Comcast Considering Spinning Off Cable Networks

[NowBergen 679]

On 3/24/2025 at 2:45 PM, Jase said:

 

Reportedly, all sports programming will continue to air on the spun off cable networks. Production will be outsourced (mostly to NBC Sports), however SpinCo will still have to build a team to 'manage its league deals' and create their own streaming products.

 

They can do what some other cable nets have done and license out the selected sports events.  NBC also can switch many to Peacock.  Years ago, before NBC owned Golf Network, the events were split between the two networks, so it it back to the past in some regards.

[HanSolo 143]

On 3/24/2025 at 1:49 PM, JTT said:

 

The issue that I don't understand is with the sports programming.   What will happen with the sports programming that appear on USA,  CNBC, & E networks once they officially separate from NBCU?  Will NBC move the sports to bravo and / or Peacock?  When Comcast made the deal with NBA to show games, they included wnba games to be shown on USA.   What was the point of doing that when they were considering spinning off USA with the other networks?

Reasonably sure that has all been considered and factored in.

[channel2 977]

If I were a Comcast shareholder and the company decided to withhold all the valuables from SpinCo I would be furious with them. They would be, knowingly, sticking shareholders with a lemon. They need to give USA and its siblings a fighting chance for the company to have any value as anything more than a collection of withering assets waiting to be stripped for parts.

Edited March 26 by channel2

[Jase 1042]

11 hours ago, NowBergen said:

 

They can do what some other cable nets have done and license out the selected sports events.  NBC also can switch many to Peacock.  Years ago, before NBC owned Golf Network, the events were split between the two networks, so it it back to the past in some regards.

 

I don't think NBC can arbitrarily move sports programming around unless there's language in the respective deal(s) that allow for that option. Once the rights are up for renewal, then things could/will change. For now, everything regarding sports programming is expected to remain the same (including the Olympics) with SpinCo having to fill in certain gaps with their own people wherever necessary. 

[JTT 111]

NBC renewed rights with breeders cup. Additional coverage on USA. I don't understand why they would make additional sports deals & put it on USA when the network will be spun off later this year. 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/nbc-breeders-cup-extend-partnership-142651145.html

Edited March 26 by JTT

[carolinanews4 376]

6 hours ago, JTT said:

NBC renewed rights with breeders cup. Additional coverage on USA. I don't understand why they would make additional sports deals & put it on USA when the network will be spun off later this year. 

 

Let's level set here for a minute. First, NBCU must proceed with business as usual until the day SpinCo becomes a separate business. So, to that end, they proceed as normal in public while numerous plans and backup plans are crafted behind the scenes. For example, their NBA deal most likely included contingencies for how they would proceed if the USA network no longer existed. Remember, this is an 11-year contract, and cable has been contracting for a while, so it is highly unlikely this contract would have been signed without the ability to adjust programming platforms.  It is probably happening sooner than anticipated, but cable will look much different 11 years from now, so both sides needed to carve out protection clauses in that contract. 

 

In addition, I don't think the NBA is hyper-focused on cable. It has been reported that the NBA was particularly attracted to the NBC broadcast network and its ability to create a "Basketball Night in America" franchise. The broadcast component was why, in the NBA's view, Turner could never truly match NBC's offer since Turner didn't have a broadcast network.

 

13 hours ago, Jase said:

 

I don't think NBC can arbitrarily move sports programming around unless there's language in the respective deal(s) that allow for that option. Once the rights are up for renewal, then things could/will change. For now, everything regarding sports programming is expected to remain the same (including the Olympics) with SpinCo having to fill in certain gaps with their own people wherever necessary. 

 

The rights are with NBC Sports, not individual channels. And since NBC Sports stays with NBCU, the rights remain with NBCU. There is flexibility on the platforms airing content. Take the Olympics, for example. Ten years ago, NBCU put the Olympics on MSNBC to boost ratings for its struggling news channel. They aired the Olympics in the morning because Imus and their MorningLine programs were also-rans in the ratings department. Enter Morning Joe, and they decided it was more important not to interrupt regular MSNBC programming. So the Olympics moved to a different channel, and they didn't have to wait for a rights renewal to make that change.

