It’s a brand new day for several sports and cable channels that used to be under the Comcast/NBC umbrella, moving forward under the name Versant.
Versant is the spinoff from Comcast containing several prominent cable channels including USA, Syfy, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen and Golf Channel.
While some of those channels have been synonymous with NBC’s lineup of live sports properties, the networks are going in a new direction as part of a brand new company. However, they will still be in relationship with NBC as the networks will continue carrying live sports rights that were negotiated when they were part of the larger company. That includes the English Premier League, WNBA, and the Olympics.
But Versant will also now be able to negotiate their own rights deals. And CEO Mark Lazarus, who once served as the NBC Sports president, is already laying out the company’s strategy when it comes to acquisitions in an interview with CNBC sports media reporter Alex Sherman.
In Sherman’s newsletter, Lazarus said that Versant could look at “next-level” sports properties while ruling out big ticket items like the NFL and Big Ten.
“We’re looking for sports deals that drive distribution, diversify ad sales and have a value,” said Lazarus.
Getting a small package of games for USA Network could help boost Versant’s future distribution conversations with pay-TV providers. For MLB, carving out a chunk of games for USA Network can help improve the league’s reach. Lazarus said he’ll examine all sorts of live rights as they come available, provided they can boost distribution revenue as pay-TV carriage renewals arise.
“We have a pretty good sports portfolio,” Lazarus said. “We’re not going to be in the NFL business. We’re not going to be in the Big Ten business, because that stuff’s all spoken for. But we’ll be with the next-level stuff.”
What do those “next-level” things include? Well, Lazarus has already ruled out F1, which is one of the few sports that is currently seeing its rights still open for bid, although it seems to be having trouble striking a new American television deal. UFC is also a big name that is currently a sports rights free agent, but it might be too late in the game for a brand new company like Versant to make a play there, even though they will have an established relationship with TKO through the airing of WWE Smackdown.
However, one contender could be Major League Baseball. The league infamously will have Sunday Night Baseball games hit the open market after going their separate ways from ESPN. While that may be a bit ambitious for the startup spinoff, a smaller selection of games like we have seen MLB give to streamers in past years could be reasonable.
