The rights to broadcast live sports, considered the Holy Grail of television, is expected to be dominated by global streaming services, according to a new report.

In the report, "Who WIll Control Sports Streaming in 2026?" from Looper Insights, 59 sports streaming professionals were surveyed. Nearly 41% said global streamers will hold the greatest structural power in sports media this year, narrowly ahead of sports leagues and rights holders at 39.4%.

Most of those (38.6%) say scale and global reach and a slightly smaller number (36.9%) cite audience data and insights were identified as the most important factors expected to shape the next cycle of sports rights negotiations.

Although there are currently no official negotiations on the TV sports rights for the four largest sports leagues in the U.S., the NFL, whose media contracts expire in 2032, is seeking to renegotiate its contracts and specifically trying to get another $1 billion from CBS, as reported by sportspro.com today.

Nearly 41% of respondents in Looper’s survey said scale and global reach (38.6%) and audience data and insights (36.9%) were the most important factors expected to shape the next cycle of sports rights negotiations.

Other findings from the report:

• 36.8% believe global streaming services with large-scale audience data are best positioned to benefit from AI-driven changes in sports media, compared with 17.9% who pointed to sports leagues.
• 40.4% of industry professionals expect YouTube to evolve into a full operating system for sports media, though 38.3% believe the platform will face resistance and remain limited in live sports.
• 38.6% say marquee sports events primarily create short-term subscription spikes, while 36.7% believe they mainly reinforce streaming services viewers already use rather than driving long-term subscriber growth.
• Amazon Prime Video was identified as the streamer most likely to hold the strongest position in sports media by 2026, followed by Netflix and ESPN/Disney.

The National Association of Broadcasters is in the midst of its "Keep the Game On" public campaign to promote live sports on free over the air TV and tying it to its push to revise broadcast ownership rules.

At Pac-12 Networks, the collegiate sports-focused digital cable and satellite TV network run by the Pac-12 Conference, we are proud to bring about 850 live sports events from over 100 venues each season to our viewers. For over 20 years, our broad spectrum of broadcast activities — from remote and studio productions to broadcast ingest, transmission, and game officiating — had been based out of our San Francisco facility. 

However, as our lease was approaching its end in June 2023, we made the decision to relocate to the Bishop Ranch campus in San Ramon, California. This move was more than just a change of scenery; it represented a significant upgrade to our broadcasting capabilities. In collaboration with Advanced System Group (ASG), we developed a cutting-edge facility equipped with SMPTE ST 2110 technology, built on a centralized spine and leaf network architecture. 

Need it Yesterday
The shift to San Ramon was not without its challenges. One major issue was the extremely stringent deadline. It was imperative that we were fully functional in time for the kickoff of the Pac-12 2023 football season. So, we had a window of just 16 months for researching, choosing, and acquiring the necessary equipment for our facility, a task made all the more difficult by COVID-induced product shortages.

 Additionally, signal conversion would prove to be a critical aspect of our system. With numerous simultaneous updates underway, a full upgrade to 1080p HDR was not yet achievable, leaving us with a 720p SDR transmission path. However, we would be receiving 1080p HDR signals from various satellite and fiber sources, necessitating efficient conversion. 

After thorough market research and a fact-finding trip to the 2022 NAB Show, we chose Imagine Communications’ Selenio Network Processor (SNP) for signal conversion at our San Ramon site. The SNP was selected not only for its ability to handle our extremely demanding workflows, but also its potential to greatly streamline our operations. To validate our choice, we conducted a proof of concept in January 2023, ensuring everything would function as intended.

Simplifying Operations
Our San Ramon facility boasts an impressive array of 34 SNP units, each handling a diverse range of functions. The processors are serving as IP gateways and facilitating both SDI-to-IP encapsulation and IP-to-SDI de-encapsulation. Additionally, they are responsible for frame synchronization and up/down/cross conversion. The SNPs also come with multiviewer processing capabilities and will allow us to utilize JPEG XS for interfacility connections in the future.

A key benefit of incorporating the SNPs into our facility is the significant simplification of our operations. Traditionally, different devices have been required for IP conversion, up/down/cross conversion, and HDR conversion. However, the SNP combines all these functions into a single path. 

This integration means that regardless of the signal coming from a broadcasting truck or satellite, it can be directly processed through the SNP before being transmitted to our channel. This consolidation into one path not only minimizes the likelihood of errors, but also greatly eases the workload for our operators, who now only need to familiarize themselves with a single destination — the SNP.

The building of our new facility commenced in November 2022 and reached completion by September 2023, just in time for the college football season. Despite encountering some initial hiccups, the facility is now operating seamlessly, surpassing the ease of operation of our previous setup. Having successfully navigated our first football season with this new system, its stability, reliability, and flawless performance have been clearly demonstrated. 

As we now shift our focus to the basketball season, we are confident in our system's capability to handle the demands, thanks in large part to the efficiency of the SNP.

PHOENIX—As regional sports networks struggle to stay afloat amid an increase in cord cutting and rising sports rights fees, one broadcast station group has decided to follow the cord cutters and bring live professional sports back to free over-the-air TV. 

