Turner’s acquisition of the Las Vegas-based streaming and tech company is part of its plan to create a cloud-based technology infrastructure while gaining tools to develop new products and offshoots of existing businesses.
Turner Seeks Upfront Price Hikes Like NBC’s
Now that broadcast networks have begun to write business in TV’s annual “upfront” market, cable players are preparing to join the fray. Executives at Time Warner’s Turner suite of cable networks believe there’s an opportunity for volume gains in the 2014 upfront market, when U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their ad inventory for the coming season.
Major League Baseball has secured its media rights deals through the start of the next decade, coming to agreements with Fox and Turner Sports on a pair of new eight-year pacts worth billions. According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, while the requisite legal papers have not been signed, the league has an agreement in principle in place with both media companies. A formal announcement could arrive as soon as Sept. 24.
In TV rights negotiations, Fox has told Major League Baseball officials that it not only wants to renew its current rights, but also acquire those that Turner now holds, according to sources. Fox needs the extra games to implement plans to convert Speed into an all-sports network. Fox would continue to air league championship games and World Series on broadcast network. Fox is not alone in the bidding. Turner and NBC are in the game, too.
Exclusives
In TV rights negotiations with Major League Baseball, Fox has told MLB officials that it not only wants to renew the rights it has now, but also those that Turner has, according to sources. Fox’s wants to use the super-sized package of games to undergird plans to convert Speed into an all-sports network. Fox would continue to put league championship games and World Series on its broadcast network. Fox is not alone in the bidding for rights. Turner and NBC are still in the game.
Veteran research executive Stacey Schulman is leaving her senior role at Turner, overseeing research in the animation, sports and digital content areas. The move comes amid a restructuring in the Turner sales group, with Gregg Liebman getting a notable increase in responsibility, according to an internal memo from Turner’s Chief Research Officer Jack Wakshlag.
Four years after signing a record $4.48 billion media deal with Fox, ESPN and Turner, NASCAR has lost nearly a quarter of its TV viewership base, a four-year trend of massive viewer defections that has been punctuated by the erosion of the young male demographic.
