NBC Sports
In January 2011, Comcast finalized its acquisition of a majority share in NBC Universal. As a result of the merger, the operations of Comcast's existing sports networks, such as Golf Channel and NBCSN, were merged into an entity known as the NBC Sports Group. NBC Sports' senior vice president Mike McCarley additionally became Golf Channel's new head.[4] NBC Sports' golf production unit was merged with Golf Channel, along with NBC's on-air staff, with that unit rebranding under the banner "Golf Channel on NBC", while Versus was reformatted toward a more mainstream audience, renamed the NBC Sports Network and eventually rebranded as NBCSN.[5]
NBC Sports
On July 15, 2017. NBCUniversal relaunched Universal HD as Olympic Channel, a network that would carry Olympic sports programming as a complement to its long-standing agreement to cover the Games.[24][25]
In January 2021, it was reported that NBCUniversal planned to shut down NBCSN by the end of the year; an internal memo cited increased competition from streaming services and the other mainstream sports networks as reasoning.[33][34]
NBC Sports Audio is a sports talk channel consisting of some of the most important newsmakers and interviewers in the industry. Opinionated sports talk hosts and journalists such as Dan Patrick, Mike Florio, Michael Smith, Michael Holley, Chris Simms, Matthew Berry and more deliver their insightful and entertaining thoughts on everything happening from the world of sports while speaking with A-list guests from sports, pop culture and more.
An NBA spokesperson confirmed no talks have taken place with NBCUniversal at this time over national rights while adding the league has had "a longtime relationship with Comcast/NBA as a previous NBA national TV rightsholder and through many of our teams' partnerships with NBC Sports regional sports networks."
Warner Bros. Discovery's interest in the NBA is murkier. CEO David Zaslav said in November, "We don't have to have the NBA." Turner's relationship with the league features the long-running "Inside the NBA" studio show, hosted by Ernie Johnson and former NBA stars Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal. Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery sports head Luis Silberwasser will likely use this year to decide what type of future relationship they want with the NBA, according to a person familiar with their thinking.
It's possible NBCUniversal will be directly competing with Warner Bros. Discovery to be the league's second traditional TV partner, along with ESPN. NBCUniversal can offer a broadcast network (NBC) to air NBA games if pay TV providers begin dropping cable networks, such as TNT and TBS, that run mostly reruns of scripted programming when sports aren't on. Comcast also owns Sky, which could give the NBA another international broadcast outlet.
NBA rights are coming up for renewal while global media companies are cutting costs, which could pressure the the league to lower its expectations on the size of a price increase. Warner Bros. Discovery laid off thousands of employees and cut billions in content costs last year. Disney announced last week it plans to eliminate 7,000 jobs and cut $5.5 billion in costs, including $3 billion in non-sports content savings. The NFL obtained 40% to 80% increases for its media rights when it renewed its deal for 11 years in 2021.
I've been a pro wrestling columnist and video blogger for a leading national sports website since 2010, and formerly of Bleacher Report, where I was a WWE columnist an host of the nearly 100-episode digital series WWE WTF. In 2012, I was featured in Bleacher Report's \"Why We Watch\" documentary discussing the career of Kurt Angle. I graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a major in business economics, an emphasis in accounting and a minor in sports management. 041b061a72