Yet another team is leaving an RSN, this time the Portland Trail Blazers. Plus: another Nickelodeon NFL simulcast; NBC sets the broadcast booth for Peacock’s Week 1 NFL exclusive; Google could be forced to sell some assets.
Blazers latest team to part ways with RSN
The Portland Trail Blazers have parted ways with media rights partner ROOT Sports, the team said Wednesday, ending a relationship that began in 2021. The Blazers did not immediately announce a new broadcast partner, but the recent trend for teams leaving RSNs has been to move to a combination of over-the-air affiliates and streaming.
The Blazers are the latest team to leave the ROOT Sports RSN, joining the NHL Seattle Kraken. The network also carries Seattle Mariners games.
Nickelodeon to simulcast CBS Wild Card game
CBS announced Wednesday that it will simulcast one of its NFL Wild Card games this season on Nickelodeon, marking the sixth such simulcast on the children’s television network. Nickelodeon previously simulcast CBS Wild Card games in 2021 and 2022, in addition to Christmas Day games in 2022 and 2023 and this past year’s Super Bowl. CBS has two Wild Card games this season, the first time it will carry multiple games in the round since 2022.
NBC names Eagle, Blackledge, for Brazil NFL game on Peacock
NBC Sports announced Wednesday that its lead Big Ten broadcast booth of Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge will call Peacock’s Packers-Eagles NFL game from Brazil on the opening Friday of the season. The duo will be joined by Amazon Thursday Night Football sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung
The two previous Peacock NFL exclusives were called by NBC’s lead team of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth, but that duo will be occupied by the Kickoff Game the prior night.
Google could be forced to divest platforms
The Department of Justice is considering a range of sanctions against Google — including options as severe as forcing it to divest some of its properties, such as its Android operating system, Chrome browser and/or Adwords platform — following a ruling last week that the company has an illegal monopoly in search. It is not clear how much, if at all, such a move would affect Google’s video platforms, including YouTube and YouTube TV.
