said.

With the baseball regular season fast approaching -- Opening Day is officially April 1 -- several regional sports networks are facing deadlines to hammer out deals with over-the-top players and streaming services, but according to some observers, they shouldn’t hold out too much hope of landing a deal by the first pitch. 

Satellite TV giant Dish Network and its OTT arm Sling TV, have set an April 1 deadline for dropping three NBC Sports RSNs --  NBC Sports California, NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports and NBC Sports Bay Area. Dish already dropped the remaining NBC Sports channels -- NBC Sports Chicago and networks in Philadelphia, Boston, and the Pacific Northwest -- in 2019. If the recent blackout threat holds, Dish and Sling TV customers will miss baseball from the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s, hockey from the Washington Capitals and San Jose Sharks, and basketball from the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards. 

“As of 4/1/2021, NBC Regional Sports Networks will no longer be on SLING. We are committed to providing the best value with the flexibility our customers deserve and, unfortunately, we were unable to come to an agreement on those terms,” Dish said in an email to customers, according to The Streamable. 

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV 

Pricing is the main culprit in the failure to reach a Dish deal. Dish Network chairman Charlie Ergen has battled with programmers -- particularly sports programmers - for years over what he believes are exorbitant fees. If Dish drops the NBC Sports networks it will be totally devoid of RSNs, having dropped others like MSG Network decades ago.    

Ergen has said he has nothing against sports, but it’s evident that most pay TV customers don’t watch them and in turn don’t want to pay for them.

“I think you’ve got to change that model,” Ergen said of RSNs on Dish’s Q3 earnings call in November, adding that the value of regional sports to his customers was “overrated.”  

Also Read: Comcast’s Xfinity Flex Adds MLB.TV

While most RSNs have managed to hammer out agreements over the past couple of years with traditional distributors, the failure to launch with streamers should be especially troubling. RSNs like YES Network and Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s Fox Sports Networks (rebranding as Bally Sports on March 31) still don’t have deals with the likes of Sling TV, FuboTV, Hulu Live + TV and YouTube TV (although YES recently agreed to stream 21 Yankees games on Amazon Prime Video). Streaming services are supposed to be the future -- it’s the way all the kids are watching content today -- and failure to land carriage could hurt the networks in the long run. 

According to The Streamable, AT&T TV is the only OTT service provider that offers access to every RSN. But AT&T TV is priced at about $84.99 per month, making it eerily close to the traditional TV package that most youngsters abhor.

While distributors are trying to find programming that people are compelled to watch, and sports is still a ratings grabber, it doesn’t always justify the cost. RSNs have been under fire for their pricey affiliate fees and operators have begun to push back.

Also Read: Pluto TV Winds Up to Launch MLB Channel

Sports consultant Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Media & Entertainment, said the current stance by streamers harkens back to their early days. When streamers like Hulu Live and YouTube TV launched, they avoided RSNs because of their high price. The turning point was in 2016 when Sling TV agreed to carry some Fox RSNs. 

Now that most of the vMVPDs have national deals with sports networks like ESPN and FS1, local broadcast deals that also include games and out-of-market packages with several leagues, the strategy has shifted. 

“I think they are trying to see if they can get by without the RSNs,” Berke said of the streaming services, adding that the start of the MLB season could be the moment of truth. 

“That’s the crunch point,” Berke said. “Will the overwhelming number of games that are being offered up by the league cause enough grief with the streamers to say they’ll come back in and strike a deal.” 

In the past many of these deals with traditional MVPDs were done literally seconds before the first pitch of the regular season, mainly because ultimately those distributors realized that sports was the glue that held the bundle together. Streamers don’t feel the same way.

“Maybe one of them will,” Berke said on the possibility of a last-minute streaming RSN deal. “It’s difficult to see all three of them coming back in.” 

Unlike the dynamic between MVPDs and RSNs, streamers seem to hold the advantage, at least for the short term. Berke pointed to Minnesota Twins president Dave St. Peter, who complained recently that fans on his Twitter feed are frustrated they can’t see games on Fox Sports North because the RSN doesn’t have a streaming deal, over which the team has no control. The RSN is available through a traditional pay TV subscription. 

