Had been rumored a few weeks ago: NBC to shut down sports cable channel NBCSN
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NBCSN shutting down end of 2021
- Thread starter Mediafrog+
- Start date
That's interesting, since it's been more successful than CBS SN with almost 80 million homes, compared to 60 million for CBS. It's about equal to FS1. Moving the programming to USA will mean an addition of 10 million homes to 90 million. I wonder what NBC Universal will do with the channel.
It was about a year ago that NBC Sports shut down their radio network.
NBC Sports Radio Says Goodbye | Radio & Television Business Report
Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One will no longer distribute NBC Sports Radio come the end of March. Call it a consolidation move: the company is offering affiliates the option to switch to CBS Sports Radio, which it also distributes.
www.rbr.com
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In this case NBCSN is shutting it's cable operations and moving to Peacock the streaming outlet. I'm surprised the olympic channel was not shut down first though given how niche it is and how the public only pays attention to this venue in even number years specifically.
the moment live sports on streaming is perfected, is the moment that basic cable will be given the Thanos snapping fingers
treatment
Good question. Do cable companies move USA from where it is into the sports tier? Some users (like me) were paying more for access to the sports tier. USA is part of Basic. Simply shutting down a channel and disbursing its content to existing channels means walking away from money. Not sure that's what they're doing.
'As of the beginning of the pandemic NBCSN was in around 80 million homes and had a sub fee a bit above $.40, meaning it was making NBC ~$400 million annually before advertising is taken into account'
That is what NBC are walking away from. It was also the No2 ranked sports channel in 2020 after ESPN. Beggars belief.
Could they not air sports simultaneously on NBCSN and Peacock. Best if both worlds like they do in the UK? Streaming and cable covered.
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It still shocks me when they make the decision to shut down these big channels that are still profitable why? Could it be because sports in general other than live sports have been struggling? Viewership wise.That's interesting, since it's been more successful than CBS SN with almost 80 million homes, compared to 60 million for CBS. It's about equal to FS1. Moving the programming to USA will mean an addition of 10 million homes to 90 million. I wonder what NBC Universal will do with the channel.
It was about a year ago that NBC Sports shut down their radio network.
NBC Sports Radio Says Goodbye | Radio & Television Business Report
Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One will no longer distribute NBC Sports Radio come the end of March. Call it a consolidation move: the company is offering affiliates the option to switch to CBS Sports Radio, which it also distributes.
We don't know that they are profitable as there are not P&L releases that are that granular. So we have to assume that the carriage fees plus advertising did not produce a profit or were declining to a dangerous point.
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The NHL deal with NBC is $200 million per year, and this is the final season of that 10 year deal. So fully half of the carriage fee went to pay the NHL.
Thank you for finding that piece of information. That certainly reinforces the concept that the whole division may not have been profitable. The pieces may be more valuable distributed within other parts of the company.
They had been able to use some of the talent from the NBCSN to also create content for the radio network, for which they got paid a straight fee. So they had built multiple revenue streams, which is what you want to see. And then covid hit. They missed out on the 2020 Summer Olympics, so that was a big loss. They're no longer receiving the radio revenue. And now they have to negotiate a new deal with the NHL, which analysts are saying will cost a lot of money.
And ESPN has been said to have renewed interest in the NHL. The league already has one or two games a night available on ESPN+ to viewers who don't need to have cable subscriptions and only pay about $5 a month. The sport is action packed, physical, and its athletes seldom take controversial stands on political or social issues. The main problem for the NHL is that ESPN is fixated on appealing to racially and ethnically diverse, young viewers, and that means relentless coverage and promotion of the NFL and NBA, the latter of which plays in all but the first few weeks that the NHL does. I'm sure the NHL will want ESPN's talkers to start talking about their league every so often instead of LeBron James and Tom Brady and not just throw an occasional NHL game on the air when it's TNT's turn to show the NBA.
That's the other thing: What's NBCSN without the NHL? Soccer? Not much there.
ESPN needs content to make their model work. It's a beast that needs to be fed.
NBCSN's other big bet besides hockey was motorsports. They had the rights to half the Nascar season, all of IndyCar, and a couple of smaller series as well.
Yep, in the middle of that deal, which ends in 2024. Which they share with ESPN and others.
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