{"id":567661,"date":"2025-11-13T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567661\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T13:00:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:00:42","slug":"versant-to-launch-usa-sports-umbrella-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567661\/","title":{"rendered":"Versant to launch USA Sports umbrella brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

USA SPorts rights include the Premier League, Nascar, PGA Tour, WNBA, and WWE. (Versant)<\/p>\n

Versant, the US cable TV operator that is set to be spun off from media giant NBCUniversal earlier in 2025, has established a sports division to house its rights.<\/p>\n

USA Sports will serve as the umbrella business division and consumer-facing brand that covers Versant\u2019s burgeoning sports portfolio, including soccer\u2019s English Premier League, golf\u2019s PGA and LPGA tours, motor racing\u2019s NASCAR, basketball\u2019s WNBA, and professional wrestling\u2019s WWE.<\/p>\n

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In total, USA Sports represents over 10,000 hours of content each year between event coverage, shoulder programming, and ancillary content.<\/p>\n

Most of this content will be disseminated on the USA Network linear channel and the Golf Channel sport-specific offering.<\/p>\n

The unit will be headed by Matt Hong, who was appointed to lead Versant\u2019s sports operations earlier in 2025.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the announcement, Hong said: \u201cOur new USA Sports brand and division name\u00a0leans into USA Network\u2019s decades-long reputation as a top national sports and entertainment network.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur diverse portfolio of sports properties and programming across our platforms highlights top-tier global leagues and amplifies major events throughout the sports landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Lazarus, who will be chief executive of Versant upon completion of the spin-off, has said that it is targeting the capture of more sports media rights upon the completion of the spin-off later in 2025.<\/p>\n

Lazarus, who had been chair of the NBC Sports business unit since 2011 before the spin-off, told CNBC (one of the linear networks that will be part of Versant) that he has been in contact with major US sports properties such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Women\u2019s Soccer League (NWSL) about potentially acquiring rights packages for game broadcasts.<\/p>\n

Back in May, commented: \u201cWe have a pretty good sports portfolio. We\u2019re looking for sports deals that drive distribution, diversify ad sales, and have a value.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to be in the NFL business. We\u2019re not going to be in the Big Ten business, because that stuff\u2019s all spoken for. But we\u2019ll be with the next-level stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

The collection of Versant networks, which also includes the entertainment channels Oxygen, E!, and SYFY, collectively made around $7 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year (October 2023-September 2024), and are all still profitable; however, this move is likely an effort by Comcast to preempt their declining popularity by making them easier to sell off individually.<\/p>\n

This spin-off stemmed from the emergence of Peacock as a home for NBCUniversal\u2019s sports rights, combined with the trend of cord-cutting among US consumers looking to eschew costly cable TV packages in favor of cheap yet weighty OTT services.<\/p>\n

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