"I don't enjoy going to my Twitter account as often as I used to because there are some people who are taking it out on me," St. Peter told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "That's OK. I've got a thick skin. Look, life is hard in a lot of cases and people want to be able to watch their teams. I don't think that is an unrealistic or unfair expectation from our fans." 

That should be a wake-up call to both streamers and traditional MVPDs.

“People who are on his [St. Peter’s] Twitter feed are relatively younger and tech savvy,” Berke said. “They could watch Twins games on Comcast or Spectrum or whatever on a linear pay TV service, but that’s not part of who they are anymore. They stream. So if they’re not getting it as part of Hulu or YouTube TV, from their standpoint they can’t see those games.” 

While Berke added that a big enough drop in subscribers could force the streamers to the table, eventually the model will have to shift to direct-to-consumer. Already a few RSNs have set the stage for such an offering. Earlier this month, YES Network debuted a dedicated streaming app that offers a 24/7 feed of the network, including live games from the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, NYFC and New York Liberty. Viewers still need to authenticate through their pay TV subscription to see the programming, but that could easily change in the future. Sinclair has said it plans to launch a DTC app next year. 

Berke added that direct-to-consumer should be the goal for RSNs and distributors alike.

"From a streamers standpoint, from a network standpoint from an RSN standpoint, you have to be able to say, 'I’m going direct-to-consumer,'" Berke said. “And by the way, when you’re negotiating with Comcast, they’re going direct-to-consumer as well. We’re trying to defend the bundle, meanwhile we’re doing everything possible to undercut it. But that’s fair enough, that’s what they should be doing. That’s the way media technology works.”

He added that the shift to streaming is in part being done because of necessity. Pay TV subscribers are declining at an accelerated rate that doesn’t seem to be slowing. 

“There’s a reckoning that is coming to pass for every network,” Berke said. “You’re seeing the strategies being laid out with all the streamers and how they are laying out programming, how they're categorizing it, how they’re pricing it, how they’re producing content, sports entertainment and news. But when it comes to sports in particular, when it comes to the RSNs in particular, they are going to have to make those moves in the next few years, and they are going to have to start preparing for it now.”

NBC Sports Boston said it named Michael Felger as co-host of Boston Sports Tonight, joining Michael Holley at the anchor desk Mondays through Thursdays beginning April 5.

Felger has appeared on NBC Sports Boston since 2007. His radio show, Felger & Mazz, has been simulcast on NBC Sports Boston since 2009 and he’s been a contributor to the regional sports network’s hockey pre-game and post-game coverage.

Also Read: NBCU Plans to Shut Down NBCSN Cable Sports Net

“Michael Felger is an incredible talent and personality that embodies the passion Boston sports fans have for their teams, so teaming him up with incomparable Michael Holley is something we are very excited about,” said Chris Wayland, president & general manager of the NBCUniversal Boston Owned Properties & Regional Sports Networks. “This new duo will undoubtedly deliver an entertaining, insightful and engaging experience for Boston sports fans every night.”

Boston Sports Tonight had been co-hosted by Holley with Tom Giles and Danielle Trotta. Trotta left the station amid a wave of layoffs at NBCUniversal last year and Giles is hosting other programming on various NBC Sports Boston platforms, including a new Friday edition of Boston Sports Tonight.

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV

NBCSN along with boxing production company Ring City USA will present a live boxing card in primetime Thursday night, the first of several Thursday night fight cards planned for 2021, according to NBC Sports. 

The fight card includes a co-main event featuring undefeated lightweight prospect Danielito Zorrilla facing Ruslan Madiyev and Bryan Chevalier taking on Carlos Zambrano in a featherweight bout.

The event is part of a partnership reached this past October between NBC Sports Group and Ring City USA that calls for 14 boxing matches on NBCSN through 2021, according to NBC Sports Group.

Also Read: NBCU Plans to Shut Down NBCSN Cable Sports Net

NBC Sports’ coverage of Guinness Six Nations rugby continues this weekend. On Feb. 27, Italy faces Ireland in Rome. The match is live on Peacock Premium at 9:15 a.m. ET and will air later on NBCSN, kickoff at 12:30 p.m. ET. 

