John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal reports in this week’s issue that the on-going carriage battle between Comcast and DirecTV could actually help Versus get back onto the satellite provider in the next few months.
Comcast and DirecTV are engaged in a series of RSN carriage battles that potentially could help the Comcast-owned Versus secure a deal with the satellite operator within the next several months.
DirecTV is carrying four of Comcast’s RSNs out of contract. Meanwhile, Comcast’s deals with three Liberty Media RSNs expire at the end of the year, about the same time DirecTV is expected to take control of Liberty’s regional networks.
Given the way cable operators and programmers typically conduct business, it’s not a stretch to believe that Comcast will agree to renew Liberty’s RSNs if DirecTV agrees to carry Versus. But DirecTV can only make a deal like this when it gets control of Liberty’s RSNs, which is expected to happen in the next 30-60 days.
“Any time companies of that size with so many varied parts of business get into discussions, those discussions carry a wide range of issues,” said media consultant Neal Pilson. “Given the degree of skill, experience and expertise executives at Comcast and DirecTV have, I’d be astonished if Versus carriage did not find its way onto the agenda.”
Payout Perspective:
This latest update is slightly more optimistic than last week’s news.
DirecTV hasn’t seemed too willing to deviate from their position in the last few months, and why would they? Versus isn’t a tremendous draw for the provider. Moreover, DirecTV owns nearly 40% of the network’s viewership; and, therefore, also a great deal of leverage.
However, with DirecTV looking to take over Liberty’s regional sports networks that could put Comcast in a similar position of leverage.
If the WEC latest ratings are any indication – 419,000 or .4 HH (down significantly from the 600-800k they’d been pulling earlier) – they could use that extra 30-40% viewership potential. Same goes for the NHL, IRL, PBR, and even college football on the network.
Still looks to me like DTV has the upper hand here.
Also interesting to consider the ramifications of the potential Comcast/NBCU deal. With NBC’s sports assets, VS could become a substantially more attractive outlet. That could potentially make Zuffa’s relationship with VS a much more valuable asset moving forward.