Versant considering streaming partnership with Peacock, others, per report

As Comcast prepares to finalize the spinoff of the majority of its cable assets into a new entity, Versant, the streaming futures of those assets have been left in flux.

That picture got a little bit clearer on Thursday after a report from CNBC’s Alex Sherman revealed that Versant would like its streaming rights to stay under the Peacock umbrella if possible. Sherman, speaking with Versant’s new head of sports Matt Hong, reports that, while the company will explore partnerships with other streaming platforms where it makes sense, the preference is to stay connected to Peacock, where the portfolio currently lives while still under the Comcast umbrella.

“All other things being equal, we’d like to continue to work with and partner with NBCU and Peacock going forward,” Hong told CNBC. “I think one of the unique things about being separate public companies here soon is we’ll be able to potentially partner with Peacock, but we’ll also be able to partner with other third-party streamers in situations where a set of rights may or may not work for Peacock but we want them at Versant. We’ll have the freedom to partner with some streamers that previously we didn’t necessarily have the freedom to partner with.”

If Versant continues to partner with Peacock post-spin, it will simplify life for sports fans that may not necessarily be paying attention to the larger machinations facing the media industry in this moment. Key live sports rights like the PGA Tour, Premier League, NASCAR, and others, would still remain on Peacock where fans are accustomed to finding them. However, the door is certainly left open to partnering with another platform if it makes sense.

However, one thing that isn’t in the cards is a merge with another player in live sports rights.

“I don’t know that we will merge with an entity that has sports rights, only because we have plenty of programming to help drive our linear business,” Hong said. “I think the future will be inorganic acquisitions, which help diversify our revenue streams. And so it’ll really be, continue to invest in our core linear business, and then looking for inorganic opportunities that complement that business.”

Given Hong’s remarks, and prior comments from Versant executives, don’t expect any type of merger with the Warner Bros. Discovery spin out, Discovery Global, which will house TNT Sports’ properties in the future.

All in all, it seems like both NBCUniversal and Versant are trying to make this transition as smooth as possible. It was already reported that NBC would sell advertising for Versant for two years after the spinoff is completed. The entities also recently struck a media rights deal with the USGA together.

By the looks of things, the two sides will be playing nice for quite some time after their separation.