NEW YORK—NBCUniversal has announced that it will be launching NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), a 24/7 linear network featuring a wide range of marquee sporting events and programming from NBC Sports, on Monday, Nov. 17.

The launch revives a channel brand the company shut down in 2021 with the same name but a different, expanded programming mix and a new business strategy that aims to strengthen pay TV revenues.

The company plans to distribute NBCSN exclusively through participating pay-TV distributors. NBCU said the network will feature live games across major sports, giving pay-TV customers a way to enjoy much of NBCUniversal’s extensive sports portfolio that also streams on Peacock.

YouTube TV will be first to carry the network. It will soon be available on Comcast’s Xfinity, with other distributors to be announced at a later date.

This could provide pay TV operators with a way to attract sports fans from Peacock and boost pay TV carriage revenue. But it could also hurt ongoing efforts to expand the streaming services subscriber base.

“NBCUniversal delivers the biggest moments in sports, and the new NBC Sports Network gives pay-TV customers a seamless way to enjoy the wide range of sports in our portfolio, adding an important pillar in our linear and streaming strategy,” said Matt Schnaars, president, platform distribution and partnerships, NBCUniversal. “NBCSN is a win across the board—driving value for fans and distributors who prefer an aggregated experience, league and conference partners seeking broad reach and advertisers targeting engaged sports audiences—while also creating a new monetization path for some of our most premium programming and supporting NBCU’s commitment to serving viewers wherever they watch, whether on Peacock, pay-TV or both.”

NBCU said that events and programming on the new network will include:

• Monday Night NBA games and NBA Playoffs.
• Expected to include dozens of MLB regular-season and select post-season games in a soon-to-be-announced agreement.
• Premier League soccer matches.
• "Gold Zone" hosted by Scott Hanson (daily whip-around coverage for Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games in February 2026).
• WNBA Regular Season and Playoff games.
• Big Ten and Notre Dame Football.
• Big Ten, Big East and Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball.
• Golf Majors (includes select coverage of U.S. Open and The Open Championship).
• Cycling (Tour de France, Tour de France Femmes; Vuelta a España, and more).
• Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks undercard races.
• Olympic Sports (e.g., Figure Skating, Ski & Snowboard, Gymnastics, Swimming, Track & Field).
• Popular shows, including “PFT Live,” “The Dan Patrick Show," “The Dan Le Batard Show,” and “Fantasy Football Happy Hour” with Matthew Berry.

STAMFORD, Conn.—NBC Olympics will be using Ross Video for augmented reality productions during the Tokyo Games, the companies announced. 

During the production of the Olympic games, Ross Video’s in-house creative and professional services division, Rocket Surgery will be deploying Voyager, the graphics rendering solution (based on the Unreal 4 engine from Epic Games) along with a production crew to integrate the graphic elements designed by the NBC Olympics graphics team and operate the technology on the air.

“Ross Video’s Voyager product will help the NBC Olympics studio operation bring a next-level immersive visual to our studio presentation, bringing augmented reality to our primetime coverage,” said Michael Sheehan, coordinating director, NBC Olympics. “Instrumented Jib & Steadicam will give our creative teams the flexibility to use this great new technology in ways to help tell the stories of these Olympic Games.”

Pete Ross, director of sales USA – Eastern at Ross Video added that “Ross has enjoyed a long relationship with NBC Sports, and we’ve provided graphics solutions for some of the most widely viewed sport events on the planet. We’re extremely excited to be part of NBC Olympics’ coverage of the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.”

NEW YORK—NBCSN, the cable sports network owned by NBCUniversal, will be shut down by the end of 2021, with its live sport programming, which includes NHL games and NASCAR races, transitioning to USA Network and Peacock.

The Hollywood Reporter obtained an internal memo from NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua that details the decision.

NHL games, which will include Stanley Cup playoff games, and NASCAR races will start to air on USA Network later this year. Other key elements of NBCSN’s programming will move to USA Network, though in some cases programming will head to Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service.

In addition to the NHL and NASCAR, NBCSN hosted Premier League soccer matches, live Olympics coverage, as well as smaller sports like professional lacrosse. Olympics coverage will likely move to NBC Sports’ The Olympic Channel, though it is not clear if other sports programming will play on USA Network or be exclusive to Peacock.

“This will make USA Network an extraordinarily powerful platform in the media marketplace, and gives our sports programming a significant audience boost,” said Bevacqua in the staff memo. “We believe that the power of this offering is the best long-term strategy for our Sports Group, our partners and our company.

“This transition, combined with our robust portfolio of assets, including Golf Channel, The Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, RSNs, SportsEngine, GolfNow, digital, audio, sports betting and gaming, puts us in an even stronger position as leaders in the sports media space and to continue to grow our business.”

TV Tech’s sister publication B+C called the decision “further evidence that media companies are shifting from their profitable cable networks to the hot streaming category.”

STAMFORD, Conn.—The NASCAR 2020 Cup Series crossed the finish line on Nov. 8, and despite a season interrupted by COVID-19 and reported record streaming numbers, NBC Sports says that its TV audience matched what it was in 2019.

Throughout 19 races on NBC and NBCSN, NASCAR 2020 Cup Series viewership produced a Total Audience Delivery of 2.597 million viewers, per Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics; the same TAD there was for 2019’s 19 races produced by NBC Sports.

Races that were broadcast on NBC (eight for the 2020 season) actually saw a 3% increase over 2019, averaging a TAD of 3.234 million viewers; 2019’s average was 3.147 million. The season-capping race on NBC produced 3.093 million viewers—peaking at 4.087 million at the finish— up 18% from the 2.588 million that watched the final 2019 playoff race on NBC. 

This level TV viewership came even as NBC Sports recorded its most-streamed NASCAR season to date, with an Average Minute Audience of 27,300 viewers, up 29% from 2019 (21,100 viewers).

The top market for NASCAR on NBC and NBCSN was Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., with a 4.2 local rating. The top 10 also featured Charlotte, N.C. (4.0); Knoxville, Tenn. (4.0); Greensboro-High Point, N.C. (3.8); Indianapolis (3.5); Richmond, Va. (3.3); Ft. Myers-Naples (3.1); Nashville (3.0); Birmingham, Ala. (3.0); and Dayton, Ohio (2.9).

STAMFORD, CONN. – All cylinders were firing in terms of viewers for NBC Sports Network’s telecast of NASCAR Sprint Cup’s Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 26, as the race became the network’s most-watched telecast. The race, which was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, averaged 4.7 million viewers, peaking at 5.6 million when Kyle Busch took home the checkered flag.

The Brickyard 400 telecast marks consecutive weeks of growth for NBCSN’s coverage of Sprint Cup racing. Average viewership was up 27 percent from the July 19 race in New Hampshire, and 47 percent from the July 11 race in Kentucky. NBCSN’s coverage was the most-watched NASCAR event on cable since the 2014 season-ending race that aired on ESPN and drew in 5.2 million.

NBCSN’s next NASCAR race will be the Windows 10 400 and will air Sunday, Aug. 2 at 1:30 p.m. from Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.