Wales faces England in Cardiff that same day. That kicks off 11:45 a.m. ET, live on Peacock Premium, and at 2:30 p.m. on NBCSN. England beat Wales 33-30 a year ago. 

France versus Scotland, set for February 28, has been postponed due to COVID concerns.

Also Read: Sports and OTT: Streaming Could Squeeze the Last Vestige of Appointment TV

Ahmed Fareed and Alex Corbisiero are the studio hosts for NBC Sports. 

Peacock Premium costs $4.99 monthly. NBCUniversal is shutting down NBCSN by the end of the year. 

France and Wales are leading the table with two wins and no losses. England and Scotland are 1-1 and Ireland and Italy are thus far winless. 

Each of the six national teams plays one another in an annual round robin. England won the competition last year. 

Notwithstanding the cratering of viewership in last Sunday’s Super Bowl LV, which collapsed quicker than the Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive line, streaming services could be poised to snatch what has been the last vestige of appointment television: live sports, according to at least one influential analyst.  

According to Nielsen, 96.4 million homes watched Super Bowl LV on TV, the lowest number since 2007. About 5.7 million homes streamed the game, the highest level for that metric ever. 

In a research note that was issued before those ratings numbers were released, MoffettNathanson media analyst Michael Nathanson pointed to the growing trend of younger viewers migrating to streaming video, and that it would likely mean that sports would have to follow them. Nathanson didn’t expect big tent sporting events like the Super Bowl or the World Series to switch exclusively online, but he said games from various professional and college sports leagues, a staple of cable networks like TBS, TNT and regional sports networks owned by teams, could be in danger.

“We would think that the NFL, NCAA, ‘March Madness,’ NBA and MLB Playoffs will remain the domain of broadcast and will have digital rights that are monetized via affiliated services like Paramount +, Peacock or ESPN +,” Nathanson wrote. “Fox, the odd man out without a paid OTT service, will have a decision to make about how they move forward.”

Fox bought entertainment streaming service Tubi last year, which offers free ad-supported movies and shows from several networks, including Fox, doesn’t have a sports component. On Feb. 9, Fox said it expects Tubi to reach $1 billion in revenue over the next few years. In 2021, it anticipates revenue at the service will double to about $300 million. 

Keeping tentpole sporting events on the four major broadcasters makes sense for now because that’s where the majority of viewers are. Even the worst-viewed Super Bowl in 14 years was watched on traditional TV by a nearly 20:1 margin over streaming. 

But for nationally televised sports like the NHL, NBA, golf, tennis and college sports, the staples of sports-based cable channels, networks may have to make some hard choices soon, Nathanson continued, adding they may have to adopt a hybrid approach like Peacock and NBCU, putting a limited number of events across a smaller number of networks. That, Nathanson wrote, in turn “would mean the end of FS2, ESPNU, CBS Sports Networks and a greater number of games carried on OTT products also now including HBO Max.”

Analysts have been warning that streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and the like could disrupt the televised sports business for years, but so far they have only dipped their toes in the sports business. But as new services emerge, they are beginning to pay attention to sports, and that should have linear networks worried.

In the past month Peacock, Comcast NBCUniversal’s streaming offering, has said it will assume sports programming from NBCSN at the end of the year, when that regional sports network shuts down. 

Peacock also reached a deal with WWE, where its WWE Network streaming service will be available exclusively to Peacock subscribers for $4.99 per month (free to Comcast Xfinity customers, who also get Peacock premium for free). In addition, WWE renewed its licensing relationship with NBCU’s USA Network, which airs WWE’s Monday Night Raw.  

Viewership on cable sports channels has been slipping as younger viewers cut the traditional pay TV cord. ESPN has lost about 9% of its subscribers since 2015 because of cord cutting, while FS1 has lost 5% and the Golf Channel has dipped 11%, according to MoffettNathanson. At the same time, overall time viewed on cable sports channels like ESPN and Fox Sports 2 has fallen a collective 5% since 2015. For some channels the drop is more pronounced -- ESPN2 dropped 12% and ESPNU fell 11% in that time frame. Also during that period, remaining viewers are getting older. According to MoffettNathanson, 65% of all cable network viewers are over the age of 50. 

