ESPN is reportedly willing to pay the SEC tens of millions more in rights fees if the conference expands its football schedule. Plus: NBC Universal is reportedly in talks with spinoff company Versant about how to split their shared sports rights; the name and pricing of ESPN’s direct-to-subscriber service is coming next week; a pair of familiar faces are returning to “Around the Horn.”
Report: ESPN willing to hike SEC rights fee if football schedule expands
ESPN has signaled that it is willing to increase the rights fee it pays the SEC — potentially by as much as $80 million per year — should the conference expand to a nine-game football schedule, according to Andrew Marchand and Seth Emerson of The Athletic. ESPN already pays $811 million/year for SEC rights and could add $50-80 million on top of that figure, bringing the conference close to a $900 million/year payout.
SEC teams currently play eight intra-conference games per year, limiting the number of head-to-head matchups between some of the highest-profile programs in college sports.
Last season was the first of the new SEC media rights deal with ESPN, which grants the company exclusive rights to all conference events. The SEC previously carved out a football package for CBS.
NBCU in talks with spinoff company about sports rights split
NBC Universal is in discussions with Versant — the newly-renamed company (formerly known informally as SpinCo) made up of former NBCU cable networks spun off by parent company Comcast — over how to split their shared sports rights, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Versant, which was renamed this week, includes USA Network, Golf Channel, CNBC and E! — all of which regularly carry NBC-produced sporting events. Per THR, NBCU could sublicense some rights to Versant and the new company could ‘retain’ some rights as well.
NBC and Versant will remain in business together on sports — and otherwise — for the near future, as the former has also struck a deal to continue selling ads for the latter for at least the next two years.
Iger: Pitaro to unveil ESPN Flagship name, pricing, next week
ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro will announce the name and pricing of its new direct-to-subscriber streaming service next week, Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an earnings call Wednesday. The new service, which was announced last year, will make ESPN’s linear channels available outside of the traditional bundle for the first time and is expected to be priced around $25-30 per month.
Former ESPNers Hill, Fagan, returning to “Around the Horn”
Former ESPN “Around the Horn” panelists Jemele Hill and Kate Fagan, who both left ESPN in 2018 and have not appeared on the network since, will return to the show on Thursday. With “Around the Horn” little more than two weeks away from its May 23 series finale, it would be reasonable to expect additional returns as the show airs its final episodes.
