Comcast is set to divest its legacy cable assets; MLB is planning to package local rights to streaming partners in its next deal; Tom Brady may face even more restrictions from the league. Plus: Amazon and TNT reveal their NASCAR announcers, a new snow sports league from Shaun White, and update on the Pac-12.
Comcast set to spinoff cable assets
Comcast has announced it will begin spinning off its cable networks into a separate entity named “SpinCo”. The news was first reported Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal. MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, Syfy, E!, and Golf Channel are all expected to be severed from the conglomerate, in a process that will take up to a year. Current NBCUniversal chairman Mark Lazarus will be the CEO of SpinCo, with current chief content officer Donna Langley and direct-to-consumer executive Matt Strauss replacing Lazarus. Comcast says the new company is also intended to be a “potential partner and acquirer of other complementary media businesses”.
Television assets remaining under the Comcast umbrella will be the NBC broadcast network and Peacock, plus cable networks Bravo and the regional sports networks in Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Comcast will also continue to operate its theme parks, film and television studios, and the Xfinity cable internet provider.
It’s unclear what impacts the move will have on the sports world. USA Network (and to a lesser extent, CNBC) had become the primary cable outlet for NBC Sports after the closure of NBCSN in 2021, and is scheduled to carry the bulk of the company’s NASCAR races next fall, and WNBA games beginning in 2026. USA, CNBC, E!, and Golf Channel all contributed to the company’s coverage of the Paris Olympics this past summer. It’s possible the SpinCo networks could retain their rights through an agreement with Comcast. Another possibility is that the sports rights get consolidated to Peacock, with Bravo featuring some coverage on weekends in between new episodes of The Real Housewives.
MLB eyes local rights in next deals
Major League Baseball is planning to include local rights in its national streaming packages in its next set of rights deals, according to The Athletic. Nearly every major US media company has expressed interest in some form of hybrid national-local rights package.
After the expiration of the current deals in 2028, the league expects to have control of local rights to 19 teams, including all eight teams currently produced by MLB (Padres, Diamondbacks, Guardians, Twins, Brewers, Rockies, Reds, and Mariners), all six teams with rights currently held by Diamond Sports Group (Braves, Marlins, Tigers, Rays, Cardinals, and Angels), three teams with team-owned networks (Astros, Pirates, White Sox), and two teams without current deals signed (Rangers and Royals).
The remaining ten US-based teams (Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Athletics, Nationals, Orioles) are all large-market teams with long-term local rights deals that they may be unwilling to surrender to MLB. In exchange, Commissioner Rob Manfred is eyeing a change to the revenue-sharing model. In the current arrangement, the league takes 48% of team’s local revenue from media, ticket sales, concessions, merchandise, and sponsorships and distributes it between the league’s 30 teams. Manfred is eyeing a new model where MLB would control all local rights, but teams would keep more of their other local revenue streams.
Changes to the revenue sharing model (and the possible introduction of a salary cap) would have to be approved by the Players Association, which is operating on a CBA that expires after the 2026 season.
Brady could face even more restrictions
Fox NFL analyst Tom Brady, who is already facing a number of restrictions on team and facility access after becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, could potentially face additional restrictions following his sit-down interview with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes that aired on FOX NFL Sunday on October 20. The news was first reported by Sports Business Journal. Further restrictions, which could include a prohibition on one-on-one interviews, would be passed down from the league’s finance committee, which met beginning Tuesday to discuss the matter.
Pending a change to Fox’s personnel plans, restrictions on Brady would be in place through his scheduled call of Super Bowl LIX in February.
Plus: NASCAR, Snow League, Pac-12
–Amazon Prime Video and TNT Sports have announced Adam Alexander will call the networks’ 2025 NASCAR series alongside race analyst Steve Letarte and, as previously announced, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Alexander has called Xfinity series races for Fox since 2015, and Letarte has worked for NBC since 2015, where he will continue to call races in the new deal.
–Three-time Olympic champion Shaun White has announced the creation of “The Snow League”, a global snowboarding and freestyle skiing competition tour. The first season will feature four events and begin March 7 in Aspen, CO. As part of a multi-year rights agreement, Peacock will stream coverage of all events with select encore coverage on NBC.
–The Pac-12 Conference announced it has engaged sports marketing firm Octagon to negotiate its next set of media rights deals beginning with the 2026-27 season. Octagon has perviously negotiated media rights for the ACC, Big Ten, and others. The league still needs one more football-playing full member before 2026 to meet the NCAA’s requirement of an FBS league.