“Obviously, if you are a sports league trying to build long-term connections with the next generation of fans, this is an increasingly terrifying outcome,” Nathanson wrote. 

Nathanson pointed to both the WWE deal and the NBCSN closing as signs of a sea change in the industry.

“If a Comcast-owned network decides the economics of a standalone national sports network no longer makes sense, what does this mean for other national sports networks?” Nathanson wrote. 

Sports consultant Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Media & Entertainment said that while the business is changing, it won’t necessarily be an either/or scenario. Berke believes that most sports networks won’t pick sides in the streaming wars, but will instead continue on a path toward multi-platform offerings.  

“I don’t see pay TV going away. I don’t see sports going away on pay TV. I think you see less of it,” Berke said. “I think you see a more consolidated bundle of fewer networks, that are general interest, sports, entertainment and news. Even in the worst scenarios, they’re still going to have 50-60 million TV homes that are subscribers to these bundles. So there’s still value there. There’s an audience there.”

Berke added that networks will continue to beef up their direct-to-consumer services with sports. He pointed to ESPN +, which has added considerable content from its launch in 2018, and which he believes will be nearly indistinguishable from ESPN- proper in the next few years.  

“You’ll see this sag in the pay TV universe,” Berke said, adding that some sports will migrate to streaming services, some will revert to broadcast and some will remain on pay TV. “I think the key is there has to be a multi-platform strategy. The idea of a linear-only sports network just is not going to work going forward.”   

Content companies already have started putting much of their linear content on their direct-to-consumer offerings. During the Super Bowl, ViacomCBS spent a lot of money on ads for its upcoming Paramount + launch, mainly showing shows that are already available on their linear channels. 

Making all of a network’s linear content available to stream on a separate app hasn’t sat too well with distributors in the past, especially if the streaming app is priced lower than the rate the distributor is paying. That, Berke said, will have to be negotiated out.

“There will have to be a reckoning,” Berke said.       

Programmers will have to start making those decisions soon. Although streaming has obviously been a part of at least some sports rights deals -- and the major broadcasters have already locked up Major League Baseball, PGA Golf and SEC Football agreements recently -- there are still several left to negotiate. According to Nathanson, ESPN’s MLB rights deals come due in 2022, as does NBC’s Premier League pact. In 2023, several NFL rights deals expire: ESPN’s Monday Night Football, Fox’s Thursday Night Football and Sunday NFC packages, NBC’s Sunday Night Football and CBS’s Sunday AFC football package. Also that year, Fox and ABC/ESPN’s Big Ten college football packages are set to be renegotiated.  

Further out, ESPN’s and Fox Sports’ Pac-12 and ESPN’s UFC deals expire in 2024. In 2025, the NBA’s rights agreements with  ABC/ESPN and TNT come due; as do Fox and NBC Sports pacts with NASCAR. 

While streaming is expected to play a big role in those negotiations, and sports has come under fire for driving most of the rate increases for pay TV, Berke said he still expects a robust rights market.

“Because every technology, every new platform needs sports to drive subs, the key properties that are out there will have healthy increases in rights fees,” Berke said. “I think the NFL is going to come close to doubling. The NBA, which has acknowledged that the one issue they have is that they haven't established a strong streaming presence in a sport that skews young, when their deals are up in 2025 they will go much more heavily into streaming platforms and direct-to-consumer. Because these media businesses will have multiple screens and multiple ways to make money, and because they need to drive subscribers across all of them, the rights fees will go up substantially.”  

The annual Six Nations rugby competition kicks off Feb. 6 with Italy against France in Rome. Peacock Premium streams the action live at 9:15 a.m. ET, and NBCSN airs the match at 5:30 p.m. ET. 

Later that day, England hosts Scotland in London. Peacock Premium has it live at 11:45 a.m. ET and NBCSN has the match at 11 p.m. ET. 

Sunday, Feb. 7, it’s Wales versus Ireland in Cardiff. It streams live on Peacock Premium at 10 a.m. ET and is on NBCSN at 6 p.m. 

