Peacock raises its prices for monthly, annual subscriptions; Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro maintains he is not interested in ESPN spinoff; and NBC Sports adds broadcasters for college football. Plus news on Paramount-WBD, the NBA, Luke Kuechly and YouTube.
Peacock raises prices for monthly, annual subscriptions
Peacock on Tuesday raised its subscription prices effective immediately, adjusting its Premium Plus plan to $20/month (from $17/month), Premium to $13/month (from $11/month) and Select to $9/month (from $8/month), the company announced. The annual subscription to Peacock Premium Plus has moved to $200/year (from $170/year), while the Premium plan is $130/year (from $110/year) and the Select plan is $90/year (from $80/year).
The price hike occurs after Peacock reached profitability for the first time in its six-year history last quarter and ahead of the larger NBCUniversal spinoff from Comcast. The streaming service will air several sporting events on its platform in the next few months, including two daily MLB Wild Card Series games, NBA regular-season matches and an exclusive Week 17 NFL game in January. Peacock is also slated to air exclusive Premier League matches and will also have a whiparound show and multiview functionality.
Access to NBCUniversal television channels are available through all three plans, but exclusive sports and live events require a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus subscription, which also grants access to originals and movies. NBC Sports Network, which is available on platforms such as Fubo and YouTube TV, often simulcasts the Peacock-exclusive events.
Peacock Premium, which includes advertisements, remains available in a bundle with Apple TV for $15/month, while the bundle with Peacock Premium Plus is priced at $20/month. Apple TV continues to broadcast “Friday Night Baseball” in addition to Formula 1 races and MLS matches. Peacock is also available for no additional fee through various platforms, including Instacart and assorted cable plans such as Spectrum and Xfinity Rewards members.
D’Amaro not interested in ESPN spinoff
Josh D’Amaro, the first-year CEO of The Walt Disney Company, reiterated to Julia Boorstin of CNBC last Friday that he is “not interested in spinning off ESPN.” D’Amaro touted the company’s sports rights portfolio and ratings and the upcoming expansion of sports content on Disney+. While Disney registered a $712 million profit for SVOD services within its entertainment segment (Disney+, Hulu), sports operating income, which includes ESPN, was down 17% from the previous year to $858 million because of “higher programming and production costs.”
D’Amaro’s comments come as Disney’s stock has struggled to align with market expectations on Wall Street. At the time of the interview, Disney stock was down 11% over the previous year and up 4% since D’Amaro became CEO in March. “I’m not happy with where the stock stands right now,” D’Amaro said. “Our investors aren’t happy with that. But I do believe that we’re sitting in a very great space relative to the entertainment industry.”
Several media companies have embarked on spin transactions over the last few years, including Comcast reallocating most of its linear networks and some digital businesses into the publicly-traded Versant. Comcast now intends to spin NBCUniversal next year, and company co-CEO Mike Cavanagh explained that NBCU would “build and invest for growth,” ruling out further M&A transactions. Warner Bros. Discovery was slated to spin its linear networks into Discovery Global before agreeing to the merger transaction with Paramount.
D’Amaro did not address the prospect of bringing in additional outside investors when Boorstin floated the possibility. While the National Football League recently took a 10% equity stake in the business, Disney maintains majority control with its 72% share through the ABC, Inc. subsidiary, and Hearst owns the remaining 18% stake. ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said last year that it would “have to make business sense” if ESPN chose to replicate its deal with the NFL, although it would be willing to listen.
Benetti, Flemming to call Big Ten CFB for NBC Sports
Jason Benetti and Dave Flemming are joining NBC Sports’ coverage of college football this year as play-by-play announcers for select Big Ten Conference games, the network revealed on Wednesday. Benetti, who will also call NBA games for NBC Sports next season, formerly called college football for Fox Sports with Robert Griffin III and Alexa Landestoy, while Flemming was part of a CFB broadcasting team on ESPN last season with Brock Osweiler and Stormy Buonantony.
Benetti joined NBC Sports this past spring to call “Sunday Night Baseball” games following a stint at Fox Sports that included broadcasting college football, basketball and the NFL in addition to MLB games. Flemming came to NBC over the summer and has been one of the voices of “MLB Sunday Leadoff” on Peacock and NBC Sports Network. Both broadcasters have worked with a rotation of analysts with ties to the participating teams throughout the year and continue to call games locally for the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants, respectively.
Ashley ShahAhmadi, who began working for NBC Sports on NBA, WNBA and MLB coverage this year, will also be contributing to Big Ten college football broadcasts as a sideline reporter. Caroline Pineda, who has also been on MLB game broadcasts, will be the new sideline reporter for Notre Dame football with play-by-play voice Dan Hicks and analyst Jason Garrett, along with reporting on select Big Ten games. John Fanta will host “College Countdown” for the first four weeks of the year while Ahmed Fareed hosts on MLB coverage and will work with Chris Simms, Joshua Perry, Nicole Auerbach and Connor Rogers.
The Big Ten prime time broadcast team on Saturday nights returns for a fourth consecutive season with play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle, analyst Todd Blackledge and sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen. Eagle will call two Saturday Big Ten games before broadcasting a Week 1 NFL game between the Rams and 49ers on Netflix from Melbourne, Australia.
Plus: Paramount-WBD, NBA, YouTube, SEC Network
- Paramount is requesting that the 12 states suing to block its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery post a bond of $1.88 billion to cover costs associated with the transaction being delayed. The company would receive the payout if it wins the case, partially offsetting associated “ticking fees” (calculated daily) that equate to approximately $650 million per quarter, payable to WBD shareholders if the deal closes. Paramount agreed not to close its merger until five days after a legal decision is rendered or until June 1, 2027, whichever date arrives first. A trial is not set until March of next year.
- The NBA publicly disputed an ESPN report filed by Don Van Natta Jr., Baxter Holmes and Ramona Shelburne that claimed the league had found no evidence proving Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had circumvented the salary cap to pay Kawhi Leonard beyond the terms of his contract. League spokesman Mike Bass said the article “contains numerous and significant inaccuracies” and that the “results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded.” In a statement provided to Sports Media Watch, an ESPN spokesperson said the following: “We stand by our reporting, which included numerous attempts by ESPN to get comments from the NBA.”
- Former NFL LB Luke Kuechly is joining “The Breakdown” with Peyton Manning this season as the show makes its return following a one-year hiatus, according to a report by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Kuechly moves into the role formerly held by Bill Belichick, who worked on the program during the 2024 season before joining the University of North Carolina as its head football coach.
- YouTube is altering how it tallies public views for videos on its platform starting next Monday, now moving to count the engagement “from the very first frame,” the company revealed in a blog post. While the company has used different metrics to measure viewership in the past, it changed what constitutes a public view for YouTube Shorts videos last year and is now “aligning all other video formats to this same standard for consistency across the platform.” Media companies have cited YouTube viewership in their overall metrics, including ESPN for “The Pat McAfee Show” and the first day of the NFL Draft. The original viewing measurement, known as “engaged views,” will remain available within advanced analytics for creators.
