TNT Sports will not receive advertising revenue for the College Football Playoff games it sub-licensed from ESPN in 2024 and 2025. Plus: NBC announces broadcast team for Olympic golf coverage; NFL goes to court over Sunday Ticket pricing.
TNT ceding ad revenue to ESPN in CFP sub-license deal
TNT Sports will not earn any advertising revenue from the package of College Football Playoff games it sub-licensed from ESPN, Puck‘s John Ourand reported last week. Instead, ESPN — who will produce the sub-licensed games for TNT — will also keep all of the advertising revenue. The arrangement signals that TNT’s main priority in securing CFP inventory was to maintain leverage with distributors as the network risks losing NBA rights.
The deal may also draw the interest of regulators, per Ourand’s report. Disney and Warner Bros Discovery form two-thirds of the upcoming Venu Sports streaming service, a joint venture that also includes Fox. With ESPN (Disney) sub-licensing games to TNT (WBD), allegations of anti-competitive practices could arise, especially considering the advertising revenue arrangement. It could be argued that it is in ESPN’s best interest to keep TNT’s portfolio of sports inventory strong to attract more subscribers for Venu. (Puck, 6.6)
NBC taps Faxon and Wagner as Olympic golf analysts
NBC announced its golf broadcast team for the upcoming Paris Olympics in a press release on Monday. Brad Faxon and Johnson Wagner will fill the analyst role during the men’s tournament. Faxon is one of many names that has been floated as a possible permanent replacement for Paul Azinger on NBC’s lead golf team, and will be calling odd numbered holes alongside Mike Tirico at the U.S. Open this week. Wagner is a rising star in golf media, appearing regularly on Golf Channel’s studio programming and as an on-course reporter since joining the network in 2023. Play-by-play duties will go to NBC golf staple Steve Sands, along with Grant Boone and Tom Abbott.
Coverage plans have steadily come into focus for the upcoming Olympics. Last month, the network announced Dwyane Wade among its broadcasters for Olympic basketball. Maria Taylor will host a late night show from Paris following the late local news in every time zone. Mary Carillo will call NBC’s final tennis competition for the foreseeable future after the network lost French Open rights to TNT starting next year. Other longtime Olympic voices Andrea Joyce and Jimmy Roberts will cover top stories from the sports desk in Paris. And as was announced back in March, Tirico, musician Kelly Clarkson, and Peyton Manning will handle Opening Ceremony coverage for the network. (NBC, 6.10)
NFL Sunday Ticket trial begins in Los Angeles
A trial brought by consumers against the NFL accusing the league of antitrust violations when pricing its Sunday Ticket package began in Los Angeles on Thursday. The group of consumers alleges that the NFL colluded with DirecTV (while they held exclusive rights to Sunday Ticket) to fix prices for the league’s Sunday afternoon out-of-market package. The class further claims that the alleged price-fixing was done to satisfy Sunday afternoon rightsholders CBS and Fox, who would discuss Sunday Ticket pricing with the league in order to protect its own inventory. Per a report in The Hollywood Reporter, the trial is expected to last two weeks, and NFL comissioner Roger Goodell is expected to testify. (The Hollywood Reporter, 6.6)