All 2021 Six Nations matches will stream live on Peacock Premium, and air on TV, either live or on delay. NBC Sports’ rugby action is shifting from NBC Sports Gold “Rugby Pass” to Peacock Premium. Premium will also feature Gallagher Premiership Rugby, rugby at the Tokyo Olympics, and the HSBC Sevens Series.

Peacock Premium costs $4.99 monthly. 

NBCUniversal is shutting down NBCSN by the end of the year. 

Looking ahead, England and Italy face off on Feb. 13, followed by Scotland versus Wales. 

On Feb. 14, it’s Ireland versus France. 

The following round, February 27, it’s Italy against Ireland and Wales versus England. 

Feb. 28 sees France and Scotland face off.

England won the 2020 event, which was delayed due to COVID. 

Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit said it is planning to shut down its cable sports network, NBCSN, by the end of 2021.

The move is further evidence that media companies are shifting from their profitable but declining cable networks to the hot streaming category.

In a memo, NBC Sports Group Chairman Pete Bevacqua said sports programming including NHL Stanley Cup Playoff games and NASCAR races will be simulcast this year on USA Network as part of a “transition.”

Also Read: Round Three of Six Nations Rugby on NBCSN, NBC Sport Gold

At the end of the year, key elements of NBCSN’s programming will move to USA and, in some cases, Peacock, NBCU’s streaming service.

“We’re all aware of how quickly the media landscape is evolving, and our Company is taking thoughtful steps to stay ahead of these trends wherever possible and, in many instances, help set them," Bevacqua said in his memo.

He said the move of sports to USA will “make USA Network an extraordinarily powerful platform in the media marketplace, and gives our sports programming a significant audience boost. We believe that the power of this offering is the best long-term strategy for our Sports Group, our partners, and our company.” The plans about NBCSN were first reported by Sports Business Journal.

Also Read: ‘Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year’ Returns to NBCSN

To some degree, that means that rather than trying to compete against ESPN and Fox Sports One with NBCSN, NBC has decided to copy what AT&T’s TNT has, with a combination of entertainment programming and sports.

Bevacqua aimed to reassure staffers that NBCU remains committed to live sports programming. He noted that Golf Channel moved to Stamford and that NBC Sports is producing multiple programs for Peacock. It is also doing more with Telemundo and Sky Sports, he added.

“This transition, combined with our robust portfolio of assets, including Golf Channel, The Olympic Channel, RSNs, SportsEngine, GolfNow, digital, audio, sports betting and gaming, puts us in an even stronger position as leaders in the sports media space and to continue to grow our business,” he said. 

Jackie Bradford, president and GM of NBC-owned WRC-TV Washington and Telemundo affiliate WZDC, has been named general manager of NBCU-owned regional sports network (RSN) NBC Sports Washington. She will continue to head up operations for the stations.

Bradford will continue to report to NBCU owned TV stations president Valari Staab, as well as now also reporting to Bill Bridgen, president of NBC Sports Regional Networks.

Related: NBCUniversal Names Pete Bevacqua NBC Sports Group Chairman

The RSN is co-owned with Ted Leonsis' Monumental Sports and Entertainment. Leonsis is owner of the Washington Capitals hockey team and Wizards basketball team. NBC Sports Washington carries both Capitals and Wizards games, as well as those of the Washington Football team NFL franchise.

The network delivers more than 400 live events per year.

Bradford, who was Broadcasting + Cable's GM of the Year in 2018, is a two-decade veteran of NBCU, including finance roles at the station and network levels.

NBC Sports has Six Nations rugby action Oct. 31. It is the final round of the annual championship, which had been put on hold in early March due to the pandemic, but resumed Oct. 24. Ireland, England and France have a chance to win the title. 

Wales and Scotland face off at 10:15 a.m. ET live Oct. 31 on Peacock Premium and 2 p.m. ET on delay at NBCSN. Peacock Premium costs $4.99 monthly. 

Italy and England play at 12:45 p.m. ET on Peacock Premium and 4 p.m. on NBCSN. 

France and Ireland play live at 4 p.m. Oct. 31 on Peacock Premium and then 6 p.m. on delay at NBCSN. 

Ahmed Fareed and Alex Corbisiero are the studio hosts. 

