In the wake spinning off much of its cable assets in a new company, NBCUniversal is considering launching a new cable sports channel, according to media reports.
While the move has not yet been made official by NBCUniversal, the channel would primarily carry Peacock’s current sports offerings, including the NBA. If greenlit, the channel could launch as early as fall, per the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
A fall launch would be in alignment with when NBC’s 11-year rights deal with the NBA kicks off, with NBA games set to broadcast on NBC as well as stream on Peacock. The new channel would be made available to cable and satellite distributors as a part of a package of similar networks, per the Journal.
NBCUniversal declined to provide a comment for this story.
The potential launch of a cable network seems counterintuitive for NBCUniversal, which is in the process of spinning off a good deal of its cable channels into a standalone company called Versant, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year. The assets being spun off from NBCUniversal to Versant include CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, Golf Channel and digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and SportsEngine, while Bravo, NBC and Peacock stay with NBCUniversal.
That said, sports have increasingly been one of the only constants in the industry guaranteed to bring in viewers, with much of linear TV facing declining viewership.
Ahead of the NBA’s launch on Peacock and NBC, NBCUniversal is pulling out the big guns to lure viewers in, including bringing on basketball legend Michael Jordan as a special contributor to the season coverage beginning in October and launching interactive features on Peacock to fully immerse NBA fans.
