ESPN announces its broadcast team for TGL; Bill Belichick is headed to North Carolina; WBD plans to restructure its media businesses; and YouTube TV raises subscription prices again.
Familiar faces tapped for TGL on ESPN
ESPN announced Thursday its broadcast team for the inaugural season of TGL, the new tech-infused indoor golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Scott Van Pelt will host coverage from the SportsCenter studio in Washington D.C., while Matt Barrie will provide play-by-play commentary from the TGL facility in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Marty Smith will serve as an on-course reporter. All three are regular contributors to ESPN’s coverage of The Masters and PGA Championship.
The season begins on January 7 with Xander Schauffele‘s New York Golf Club facing Ludvig Åberg and The Bay Golf Club at 9 PM on ESPN. The full TGL season will be presented on Mondays and Tuesdays on ESPN and ESPN2, with every match simulcast on ESPN+.
Media future unclear for “Chapel Bill”
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has announced it has hired Bill Belichick as its head football coach on a five-year contract. Belichick, who departed the New England Patriots this past offseason after winning six Super Bowls as their head coach, is expected to bring an NFL-like organizational structure to the football program.
In the interim, Belichick signed an agreement with Omaha Productions to appear alongside Peyton and Eli Manning on their alternate Monday Night Football coverage, and a separate deal for regular appearances on The Pat McAfee Show. Continuation in those roles seems unlikely for an ACC head football coach, and language in ESPN’s original announcement suggests that they may have been one-year deals.
Belichick will make his college coaching debut on August 30 against TCU.
In other booth-to-sideline news, UNLV is reportedly in “active discussions” to hire former Florida and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen as its head coach. Mullen has spent the last three seasons as a game analyst for ESPN’s Thursday night CFB coverage and in the studio on Saturdays.
WBD announces corporate restructure
Warner Bros. Discovery announced Thursday plans to restructure its media businesses. The company’s “Global Linear Networks” will oversee cable networks, which in the US include TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, HBO, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, and more. The “Streaming and Studios” division will be responsible for the Max streaming service, as well as the various Warner Bros. film and television studios and their associated intellectual property.
WBD did not disclose plans to spin off either division, although WBD president David Zaslav hinted at which division continues to be profitable by saying “our Global Linear Networks business is well positioned to continue to drive free cash flow, while our Streaming & Studios business focuses on driving growth by telling the world’s most compelling stories.”
Last month, Comcast announced it will begin spinning off its cable networks like USA Network and MSNBC into a separate entity named “SpinCo”.
YouTube TV raising price again
YouTube TV is set to increase the price of a base subscription from $73 to $83 in January. In an email to subscribers, the company cited increases in content costs and investments in product quality as reasons for the increase.
The price hike now puts YouTube TV above the base prices for Hulu Live TV ($82) and Fubo ($80), although content offerings vary between services.
