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NBC Universal teams up with WCSN to form Universal Sports

M

Morgan Wick

Guest
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6570750.html?rssid=193

NBC Sports bought a share of WCSN, which runs an Olympic-sports Web site, which it will jointly control with InterMedia Partners. It also gives NBC access to WCSN's on-demand TV platform.

The result will be the newly christened Universal Sports, which will add NBC's sports programming and production muscle to WCSN's online destination.
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More info at the above link and here.

Hmm. Is it possible NBC might attempt to run down ESPN (or at least try for a Versus-type level of importance in the sports landscape)? And in the context of both the "shooting ourselves in the DTV foot" thread and NBC's bid for the Weather Channel (which could obviate the need for Weather Plus), should I read anything into the fact that WCSN already has a place on several digital subchannels?
 
Morgan Wick said:
Hmm. Is it possible NBC might attempt to run down ESPN (or at least try for a Versus-type level of importance in the sports landscape)? And in the context of both the "shooting ourselves in the DTV foot" thread and NBC's bid for the Weather Channel (which could obviate the need for Weather Plus), should I read anything into the fact that WCSN already has a place on several digital subchannels?
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I highly doubt you'll see them transition it to a full-fledged challenger to the ESPNs (like Versus is). I think they'll stay within their niche of hosting Olympic sports year round, with a plan in place to help use the channel for its actual Summer & Winter Olympics coverage down the road (too late to do much for the upcoming '08 Summer Olympics).

That obviously assumes that NBC Universal secures the rights to air those Olympiads...here comes Fox & ESPN:
http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/06/fox_espn_expected_to_join_fiel.php
 
If ESPN gets in on it, could some of the events go back to ABC? I don't think they've had any Olympic rights since Calgary (winter) back in 1988.
 
KML-224 said:
If ESPN gets in on it, could some of the events go back to ABC? I don't think they've had any Olympic rights since Calgary (winter) back in 1988.
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we're talking about Disney/ESPN, where the ESPN brand has already taken over the ABC sports branding so I would guess so, and probably throw in ABC Family and (maybe) Disney Channel......
 
Mainedude2007 said:
KML-224 said:
If ESPN gets in on it, could some of the events go back to ABC? I don't think they've had any Olympic rights since Calgary (winter) back in 1988.
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we're talking about Disney/ESPN, where the ESPN brand has already taken over the ABC sports branding so I would guess so, and probably throw in ABC Family and (maybe) Disney Channel......
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Don't forget the ESPN family: Classic, "The Deuce", ESPNU, ESPNews.

Also, there is ABC News Now...
 
ABC and the two main ESPN networks are obvious choices. But if Disney secures the rights, they've also got ABC Family and Lifetime at their disposal, as well. In the case of the Winter Games, you'd have to think that there would be some more TV-friendly domestic obligations (college basketball & the NBA) that the ESPNs wouldn't necessarily bump.
 
"ABC. ESPN. ESPN2. ESPN3. ABC Family. Lifetime. ESPNU. ESPN Mobile TV. ESPN360.com. Whatever other networks we have by now. With live updates on ESPNEWS, SportsCenter at the Olympics, and Spanish-language coverage on ESPN Deportes. ESPN: Your Home to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and bringing you all the Brent Musburger, John Saunders, and Rece Davis in studios you can handle along the way."

This is something that gives ESPN an edge in negotiations for any of these simutaneous-action events like the Olympics. There's a part of me that wants to see ESPN go after NCAA Tournament rights and allow me to see games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and either ESPN Classic or ESPNU simultaneously (and you can tell they want to from their weird studio programming during the first round), until I remember that ESPN would either ditch "One Shining Moment" for some dumb pop song or spit on the grave of Luther Vandross by turning "One Shining Moment" into a dumb pop song, would give us the much-mocked Brent Musberger in the Final Four, might trade Gus Johnson for Dickie V, and commit other atrocities because they're ESPN and ESPN Can Do No Good.

In the case of the Olympics, NBC only has Telemundo, USA (which is bowing out of sports), CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Universal Sports, and if it wished, Sci-Fi, Mun-2, and putting HD-only events on Universal HD. Exclude USA and Sci-Fi, and ESPN has the number of English language networks matched even before including ABC Family and Lifetime, the fact that NBC has to pre-empt non-sports programming on all its cable networks except Universal Sports, and factoring in Universal Sports' currently limited distribution (although ESPNU is limited as well, but ESPNU would also not be providing much Winter Games coverage at all).

Fox is even worse. It has FSN, FCS (three channels), FSC, Fox News, Fox Business, and mayyyyybe Fox Movies, with Spanish coverage on Fox Sports en Espanol, but I suspect Fox would be more reticent to pre-empt non-sports programming than NBC, and Fox Sports en Espanol is no ESPN Deportes. It would be willing to pre-empt programming on Fox Business if it were willing to do so on Fox News, which I doubt. And FSN has to deal with the mess of being a bunch of regional sports networks with local sports contracts, and FSN and mayyyyybe FSC are the only Fox sports networks with anything approaching ESPN levels of distribution. (Please don't mention Big Ten Network. I don't want to die laughing.)

And there's a reason you're not hearing about CBS getting involved.

CBS College Sports is more akin to ESPNU than ESPN, and it's ESPNU that has to run down CBS College Sports.
 
Nate Wesley said:
I highly doubt you'll see them transition it to a full-fledged challenger to the ESPNs (like Versus is).
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Umm are you serious? Versus only shows things ESPN doesn't want.
 
NBC and the IOC have been talking about creating a year round channel featuring sports that are popular in the Olympics. This looks like an easy short-cut to doing that. It's not bad really. WCSN is frequently on Ion Life. If there's nothing better on, it's watchable.
 
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