sports

Fox Sports and Amazon Prime Video host Charissa Thompson used to be a sideline reporter for NFL games, but she admitted that not everything she reported was true. Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, Thompson talked about her experience as a sideline reporter and the conversations they have with coaches and players, primarily just before or right after halftime. Typically before the game starts, the sideline reporter will give any details coaches told them, but she sometimes made up what they say.

The Suns’ new local TV home, KTVK Arizona’s Family, is caught in drama between the owner of its new broadcast home and America’s fourth largest pay TV service provider.

On Friday morning, Jim Harbaugh will sit in an Ann Arbor courtroom and hear lawyers for his employer argue that he should be able to coach his Michigan football team Saturday afternoon against Maryland. The case is ostensibly about whether Harbaugh knew of an off-campus sign-stealing operation that cost one low-level Wolverines assistant his job. Put the right-or-wrong, who-knew-what-when nature of the argument aside for a minute. That it’s playing out this way is a reflection on who increasingly has the power in college sports. Not coaches or lifelong athletic administrators, but television executives. (Pictured: Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference Tony Petitti, testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine the future of college sports, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

The new contract will provide featured group coverage at eight LPGA Tour events live and exclusively on ESPN+ through the 2025 season.

The new distribution will provide NWSL fans viewing across linear and streaming each weekend. The four-year partnerships total a 40x multiple from NWSL’s previous deal.

The first season of ‘WNBA Friday Night Spotlight On Ion’ grew the league’s audience by 24%. Pictured: WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Scripps CEO Adam Symson.

The CW will become the official broadcast home of WWE NXT in a new five deal that will see the showcase for WWE’s up-and-coming stars move from USA Network in October of 2024. The networks will air 52 live weekly events throughout the season, making NXT the latest addition to the CW’s growing roster of live sports, including ACC football and basketball games airing Saturdays throughout the season, and LIV Golf.

CBS Sports has reached a multiyear rights agreement with the second-tier United Soccer League to air 100 matches each season across CBS’s linear and digital properties.

Its execs tells analysts to expect more sports deals and more new CTV networks. CEO Adam Symson says his company is “leading the broadcast renaissance in live sports” with deals impacting results with both advertisers and MVPD distributors. Pictured: WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and Scripps CEO Adam Symson.

Sinclair Broadcast Group wants to pay pennies on the dollar to regain control of a nationwide chain of regional sports networks — which it had paid $10.6 billion to acquire four years ago only to see it fall into bankruptcy this spring. Sinclair, which owns 185 TV stations in 86 markets, has offered roughly $850 million in partnership with Bally’s owner Soo Kim to regain control of its bankrupt subsidiary, Diamond Sports Group, which airs local games on TV under the Bally Sports brand and owns the rights to 39 teams across MLB, the NBA and NHL, sources say.

The reigning NHL Stanley Cup champions are drawing an average 8.5 household rating in Las Vegas, according to Comscore data supplied by Scripps.

Making live games easier to find and more affordable will be key, according to Altman Solon.

NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers on Sunday were often unable to watch games without buffering or getting a black screen. The problem began shortly after kickoff for the 1 p.m. ET games and continued for most of the day. YouTube’s X customer support team acknowledged the issue during the games on Sunday and added that it would post a follow-up when there was a resolution. However, YouTube never posted a follow-up on Sunday or Monday. The streamer did tell some customers in responses that there are no refunds for the NFL Sunday Ticket, although the refund remark did not specifically address Sunday’s technical difficulties.

The league’s longtime television partners, including ESPN and Turner, are undergoing major changes, which could alter how games are watched.

ESPN Plus looks to add another big revenue punch to this year’s busy PPV boxing category with last Saturday’s (Oct. 28) Tyson Fury (pictured)-Francis Ngannou bout while looking to be opportunistic in the category next year. ESPN’s Matt Kenny says the company is bullish on PPV boxing in 2024.

Today, Spectrum SportsNet announced that it will be launching its first direct-to-consumer streaming service called SportsNet+. This service will stream all in-market Lakers games for fans in California, Hawaii and southern Nevada. Spectrum SportsNet+ will cost $19.99 per month or $179.99 per season. Current Spectrum, DirecTV and Cox pay TV customers who have access to Spectrum SportsNet programming will be able to watch via the Spectrum SportsNet app at no additional cost, and with authenticated access to Spectrum SportsNet+.

The sports unit had revenue of $16 billion and profits of $2.9 billion in 2022 — more than Disney’s entire entertainment business that year — as the company prepares a new financial reporting structure.

The league seeks to boost fees by luring streamers, from Amazon to Apple, and offering games in local markets.

The premium sports brand specialized in boxing and sports docs, but following Showtime’s merger with Paramount+, the company decided to move in another direction.

Comcast NBCUniversal said 2024 Olympics and Paralympics advertising sales are pacing ahead of the $1.8 billion generated by the  previous summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were moved to 2021 from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of the advertising inventory in the live coverage of the Paris opening ceremony is already sold out. Also sold out are all of the planned halftime sponsorships for team events, such as basketball and soccer, across NBCU’s platforms,

Numerous franchises are expected to overhaul their local media deals, returning games to free networks. The transition is underway in Arizona.

Longtime ESPN communications chief Chris LaPlaca will retire at the end of the year after spending more than 43 years at the company. ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro announced the news of LaPlaca’s impending departure earlier today in a memo sent to ESPN’s staff. LaPlaca, the company’s SVP/corporate communications, is the longest tenured behind-the-scenes employee currently at ESPN, having started there in July 1980 — only nine months after the channel first went on the air.

NBC is betting that the next big thing in streaming might be your local high school football game. The media giant is launching a new streaming service that’s part ESPN+, part YouTube, and part MasterClass, meant to appeal to families, schools and communities with amateur sports teams. The service, SportsEngine Play, will stream live matches from amateur teams, (think high schools, etc).

Streaming viewership fell for the second-straight month in September as football season gave broadcast a big boost, according to Nielsen’s monthly summary. Netflix viewing was down 5%. Paramount Plus and Peacock showed similar declines. In contrast, broadcast gained viewing for the second consecutive month. Volume was up 13%, raising over-the-air TV’s share of total viewing to 23%, up from 20.4% in August.

The Pac-12 has had to allocate $72 million among its member universities to offset an overpayment made to it by Comcast, not $50 million, as originally reported. The revelation was divulged by George Kliavkoff, commissioner of the doomed collegiate athletic conference, amid a suit filed against his organization by two former executives.