NBC Sports and Turner partnering streaming services to compete with MLB’s BAMTech

BAMTech has largely had the sports streaming landscape to itself in recent years, providing the technology that drives the online and over-the-top product for MLB, WatchESPN, the PGA Tour, the NFL’s Thursday Night Football and now eSports. But some competition may be emerging, if NBC Sports and Turner Sports have anything to say on the matter.

As reported by SportsBusiness Journal’s John Ourand, NBC Sports Group and Turner are teaming up to create a new streaming and on-demand venture with a heavy emphasis on sports. NBC’s Playmaker Media and Turner’s iStreamPlanet will combine to provide a service that will have several major sports leagues and events in its programming arsenal.

Playmaker has the streaming rights to the NFL, NHL, Premier League, NASCAR and Triple Crown races through NBC. Turner has the rights to NBA League Pass, the NCAA Tournament, 2017 PGA Championship and ELeague, all of which are currently streamed on iStreamPlanet. That would appear to create a rather robust competitor to BAMTech’s current offerings. The two companies previously partnered during the Rio Olympics last summer, drawing 100 million unique users during a nearly three-week span.

However, it should be pointed out that BAMTech also has some appealing non-sports options, notably HBO and WWE. Will this new venture from NBC and Turner have to eventually step into that territory to be even more competitive? Yet HBO is seeking to separate itself from its agreement with BAMTech, so perhaps that won’t be as much of a concern as it may have been previously.

Mio Babic, founder and CEO of iStreamPlanet, told Ourand that his company and Playmaker see 50 brands they could pursue to help their digital product grow. The company will also make efforts to expand in international markets, something that BAMTech recently did by expanding into Europe with Discovery Communications.

[SportsBusiness Journal]