Warner Bros. Discovery WBD has undergone significant marketing and realignment in recent months as live sports continues to be the most popular genre on linear TV and migrates to streaming platforms. These WDB changes include adding a tier to live sports on Max. It rebranded all WDB Sports properties as TNT Sports, launched sports streaming apps with Disney and Fox, and reprogrammed low-rating cable network TruTV into a sports channel. WDB has rights to many top sports including the NBA, MLB, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and NHL.
WBD's new efforts in the sports field come at a time when WBD has an exclusive negotiating point with Disney to renew the NBA's media rights. His current contract expires at the end of the 2024-25 season. The exclusive negotiating period for the two incumbents will expire next month. With the continued popularity of live sports, now a staple of many entertainment networks, several other media and technology companies have expressed interest in his NBA, driving up broadcast rights fees. Overall, the NBA's media rights could increase to $75 billion from the current deal's $24 billion.
TNT Sports: The short-lived WBD Sports was renamed TNT Sports in January last year as part of a global brand overhaul. (Prior to WBD, the division was called Turner Sports.) Going forward, all sports content from TNT, TBS, TruTV and Max will fall under the TNT Sports umbrella. In addition to WDB's major sporting events, the TNT brand includes owned and operated units. bleacher report and golf digest. This rebranding has been likened to the 2006 renaming of the iconic “ABC Sports” to “ESPN on ABC.”
Name change This is part of a global rebranding plan in which WDB will consolidate its sports division under the name TNT Sports. Globally, the TNT Sports name is already established in several countries in Latin America. Last July, BT Sport was renamed TNT Sport in the UK and Ireland.
Maximum streaming sports: Last October, WBD launched the Bleacher Report Live Sports add-on, a tier for live streaming sports (MLB, NBA, NHL, US Soccer events, etc.). game, etc.) available in Max. Initially, the add-on will be free to users until February 29th, after which subscribers will be charged a $9.99 monthly add-on fee. The surcharge was timed to coincide with the NCAA men's basketball tournament. (Only WBD Network tournament games are available with the B/R Sports add-on, not CBS/Paramount+.) Overall, Bleacher Report content as well as over 300 national and global live sporting events annually will be available. Also includes other sports-related content.
However, in early January, WBD extended the free offer of the B/R add-on. Citing the delay, a spokesperson said: “The B/R Sports Add-On will be released in the coming months as we finalize some technology integrations to ensure a more seamless customer experience on our platform. It will continue to be available to our Max subscribers throughout the month.” Partner. “
WBD-Disney-Fox: In February, WBD, Disney, and Fox announced plans to launch a joint streaming sports service. According to a report by Citi Research, these three media companies control approximately 55% of U.S. media sports rights. Industry analysts say the partnership is in response to the threat that deep-pocketed tech companies (Amazon AMZN, AppleAAPL, YouTube) have all expressed interest in acquiring media rights to live sports assets. He points out. The three companies are expected to make separate bids for media rights to sports-related assets. Monthly subscription fees are estimated to range from $35 to $50, with a release date expected in the fall.
The announcement sparked a backlash. Several NFL executives, including Commissioner Roger Goodell, learned of the venture shortly before it was announced and were outraged. There have been reports that the NFL is reviewing its agreements with Fox and ESPN to see if they can cancel the joint venture. Fubo, a streaming service focused on live sports, filed a lawsuit accusing the joint venture of stifling competition and unfair bundling. The Justice Department is also reviewing the joint venture to determine the impact on consumers, other media companies, and sports leagues.
True TV: Earlier this month, WBD announced a revamp of its low-rating cable channel TruTV. The program consists of reality shows and comedy shows such as: unrealistic joker (Moving to TBS) TruTV averaged 120,000 primetime viewers in 2023, down 18% from the previous year. Last year, several smaller rated Disney networks were removed from Charter Communications CHTR in the latest carriage agreement. In December 2021, the cable network NBC Sportsnet ceased operations and NBC Sports content was moved to USA Network and Peacock.
TruTV's programming changes went into effect on March 11, just before the start of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Since 2012, TruTV has provided live coverage of early March Madness games. TruTV's sports content includes alternative telecasts of NBA, MLB and NHL games on TNT and TBS. monday night football ESPN2's “Manning Cast.”
Other sports-related programming fees include studio programs such as: TNT Sports Update At 6 p.m. this line (Sports Betting Show) 6:30pm and Late Night NBA Show huddle.Another new sports program steam room This is a long-running interview program. Inside the NBA Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson will officiate.A weekly program titled highlight house Use content from social media clips. Other programs include sports movies and documentaries. The new programming will make TruTV a competitor to vertical cable sports networks such as ESPN and FS1.
WBD has done a lot of work on global and national sports as well as streaming, but the same hasn't been said for regional sports networks. In October 2023, WBD permanently shut down his RSN, AT&T SportsNet. At the time, WBD owned and operated his four RSNs across the country, but was facing financial challenges.
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