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NBC Sports Network to shut down by the end of 2021, NHL and EPL moving to USA Network

RBH

RBH

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Nov 2, 2017
33,189






NBC has told distributors and some sports leagues that it plans to shut down its NBCSN sports channel by the end of the year. NBC's most recent affiliate deals with Charter and Dish Network do not include carriage for NBCSN beyond this year, sources said. Plus, sports leagues that have deals with NBC were being told of the changes this week.

The move is in line with the current media trend of consolidating cable channels. For NBC, it also is part of a bigger strategy to grow its Peacock streaming service, while, at the same time, bolstering the programming schedule for other NBC channels like USA Network.

Bigger properties, like the NHL, NASCAR and EPL, will move to USA Network while keeping some windows on the broadcast channel. Smaller properties, like car shows, dog shows and some motorsports, will have to find new linear TV outlets.

The big question is how a league like the NHL reacts to the shutting down of a network that has carried its games for the past 15 years. The NHL's deal with NBC ends after this season. The NHL has made it clear that it wants to split its rights between at least two TV outlets. NBC has told the NHL that it would carve out regular windows on its broadcast channel and USA Network, which is in 86.2 million homes, plus Peacock.

NBC's other sports channels, Golf Channel and the Olympic Channel, will not be affected, sources said. Last year, Golf Channel moved its operations from Orlando to NBC Sports' headquarters in Stamford, Conn. Last week, NBC announced that Peacock would carry speed skating on a premium tier -- content that in the past would have been on both NBCSN and Olympic Channel.

Comcast launched NBCSN in '95, when it was then known as the Outdoor Life Network and carried the Tour de France as its biggest property. In '06, the channel picked up the rights to the NHL and changed its name to Versus. After Comcast bought NBC in '11, the name changed again to NBC Sports Network. The channel currently is in 80.6 million homes.

Rumors have been swirling around for NBCSN's future for weeks, including a prediction last month that NBC would shut down the channel at some point this year.
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NBC Plans To Shutter NBC Sports Network By End Of Year

NBC has told distributors and some sports leagues that it plans to shut down its NBCSN sports channel by the end of the year.
www.sportsbusinessdaily.com www.sportsbusinessdaily.com




From a few months ago:


For years, NBCUniversal's cable networks, channels like USA, Bravo and E!, were power centers in the media company, each with a mandate to promote their own programming and brands.

Those days are over.

As new Chief Executive Jeff Shell reshapes the entertainment giant to cope with cable TV cord-cutting and the rise of streaming video, he is centralizing decision-making—from which shows get made to which networks those shows should run on—and dramatically slimming down the cable unit in the process.

Top executives are getting squeezed out. Most recently, Chris McCumber, who led the USA and Syfy networks, said last week he was leaving after a two-decade run at the company. Substantial job cuts are expected throughout the cable entertainment group in the coming months, and some open positions will go unfilled, people familiar with the situation say.
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NBCUniversal's top brass thinks certain entertainment channels don't have a long-term future on the cable dial, the people said. That includes E!, known for its red-carpet coverage and for giving the Kardashian family a platform; Syfy, home to sci-fi thrillers; and Oxygen, originally launched as a network for women that has lately pivoted to true-crime, the people said.
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NBCUniversal believes its brand power lies not in networks, but in individual franchises like "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," which airs on E! and is ending in 2021, and "Real Housewives" on Bravo, one of the people familiar with the situation said.

Several of NBCUniversal's entertainment networks, including Bravo, E!, Syfy and USA, have lost more than 10 million subscribers each since 2014, according to Nielsen data.
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www.wsj.com

NBCUniversal’s Cable Channels Were a Crown Jewel. Now They’re an ‘Albatross.’

New CEO Jeff Shell is centralizing decision-making and slimming down the cable unit in the process.
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com
 

AwShucks

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Oct 27, 2017
2,977
Man, I assume this means EVEN MORE EPL games on Peacock. Need another EPL rights bidding war in the US
 
nenned

nenned

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Oct 27, 2017
1,104
Will this impact Monday Night Raw in any way for Monday night games? Which gets higher ratings and would get priority?
 
mreddie

mreddie

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Oct 26, 2017
44,555
Sanjuro

Sanjuro

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Oct 25, 2017
31,358
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So long, The Outdoor Versus Sports Life Network. Rest in piss.

cwmartin said:
gonna hurt the Stamford workforce. MANY people worked there in that city.
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Obviously not a fan of this. My biggest problem with the network laregrly has to do with it being ahead of its time. Regional blackouts, lack of provider coverage, the move of NHL from ESPN, and generally lack of enthusiasm once these cable networks finally. Just has been a mess all around.
 
