[ad_1]
Versant’s USA Sports division has been vocal about its intention to be on its front foot with regards to live sports rights. And that stance may be more apparent than ever before this weekend as the Premier League and Bundesliga seasons begin.
From Friday through next Monday, USA Network will air six Premier League matches, including all of the “Big Six” clubs with the exception of Tottenham. And around the Premier League coverage, USA will kick off its new agreement with the Bundesliga and air “Der Klassiker” between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich on Saturday at 2:30pm ET.
“[This] really proves not only that we would continue to generally be on the front foot, but that from a post-spin [from NBCU], post-existence as Versant and USA Sports Net, that we’ve been pretty active,” said Matt Hong, USA Sports’ president.
More than 60% of Versant’s programming on paid channels is either live sports or news. Since the spin from NBCU, USA Sports has signed or renewed seven live sports agreements, including deals with the USGA, Ryder Cup, DP World Tour, WNBA and League One Volleyball.
As part of its recent agreement with Bundesliga, USA Network will have 30 exclusive games this upcoming season, with the other 270+ airing on Fandango. On connected TVs, Bundesliga matches will live on the Fandango App. On mobile devices, Bundesliga’s hub is already live on Fandango Stream (separate from the Fandango movie ticketing app).
SBJ previously reported that Versant would have an eye on adding more sports on Fandango, and Hong backed that up by saying, “We will certainly continue to look at and aim to add additional live sports for Fandango.”
Hong said USA’s momentum may slow a little from the perspective of adding new rights, but he’s bullish on the company’s platform strategy to keep it fresh, now and in the future.
“As long as we continue to have new platforms like Fandango or a refined strategy to put sports on CNBC for nights and weekends,” Hong said. “You can see that with a strategy to put live sports across various of our platforms, not only USA Network, that’s some of what has contributed to the current and will help us maintain the future momentum.”
===
Start your day with SBJ Morning Buzzcast, bringing you the hottest stories in sports business every morning in under 15 minutes. Sign up for SBJ’s free newsletters, and dive deeper inside the industry with all the latest sports business news here.
[ad_2]
Source link
