Nearly four years after shutting down NBCSN, and months after setting in motion the jettisoning of USA Network, Comcast is reportedly eyeing the launch of a new cable sports network to complement Peacock.
Comcast-owned NBC Universal is in early discussions on the launch of a potential sports cable network that would carry events that are streamed exclusively on Peacock, Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The channel could launch as soon as this fall, ahead of the debut of NBC’s new NBA package.
Per Flint, the intention is not for the channel to compete with Peacock but to complement the streaming service by making its content available to those who are reluctant to leave the cable bundle.
Accordingly, the channel would be only exist on specialty tiers — like the DIRECTV “MySports” bundle launched earlier this year — rather than the basic cable packages that include the likes of ESPN.
The decision to create an entirely new cable network is perhaps a circuitous route to what has become a regular occurrence, the inclusion of direct-to-subscriber streaming services in specialty cable tiers. Peacock itself is already available for no extra fee as part of Charter’s Spectrum TV Select package. ESPN+ is also available to some Charter and DIRECTV subscribers free of charge (and the ESPN direct-to-subscriber app will be as well, though that is fairly redundant given it consists of channels already available through the cable bundle).
Peacock this year is raising its monthly price from $8 to $11/mo ahead of its first season carrying NBA games. The NBA package — which at $2.5 billion/year will cost NBCU more each season than its Sunday Night Football package (at least until the NFL renegotiates, as expected, by the end of this decade) — is perhaps the highest-stakes addition to the streamer’s line-up, given the sheer tonnage of exclusive games (50 per season in the regular season, plus up to 14 in the playoffs).
As previously noted, NBC in 2021 shut down its cable sports channel NBCSN, which originated as the Comcast-owned OLN. NBCSN programming then shifted to USA Network, which Comcast is spinning off into a new company (“Versant”). After that spinoff — which also includes Golf Channel and CNBC, which regularly carry NBC Sports programming — the only cable channel of any kind under the Comcast umbrella will be Bravo.