Warner Bros. Discovery considers splitting its digital and studio business from its linear television assets. Plus: CBS renews its media rights agreement with Italian Serie A, adds the English Football League; Jac Collinsworth will join NBC’s Gold Zone for Paris Olympics.
WBD mulling split of digital and linear assets
Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly entertaining a split that would separate its digital streaming and studio businesses from its legacy television networks such as TNT and CNN, per the Financial Times on Wednesday. The goal of such a split would be to hit a higher valuation multiple for its digital and studio offerings by offloading much of the company’s debt onto its high-cash flow, mature legacy television brands.
The report notes that creditors may not be supportive of this higher-risk plan, though there is little recourse. Per FT, there are “few covenants preventing such financial engineering,” meaning WBD would likely not face significant hurdles should it choose this route.
In the sporting world, WBD is in the midst of a five day period with which the company can “match” the media rights agreement Amazon has reached with the NBA. A potential restructure that splits WBD’s digital and linear assets would presumably complicate any “match” the company could make for Amazon’s package — which is seen primarily as a streaming package for the league. (Financial Times, 7.17)
CBS and Serie A renew media rights deal
CBS Sports and Lega Serie A, the top flight Italian soccer league, announced a two-year media rights agreement on Friday. CBS has been home to Serie A in the United States since the 2021-22 season. The new deal will include wider distribution across CBS platforms, including the broadcast channel, CBS Sports Network, and the FAST channel CBS Sports Golazo. All matches will air on Paramount+.
The two sides’ renewal was anything but certain. Late last year World Soccer Talk described that negotiations were “at a stalemate,” with Serie A expecting a substantial increase over the $75.8m per year they received under the old agreement, and CBS’ valuation falling well short of expectations. Financial details of the new two-year agreement have not been reported.
In other international soccer news, CBS Sports announced a four-year deal with the English Football League (EFL) on Thursday. The agreement includes matches from the three leagues below the Premier League on the English football pyramid. The EFL was previously inked to a media rights agreement with ESPN where most games aired on ESPN+. Now, the new deal will primarily see games broadcast on Paramount+, with select matches on CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo. (CBS, 7.18, 7.19)
Jac Collinsworth to join NBC’s Gold Zone
NBC’s Jac Collinsworth will join the network’s coverage of the Paris Olympics as a host of the whip-around show Gold Zone, the network announced Wednesday. Collinsworth will join fellow hosts Scott Hanson, Andrew Siciliano, and Matt Iseman in the role.
Gold Zone will emulate the popular format of the NFL’s RedZone coverage — evidenced by tapping one current and one former host of the Sunday afternoon whip-around show. NBC’s Olympic version will air from 7AM ET to 5PM ET throughout the games and stream live on Peacock. The coverage will feature live look-ins of various events and include special guests throughout the day.
Collinsworth replaces Akbar Gbajabiamila who was originally announced as a host for Gold Zone. Per the press release, a scheduling conflict is preventing Gbajabiamila from covering the games. (NBC, 7.17)