Ireland, England and France are all 3-1. Scotland is 2-2, Wales 1-3 and Italy winless in four matches. 

Six Nations rugby gets back in action Oct. 24, as Ireland faces off against Italy at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. The annual championship, involving England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, was put on hold in early March as COVID spread. The last match, on March 8, saw Scotland defeat France 28-17 in Edinburgh. 

Ireland versus Italy is live at 10:30 a.m. on Peacock Premium and 12 p.m. ET on NBCSN. 

On Oct. 31, Wales plays Scotland in Llanelli, Wales, Italy faces England in Rome and France and Ireland face off in Paris. 

The Six Nations Championship is a round robin. England and France are on top at 3-1, Scotland is 2-2, Ireland 2-1, Wales 1-3 and Italy 0-3. 

Famed hockey announcer Mike “Doc” Emrick said he plans to retire, marking the end of a 47-year career as a sportscaster.

Emerick, who covered 22 Stanley Cup Finals, spent the last 15 years at NBC Sports. The play-by-play man was inducted into seven Halls of Fame and was the first broadcaster inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick is a national treasure – simply put, he’s one of the best ever to put on a headset in the history of sports broadcasting,” said Sam Flood, executive producer and president, production, NBC and NBCSN.

“Doc’s love of the game and his unmatched style produced true artistry, engaged new fans and quickly became the soundtrack of hockey. He lived at the rink on game days, spending countless hours at morning skates to find one more story to seamlessly weave into his frenetic, yet lyrical, call of a game,” Flood said. “Doc always found the right words to meet the moment. It’s impossible to put into words the impact Doc has had not only on the game of hockey, but for anyone who has had the distinct pleasure to work with him.”

Although retiring, Emrick will remain a member of the NBC Sports family by occasionally writing and narrating video essays for its NHL coverage in the future.

“It was 50 years ago this fall, with pen and pad in hand at old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, I got my first chance to cover the National Hockey League. Gordie Howe was a Red Wing, Bobby Hull was a Blackhawk, Bobby Orr was a Bruin,” said Emrick. 

“Things change over 50 years, but much of what I love is unchanged from then to now and into the years ahead. I still get chills seeing the Stanley Cup. I especially love when the horn sounds, and one team has won and another team hasn’t, all hostility can dissolve into the timeless great display of sportsmanship – the handshake line. I leave you with sincere thanks,” Emrick said.

Emrick started his career as a freelance reporter for the Beaver County Times covering the Pittsburgh Penguins during the 1970-71 NHL season. He became known as “Doc” because he has a Ph.D. in broadcast communications from Bowling Green State University.

At NBC, he worked with lead analyst and former NHL All Star Eddie Olczyk.

“It has been a privilege and education on hockey’s biggest stage to have sat next to Doc for the last 14 years,” said NBC Sports’ lead NHL analyst Olczyk, who shared a booth with Doc for the past 14 seasons. “I will miss his stories, his preparation, his play-by-play, his friendship, and our dinners on the road. But most of all, I will miss his trust. My family and I wish him, Joyce, the pups and horses lots of love down the road.”

NBC Sports has named veteran sports executive Pete Bevacqua chairman of NBC Sports Group, the company announced Thursday.

Bevacqua, who joined NBCUniversal in 2018 as president of NBC Sports Group, succeeds current NBCUniversal Television and Streaming chairman Mark Lazarus in the position. 

During his tenure at NBC Sports, Bevacqua led a nine-year extension of the company’s PGA Tour rights and also helped facilitate a deal with the NFL in which NBCUniversal acquired the rights to a new Sunday night Wild Card playoff game beginning in January 2021.  

“In his time with NBC Sports, Pete has been exceptional working with our league and organizational partners, as well as in collaboration with other NBCUniversal leaders to strengthen our sports production and overall business in a challenging environment,” Lazarus said in a statement.

Prior to joining NBC Sports Group, Bevacqua served as CEO of the PGA of America from 2012-2018. Before that, Bevacqua served as Global Head of Golf at Creative Artists Agency (CAA Sports); Chief Business Officer for the USGA; and Managing Director of the U.S. Open Championship.