YouTube Premium subscribers will gain free access to ad-supported Peacock Premium next year; Onion to reportedly work with Griffin on FOX CFB broadcasts; and Paramount remains “highly confident” its deal with WBD will close. Plus news on MLS, the PGA TOUR, Kyle Brandt and the International Dance League.
YouTube to provide premium subscribers free access to ad-supported Peacock Premium next year
YouTube Premium subscribers will gain free access to the ad-supported version of Peacock Premium beginning next year under a new agreement between the video platform and NBCUniversal, it was announced Monday. The agreement comes as Peacock has added 7 million paid subscribers over the last fiscal year and, last quarter, reached profitability for the first time.
As part of the deal, NBC Sports will serve as “the production partner for select premier live sporting events on YouTube,” suggesting that the company could be in the conversation for rights in the future. NBC produced the YouTube Week 1 NFL broadcast from Brazil last year. Sports Media Watch has learned that NBC still has one more year left on its deal to produce Amazon Prime “Thursday Night Football” games.
NBCUniversal will also make “a selection of live sporting events” available to stream on the NBC Sports YouTube channel, although specifics have yet to be revealed. In addition to movies and television series, Peacock features an assortment of sporting events, including NFL, NBA and MLB games, along with matches in the Premier League. YouTube TV has reportedly been a proponent of ingesting content under recent carriage agreements, including select programming from ESPN Unlimited and HBO Max.
NBCUniversal and Google reached a new carriage agreement last fall that included users being able to subscribe to Peacock Premium Plus through YouTube Primetime Channels since June. The Peacock Premium subscription, which is priced at $11/month, will become available for purchase through this channels platform later in the summer. While the deal did not directly ingest sports content from Peacock, it did result in the resurrection of the NBCSN cable sports channel, which showcases Peacock-exclusive sports content, effectively offering it free of charge for subscribed users.
Onion reportedly succeeding Benetti on Fox CFB broadcasts
Connor Onion will be the play-by-play announcer on the secondary college football broadcast team at Fox Sports, succeeding Jason Benetti after he departed the company to join NBC Sports earlier this year, according to a report by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Onion, who joined Fox two years ago and has called college football games in addition to MLB and college basketball, is said to be working with Robert Griffin III. Fox Sports declined comment to Sports Media Watch.
Benetti teamed with Griffin in addition to reporter Alexa Landestoy on the broadcasts last season, which included a slate of prime time games on Friday and Saturday nights. The trio called several marquee matchups throughout the year outside of the “Big Noon Saturday” timeslot, which has featured Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft since 2019. Onion primarily worked with analyst Mark Helfrich last season on college football broadcasts.
Prior to working for Fox Sports, Onion called collegiate sporting events for ESPN, including American Athletic Conference games and the FCS Playoffs. Onion also broadcast a variety of sports for Big Ten Network, a joint venture owned by the Big Ten Conference and Fox Corporation. Onion was also a fill-in play-by-play announcer for Chicago Sports Network coverage of Chicago Bulls basketball this past season, broadcasting his first NBA game for the RSN last season.
Fox Sports will begin the college football season with a tilt between Memphis and UNLV on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 10 PM ET. The network begins full coverage of Week 1 with North Texas facing defending national champion Indiana in the “Big Noon” timeslot followed by an afternoon tilt featuring Boston College and Cincinnati.
Ellison: Paramount “highly confident” WBD merger is legally sound, will close
Paramount chairman/CEO David Ellison wrote in a memo to staff on Monday obtained by Jill Goldsmith of Deadline that the company is “highly confident” its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery “does not pose any legal issues” and will close despite recent headwinds. The companies targeted closing the agreement during the ongoing fiscal quarter, but the situation has changed with a consortium of state attorneys general and Writers Guild of America filing lawsuits contesting the deal. Paramount has since agreed to delay closing the deal until either next June or five days after a federal judge issues a ruling.
Ellison wrote that Paramount and the vested parties chose to forgo the preliminary injunction hearing that had been scheduled for next Monday, opting to “move directly to a trial on the merits.” Multiple reports have stated that Paramount is looking to go to trial in November, while California Attorney General Rob Bonta told The Wall Street Journal that “he favors a January start date.”
The decision to pause the transaction could result in Paramount needing to pay a $0.25/share “ticking fee” calculated daily to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders for every quarter the deal is not closed “beginning after September 30, 2026,” something that could reportedly equate to $650 million/quarter. Paramount would owe WBD a $7 billion termination fee if the deal does not close because of not receiving regulatory approval.
“I know this additional uncertainty has been challenging, and I want to thank you for your continued patience, commitment and collective contributions,” Ellison wrote to Paramount staffers. “For now, it remains business as usual. Paramount and WBD are separate companies operating independently, and our focus remains on serving our audiences, supporting one another and executing our strategy.”
Plus: MLS, PGA TOUR, Kyle Brandt, International Dance League
- MLS owners have discussed potential rights fees ranging from $400 million to $500 million for the league’s next deal, according to a report by Ben Strauss of ESPN. The league had inked a 10-year agreement reportedly worth $250 million that began three years ago and placed the games behind a double paywall. Eben Novy-Williams and Jacob Feldman of Sportico reported earlier this year that the deal now expires following the 2029 season after both sides agreed to shorten the pact. MLS shifting next year to a fall-to-spring calendar used by other entities globally.
- The Travelers Championship will be part of the PGA Tour Championship Series beginning in the 2028 season, which would align with larger alterations announced last month for the tour itself. The annual championship will join this series consisting of 23-24 events, including major championships, the Men’s Olympic Golf competition, THE PLAYERS Championship and an international team event.
- Kyle Brandt is departing his contributor role with “The NFL Today” on CBS after five seasons, he revealed on Monday. Brandt, who has primarily appeared on NFL Network as a cast member of “Good Morning Football,” said in a post on X that “the creative freedom + production value you gave me was staggering.” The show is undergoing additional changes heading into the new season with the additions of Russell Wilson and Kyle Long, along with the departures of Matt Ryan and Jonathan Jones.
- The International Dance League has signed its first-ever media rights deal, agreeing to a pact with ESPN that will begin with a four-episode slate this summer. Coverage will air on ESPN2, starting with a months-old taped broadcast of the New York Series from the Hammerstein Ballroom on Tuesday at 7 PM ET. The ESPN2 linear network will air already-completed events that took place Vancouver, B.C. and Sydney, Australia before concluding in Seoul, South Korea in late August.