 

Having said that, NBC doesn't have carte blanche to do whatever it wants without input from the sports owner. The broadcaster has some latitude as long as any changes provide the sport with equal or greater exposure. For example, NBC couldn't take NBA games off the broadcast network and move them all to Bravo without consulting with the NBA. In that hypothetical case, the NBA probably has some veto authority.  

 

More information will be forthcoming regarding how this spin-off impacts NBC Sports. Perhaps SpinCo will sublicense content from NBC Sports, or perhaps NBC Sports will buy time on a SpinCo channel to air their content. Or maybe NBC decides to keep everything for themselves. Given how scripted content is going and the money they are spending on sports rights, they could put everything on the broadcast network and Peacock. Sports used to be exclusive to broadcast, so they might go back to the future regarding how they air sports. 

[JTT 111]

3 hours ago, carolinanews4 said:

 

Let's level set here for a minute. First, NBCU must proceed with business as usual until the day SpinCo becomes a separate business. So, to that end, they proceed as normal in public while numerous plans and backup plans are crafted behind the scenes. For example, their NBA deal most likely included contingencies for how they would proceed if the USA network no longer existed. Remember, this is an 11-year contract, and cable has been contracting for a while, so it is highly unlikely this contract would have been signed without the ability to adjust programming platforms.  It is probably happening sooner than anticipated, but cable will look much different 11 years from now, so both sides needed to carve out protection clauses in that contract. 

 

In addition, I don't think the NBA is hyper-focused on cable. It has been reported that the NBA was particularly attracted to the NBC broadcast network and its ability to create a "Basketball Night in America" franchise. The broadcast component was why, in the NBA's view, Turner could never truly match NBC's offer since Turner didn't have a broadcast network.

 

 

The rights are with NBC Sports, not individual channels. And since NBC Sports stays with NBCU, the rights remain with NBCU. There is flexibility on the platforms airing content. Take the Olympics, for example. Ten years ago, NBCU put the Olympics on MSNBC to boost ratings for its struggling news channel. They aired the Olympics in the morning because Imus and their MorningLine programs were also-rans in the ratings department. Enter Morning Joe, and they decided it was more important not to interrupt regular MSNBC programming. So the Olympics moved to a different channel, and they didn't have to wait for a rights renewal to make that change.

 

Having said that, NBC doesn't have carte blanche to do whatever it wants without input from the sports owner. The broadcaster has some latitude as long as any changes provide the sport with equal or greater exposure. For example, NBC couldn't take NBA games off the broadcast network and move them all to Bravo without consulting with the NBA. In that hypothetical case, the NBA probably has some veto authority.  

 

More information will be forthcoming regarding how this spin-off impacts NBC Sports. Perhaps SpinCo will sublicense content from NBC Sports, or perhaps NBC Sports will buy time on a SpinCo channel to air their content. Or maybe NBC decides to keep everything for themselves. Given how scripted content is going and the money they are spending on sports rights, they could put everything on the broadcast network and Peacock. Sports used to be exclusive to broadcast, so they might go back to the future regarding how they air sports. 

 

If they were going to put sports on cable,  why not put it on the cable network it owns or plans to keep like bravo, instead of continuing to make agreements to put it on USA.   Or like you suggested,  put everything on NBC & peacock.

[Jase 1042]

6 hours ago, carolinanews4 said:

 

Let's level set here for a minute. First, NBCU must proceed with business as usual until the day SpinCo becomes a separate business. So, to that end, they proceed as normal in public while numerous plans and backup plans are crafted behind the scenes. For example, their NBA deal most likely included contingencies for how they would proceed if the USA network no longer existed. Remember, this is an 11-year contract, and cable has been contracting for a while, so it is highly unlikely this contract would have been signed without the ability to adjust programming platforms.  It is probably happening sooner than anticipated, but cable will look much different 11 years from now, so both sides needed to carve out protection clauses in that contract. 

 

In addition, I don't think the NBA is hyper-focused on cable. It has been reported that the NBA was particularly attracted to the NBC broadcast network and its ability to create a "Basketball Night in America" franchise. The broadcast component was why, in the NBA's view, Turner could never truly match NBC's offer since Turner didn't have a broadcast network.

