NBC Shutting Down NBCSN

It comes down to two possibilities.

- Comcast is serious about making USA into something like TNT. A "general rerun" channel with the added value of sports. In this theory Comcast renews with the NHL and Indy Car (which BTW, gets ratings except for the 500 that are similar to NASCAR's 3rd tier series, in no way in "better shape") and goes after other sports as they become available.

- Comcast has figured out that Disney will outbid them for the NHL. Without the NHL, NBCSN is unviable. It moves euro soccer to Peacock, most of it behind paywalls; and uses USA (and maybe CNBC, which shows filler on weekends) to burn off last 3 years of its NASCAR commitment and for random over-flows now and then, and USA remains basically as it is now. ESPN becomes the primary NHL channel.
 
It comes down to two possibilities.

- Comcast is serious about making USA into something like TNT. A "general rerun" channel with the added value of sports. In this theory Comcast renews with the NHL and Indy Car (which BTW, gets ratings except for the 500 that are similar to NASCAR's 3rd tier series, in no way in "better shape") and goes after other sports as they become available.

- Comcast has figured out that Disney will outbid them for the NHL. Without the NHL, NBCSN is unviable. It moves euro soccer to Peacock, most of it behind paywalls; and uses USA (and maybe CNBC, which shows filler on weekends) to burn off last 3 years of its NASCAR commitment and for random over-flows now and then, and USA remains basically as it is now. ESPN becomes the primary NHL channel.
Umm

Its going to be a NBC bloodbath

Just the first of many NBC channels to shut down and move to Peacock

 
It comes down to two possibilities.

- Comcast is serious about making USA into something like TNT. A "general rerun" channel with the added value of sports. In this theory Comcast renews with the NHL and Indy Car (which BTW, gets ratings except for the 500 that are similar to NASCAR's 3rd tier series, in no way in "better shape") and goes after other sports as they become available.

- Comcast has figured out that Disney will outbid them for the NHL. Without the NHL, NBCSN is unviable. It moves euro soccer to Peacock, most of it behind paywalls; and uses USA (and maybe CNBC, which shows filler on weekends) to burn off last 3 years of its NASCAR commitment and for random over-flows now and then, and USA remains basically as it is now. ESPN becomes the primary NHL channel.
Perhaps, but ESPN is morphing into almost an SEC exclusive college channel in the fall. Add in NBA and I am not even sure ESPN has the ability to take the NHL. I do not see the NHL moving from NBC. ESPN also has ACC and some BIG 12. This is a LOT of football and basketball games.

Fox is pulled over to Big 10 exclusivity.

Question is what does CBS do. CBS is losing the SEC. That's big time - College Football and basketball is gone. CBS is going to need to fill this gap.
 
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Perhaps, but ESPN is morphing into almost an SEC exclusive college channel in the fall. Add in NBA and I am not even sure ESPN has the ability to take the NHL. I do not see the NHL moving from NBC. ESPN also has ACC and some BIG 12. This is a LOT of football and basketball games.

Fox is pulled over to Big 10 exclusivity.

Question is what does CBS do. CBS is losing the SEC. That's big time - College Football and basketball is gone. CBS is going to need to fill this gap.
CBS is still king at College basketball. They fill out their schedule between football and golf with NCAA basketball ending with March Madness.

Fox also has exclusive rights to the Big East.
 
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CBS is still king at College basketball. They fill out their schedule between football and golf with NCAA basketball ending with March Madness.

Fox also has exclusive rights to the Big East.
Sure they are - right now - but SEC going away leaves a BIG hole. What college football will they be showing when SEC leaves? They don't have a whole lot. Yes, they also have Big East, and maybe they show more Big East basketball. But still holes.

NBC knows that there will be gaps and is voluntarily pulling out I guess, rather than compete for what's left.
 
CBS has very few options to fill the hole left by the SEC football package. Really everything is signed up for a fairly long term, except for NBC's Notre Dame package which runs out after 25. It could just give back the slot to the affiliates to show infomercials, show some G5 games (it showed Marshall-Appalachian State last year due to the SEC not starting on time) or show the niche sports often found on CBSSN like rodeo or dirt track racing.

In basketball, CBS, of course, has the tournament, and it has some other regular season basketball, including some Big 10 rights and some made for TV events. It will be fine there.
 
One thing to consider, I think the EPL rights are up for bid again real soon. NBC owns through to 21-22. EPL rights (and Champions League) have skyrocketed in bidding in the last 15 years. I think Fox gave the EPL 4 goats and a mule for rights yearly around 2005. The last bid NBC had to rebid to defeat a conglomeration bid from others. I wonder if NBC is even going to bother this time around.

I also wonder about the Tour de France as NBCSN -> Versus -> Outdoor Life channel had been the home of Le Tour way back when I needed to use the VCR to record the live recording during the day. I prefer to pay to get the International / Commercial Free feed, but still, is USA going to show Le Tour or is that going to go to Peacock? NBC owns those rights (among other cycling events) through 2023.

NBCSN is one of the only channels tethering me to cable/sat. If stuff will be on Peacock (and I admit, their online Alpine coverage is phenomenal), this could start to kill sat/cable.
 
One thing to consider, I think the EPL rights are up for bid again real soon. NBC owns through to 21-22. EPL rights (and Champions League) have skyrocketed in bidding in the last 15 years. I think Fox gave the EPL 4 goats and a mule for rights yearly around 2005. The last bid NBC had to rebid to defeat a conglomeration bid from others. I wonder if NBC is even going to bother this time around.

I also wonder about the Tour de France as NBCSN -> Versus -> Outdoor Life channel had been the home of Le Tour way back when I needed to use the VCR to record the live recording during the day. I prefer to pay to get the International / Commercial Free feed, but still, is USA going to show Le Tour or is that going to go to Peacock? NBC owns those rights (among other cycling events) through 2023.

NBCSN is one of the only channels tethering me to cable/sat. If stuff will be on Peacock (and I admit, their online Alpine coverage is phenomenal), this could start to kill sat/cable.
With so many stuff moving to streaming, what is the value of these channels?
 
With so many stuff moving to streaming, what is the value of these channels?
Well, NBC would be responsible for shifting football programming to Peacock. Though the pandemic has been a player in that as well, by shifting games to not overlap for broadcast. What I don't see is how they balance merging a general entertainment channel with a sports channel that already has conflicts.

The EPL does provide a decent window for non-overlap of programming, starting around 7:00 in the morning until about 2:00 PM. But clearly, there will likely be a reduction in games shown on linear TV... which does hurt linear providers.
 
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looking at this purely as NBCSN being "weak" is the wrong way. Comcast is looking at their entire portfolio. Between all the channels they have (USA, Syfy, E!, Bravo, Oxygen, Olympics Network, Golf, NBCSN) think about how much original content is there vs. what is just re-runs

The market for reruns is drying up because people are binging that stuff on streaming now. I mean, they are streaming everything these days, but the draw remaining is live events and reality programming. Most new scripted drama is going to streaming, and reruns are on streaming

So, yeah, NBCSN is weak but honestly so is the rest of the overall lineup. And if you're going to right-size the number of networks and spread the content around, it makes sense to get rid of NBCSN which was in the fewest homes out of the rest of the non-niche networks. USA is in the most homes out of any of these. I don't see NBC dumping any content. Some of it will end up on Peacock, sure, but most of the destination viewing will be on NBC or USA. The point is to beef up USA, not just cut dead weight
 
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