Warner Bros. Discovery could be as little as two months away from streaming its blue-chip sports properties direct-to-subscriber on “Max.”
CNBC reported Monday that WBD is planning to launch a Bleacher Report-branded sports tier on its “Max” streaming service to coincide with the start of the Major League Baseball playoffs in October. The tier would not include any exclusive games — at least for the time being — but would carry simulcasts of WBD’s various sports properties, including the NBA, NHL and NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
WBD’s deal with the NHL allows for exclusive games on Max. Per CNBC, any exclusive NBA games on the service would need to be negotiated in a potential renewal between WBD and the league.
The sports tier would carry a higher price than the base Max subscription, which costs $10 per month with ads and $16 without. WBD CEO David Zaslav brought up the possibility of streaming games on Max during an investor call last week.
Currently, WBD is the only major linear sports broadcaster whose networks are not available across all of the major streaming MVPDs. Fubo does not carry TNT, TBS or TruTV. In past years, anyone without a service that carries those networks has been limited to streaming TNT’s NBA games through TNT Overtime on the NBA app or, as was the case last year, streaming the TBS MLB playoff games in Spanish on MLB Network.
As cable penetration continues to decline — TBS was in 72.3, TNT in 72.2 and TruTV in 69.2 million homes as of August, per Sports TV Ratings — it is becoming more essential for live sports to be available via a direct-to-subscriber option. ESPN (ESPN+), NBC (Peacock) and CBS (Paramount+) already a number of simulcast and exclusive sporting events direct-to-subscriber, leaving WBD and Fox the only platforms that have not meaningfully entered that space.
(News from CNBC 8.7)