 

 

The rights are with NBC Sports, not individual channels. And since NBC Sports stays with NBCU, the rights remain with NBCU. There is flexibility on the platforms airing content. Take the Olympics, for example. Ten years ago, NBCU put the Olympics on MSNBC to boost ratings for its struggling news channel. They aired the Olympics in the morning because Imus and their MorningLine programs were also-rans in the ratings department. Enter Morning Joe, and they decided it was more important not to interrupt regular MSNBC programming. So the Olympics moved to a different channel, and they didn't have to wait for a rights renewal to make that change.

 

Having said that, NBC doesn't have carte blanche to do whatever it wants without input from the sports owner. The broadcaster has some latitude as long as any changes provide the sport with equal or greater exposure. For example, NBC couldn't take NBA games off the broadcast network and move them all to Bravo without consulting with the NBA. In that hypothetical case, the NBA probably has some veto authority.  

 

More information will be forthcoming regarding how this spin-off impacts NBC Sports. Perhaps SpinCo will sublicense content from NBC Sports, or perhaps NBC Sports will buy time on a SpinCo channel to air their content. Or maybe NBC decides to keep everything for themselves. Given how scripted content is going and the money they are spending on sports rights, they could put everything on the broadcast network and Peacock. Sports used to be exclusive to broadcast, so they might go back to the future regarding how they air sports. 

 

3 hours ago, JTT said:

 

If they were going to put sports on cable,  why not put it on the cable network it owns or plans to keep like bravo, instead of continuing to make agreements to put it on USA.   Or like you suggested,  put everything on NBC & peacock.

Again, the reporting (from Variety, Comcast press releases, etc…) indicates that sports coverage/programming will continue on USA, CNBC, etc.. There has been nothing I have seen/read that would indicate otherwise.

 

For example, this is directly from a Comcast press release from February in reference to the 2026 Winter Games…

 

‘Consistent with previous Olympic Winter Games, comprehensive cable coverage will be on USA Network and CNBC. USA Network will once again be the 24/7 home of Team USA while CNBC will provide coverage on the weekends and weekdays once its business day programming concludes.’

 

From a World Soccer Talk article..

 

‘From a sports perspective, the partners that we have on cable assets like Golf Channel and USA, we’re going to fulfill every obligation and every promise we made to them across NBC and SpinCo, which is the cable assets,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella explained this week at the SBJ Conference.‘

 

You have to keep in mind that removing sports from the spun off cable networks will greatly devalue them. Comcast is not going to do that despite the networks not being a part of the company. Again, it is expected some things will be sub-licensed to SpinCo and/or outsourced (likely to NBC Sports).

 

For now, everything will continue as planned.

[NowBergen 679]

4 hours ago, Jase said:

 

Again, the reporting (from Variety, Comcast press releases, etc…) indicates that sports coverage/programming will continue on USA, CNBC, etc.. There has been nothing I have seen/read that would indicate otherwise.

 

For example, this is directly from a Comcast press release from February in reference to the 2026 Winter Games…

 

‘Consistent with previous Olympic Winter Games, comprehensive cable coverage will be on USA Network and CNBC. USA Network will once again be the 24/7 home of Team USA while CNBC will provide coverage on the weekends and weekdays once its business day programming concludes.’

 

From a World Soccer Talk article..

 

‘From a sports perspective, the partners that we have on cable assets like Golf Channel and USA, we’re going to fulfill every obligation and every promise we made to them across NBC and SpinCo, which is the cable assets,” NBC Sports President Rick Cordella explained this week at the SBJ Conference.‘

 

You have to keep in mind that removing sports from the spun off cable networks will greatly devalue them. Comcast is not going to do that despite the networks not being a part of the company. Again, it is expected some things will be sub-licensed to SpinCo and/or outsourced (likely to NBC Sports).

 

For now, everything will continue as planned.

 

If we are all patient, we will learn the plan once SpinCo is about to be spun off.  People being paid big bucks and in negotiations are doing their jobs. Wait and we will find out.  The one known: NBC sports will continue to use SpinCo networks.  That's all we know and no need to figure out how right now.