After building its portfolio in partnerships with ESPN, the NHL and PGA Tour, in addition to powering streaming content for HBO Now, The Blaze, and WWE Network, MLB Advanced Media’s BAMTech is expanding its digital footprint into college sports.

As reported by Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick, BAM Tech has made an investment in Silver Chalice Ventures, whose digital content is largely focused on college sports. The amount of equity purchased has not been specified.

silver_chalice

Silver Chalice’s offerings include the 120 Sports (which previously had an agreement with BAMTech), Campus Insiders and the ACC Digital Network. White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is the chairman of the company, which is based out of Chicago.

Under the agreement, BAMTech will provide distribution for the ACC Digital Network and Campus Insiders. The two networks will also have BAMTech’s streaming technology at its disposal, which should allow them to acquire more college sports rights.

No word yet on whether or not this means content such as ACC athletics will be available on the over-the-top service that BAMTech is helping create for ESPN as part of its deal with Disney. Disney recently acquired a 33 percent stake in BAMTech worth $1 billion and has a four-year option to acquire another 33 percent.

Due to existing partnerships, MLB, the NHL and golf will be included among the offerings for the new ESPN service. BAMTech president Bob Bowman said when the agreement was officially announced that tennis, rugby and cricket will also be included in programming. He also mentioned that college football and basketball would be part of the service, and it would stand to reason that the ACC would now provide that content, along with whatever agreements Campus Insiders may be able to arrange.

[Bloomberg]

About Ian Casselberry

Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.

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