OP
OP
RBH

RBH

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Nov 2, 2017
33,189
nenned said:
Will this impact Monday Night Raw in any way for Monday night games? Which gets higher ratings and would get priority?
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NXT might get affected more than Raw, as the NHL has weekly Wednesday night games on NBCSN right now.
 
abellwillring

abellwillring

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Oct 25, 2017
8,962
Austin, TX
This is a huge blow for soccer, sadly. Even if they shift game coverage to USA and more to Peacock, there's no way they'll devote the amount of money and effort in to the ancillary coverage that currently exists. Very disappointing.
 
Lonewolf

Lonewolf

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
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Oct 27, 2017
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nenned said:
Will this impact Monday Night Raw in any way for Monday night games? Which gets higher ratings and would get priority?
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Dunno, but this could be death for NXT on Wednesdays. More than 75% of NHL teams appear on Wednesday nights on NBCSN, and most feature doubleheaders (and in some cases tripleheaders) surrounding its Wednesday Night Hockey coverage, including both early and late starts. Soon it's going to be NHL and AEW battling it out.
 
mreddie

mreddie

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Oct 26, 2017
44,555
abellwillring said:
This is a huge blow for soccer, sadly. Even if they shift game coverage to USA and more to Peacock, there's no way they'll devote the amount of money and effort in to the ancillary coverage that currently exists. Very disappointing.
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It's likely they'll move the crew to the other channel, plus the Sky connection comes in handy here.

Also don't forget they can move games to CNBC.
 
Wingfan19

Wingfan19

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Oct 25, 2017
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If they just move it to USA then who cares? If you had NBCSN, you have USA. Won't they just carry over the hosts as well?
 

Deleted member 86105

Banned
Nov 18, 2020
1,408
Typically NBCSN had some exclusive NHL games that weren't broadcast on MSG (local affiliate). I wonder if they'll keep that up with the move to USA.
 
Doorman

Doorman

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Oct 25, 2017
4,968
Michigan
I don't have cable so this doesn't particularly affect me, but I do at least enjoy the irony of the English Premier League being moved to a channel called the USA Network.

Still zero interest in Peacock and I wish all these individual companies would stop trying to make their own individual streaming platforms a thing.
 
Arcticfox

Arcticfox

Member
Oct 27, 2017
340
NBCSN has been my favorite sports network for a while, mainly because they carry a lot of autoracing. Indycar has been doing well and I am sure will find someplace to carry them, but I worry about more niche series like IMSA. I would be fine with it going to streaming, but I'm not sure if that would be best to keep the series running in the long term.
 
Darren Lamb

Darren Lamb

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Dec 1, 2017
2,836
NBC Sports has been huge for me, I started following the premier league with dodgy streams in 2008 but it was a game changer when NBC got the rights. Things have been getting more annoying over time; every game used to be free to stream, then it was most of them, and now they're putting flagship games on peacock, but the quality of the product was generally good all the way through. They might just move everyone to peacock but if they lose the rights too I'd have a hard time believing anyone would do better with it
 
NihonTiger

NihonTiger

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Oct 25, 2017
10,541
TwntyOneTwlv said:
All I care about is Indycar, Supercross, and MotoGP. I've got Peacock for SX, but what about the other series?
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Likely that if they stick around, they're all going to Peacock for what would normally have been on NBCSN. Indycar's deal is up at the end of the year and IMSA will likely stick with where NASCAR goes. I would expect the Xfinity Series will end up on Peacock and Truck Series stays with FS1 for now. Though there's been rumors circling about CBS wanting to get back into motorsports and they've already grabbed Formula E, so who knows?
 
metal

metal

Banned
Nov 26, 2020
1,251
So will NHL games be on Peacock too now? That would be the only way I ever subscribe to the service.
 
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