Sports Illustrated launching 24/7 FAST channel SI TV

Sports Illustrated is the latest brand to get into the FAST channel business.

Minute Media, the publisher for the legacy sports magazine brand, announced on Tuesday that Sports Illustrated would launch a new free ad-supported television (FAST) channel called SI TV. The channel will include “original programming, live events, sports lifestyle and archival content,” according to a press release. SI TV will be available on several prominent FAST platforms including Amazon FireTV, DirecTV, Sling, Plex, and others.

“SI TV is a new platform for what SI has always done: tell the best stories in sports with authoritative voices and unique access,” Sports Illustrated editor-in-chief Steve Cannella said in the announcement.

A number of notable podcasts will feature on the new channel including The Breer Report, The Baseball Insiders, SI Media with Jimmy Traina, Forde-Yard Dash, and MMQB. SI TV will also include live programming from the Mountain West Conference Network, featuring men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and softball games from the conference. Original content will include Sports Illustrated Vault, which will lean on the brand’s archival library to revisit some of the best moments in sports, and other features like a recent story about how Oklahoma City built its canoe slalom course for the 2028 Olympics.

FAST consumption has been increasing at a steady rate as compared to other forms of television, like broadcast, cable, and subscription streaming. At the same time, however, it has become an oversaturated space where it is difficult to standout. SI TV enters relatively late in the game, though it has a fair amount of brand equity to fall back on. At the end of the day, if Sports Illustrated is able to incrementally benefit its advertising business by throwing content it already owns and produces onto a FAST channel, there’s little downside to launching one.