In an agreement characterized as “transformative,” Gray Television today announced a deal with the Phoenix Suns NBA and Phoenix Mercury WNBA teams to bring every locally broadcast game to viewers for free in a statewide distribution model utilizing Gray’s Phoenix television stations KTVK (Arizona’s Family 3TV) and the newly launched KPHE (Arizona’s Family Sports & Entertainment Network). 

Up until the regular 2022-2023 season, Suns games were aired on Bally Sports Arizona, a division of Sinclair-owned Diamond Sports Group RSN, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.

The agreement is subject to the approval of the NBA and WNBA and any required resolution with Diamond, which issued a statement immediately following the announcement, claiming that the deal violates its existing agreements with the Suns.  

“The Phoenix Suns breached our contract and violated bankruptcy law, and Diamond Sports Group will pursue all remedies against any parties that attempt to exercise control over our property interests while we reorganize,” Diamond Sports said in a statement. “This is an improper effort by the Suns to change their broadcasting partner without permitting Diamond to exercise our contractual rights.”

Gray has not issued a response. 

If it survives legal scrutiny, upon the expansion of KPHE into the Tucson and Yuma markets in the next several weeks, the new media rights deal will make the Suns and Mercury games available to nearly 2.8 million households across all three of Arizona’s three media markets, tripling the teams’ reach to fans who have been unable to access the games through its previous distribution arrangement with a non-broadcast regional sports network.

The deal will also allow Suns and Mercury fans to watch games over their smartphones and Smart TVs alongside the over-the-air broadcast product via a Suns or Mercury-branded app developed by Kiswe, a startup that specializes in developing live sports streaming tech. The 2023 Phoenix Mercury season will stream DTC for free.

“Live sports can bring a community together. Combining that with the power of broadcast television and Arizona’s Family, it becomes a multiplier effect benefitting the team, the fans, and the clients,” said Debbie Bush, Vice President and General Manager, Arizona’s Family. “Our goal since day one has been creating a model that provides all fans the ability to connect with and cheer on their favorite teams via the distribution method of their choice. We are confident this model will increase fan loyalty and engagement.”

All Suns and Mercury non-national exclusive games will be broadcast between the two stations. KTVK will air a total of 13 Mercury regular season games and all available post-season games, with the remaining regular season games airing on KPHE. The Suns will have a minimum of 70 games broadcast each season, with at least 40 regular-season games on KTVK and the remaining on KPHE.

“We’re thrilled this partnership will connect our loyal family of viewers with the Phoenix Suns and Mercury,” said Pat LaPlatney, President & Co-CEO of Gray Television. “In a very short window, Mat Ishbia has begun to build a world-class organization both on and off the court. And with today’s announcement, Mat has made good on his promise to focus on the community and put their fans first. We are very pleased to play a part in that effort with our stations in Phoenix, Tucson, and ultimately Yuma.”

“We are excited to be partnering with the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury, and Gray Television on this groundbreaking new direct-to-fan distribution model,” said Glenn Booth, CEO of Kiswe. “Kiswe's goal is to bring live sports to all fans through immersive digital experiences, and we can't wait to start streaming games to any Arizona basketball fans who want to watch these iconic teams.”

The first Phoenix Mercury game will air live on KTVK and simulcast on KPHE Thursday, May 25th at 7p.m. when the Mercury take on the Minnesota Lynx.

This article has been updated to include Diamond's response to the announcement. 

PITTSBURGH—NEP Group announced this week the launch of its “MLS Season Pass” platform,” a multitude of services to support Major League Soccer’s full season of more than 950 matches. The launch is part of the global production company’s efforts to expand its market through new strategic partnerships, and marks the culmination of 18 months of investment, proprietary R&D and “strong execution of the company’s strategic vision,” the company said.  

As part of the MLS partnership, NEP is providing mobile units on-site at every venue; remote and/or centralized support of multiple game feeds from NEP’s New York, Miami and Los Angeles production hubs; studios and control rooms supporting Spanish and English-language pregame, postgame and whip-around shows; media asset management through NEP’s Mediabank product; technical management, crewing and operations support, connectivity between venues; and other infrastructure and systems management.

Along with NEP's MLS partnership, the company has also partnered with the XFL (now in its second season) and also provided support for the integration of centralized, cloud-based workstreams with traditional live production support for the recent Olympics, Commonwealth Games and World Cup. 

NEP also announced a series of new partnerships with the PGA TOUR, NASCAR, Swedish Ice Hockey, World Rally Championship and the new Dyn Media Sport offering in Germany. These new partnerships are in addition to NEP’s existing Centralized and Connected Production offerings available worldwide, as well as recent contract extensions to support NFL broadcasters, this year's Women’s World Cup in Australia, and Indian Premier League coverage in India.

So far in 2023, NEP has launched four new TFC-powered U.S. mobile units—Supershooter 7 and Supershooter 62 were launched in March and Supershooter CBS received a TFC upgrade, also in March.

“For us, listening and adapting to our clients’ needs is the most important part of our business, and these needs, whether based on advanced technology, reduced costs, increased safety, or something else, are changing rapidly. Our strategy, and now its execution, has been a direct response to that,” says Brian Sullivan, CEO of NEP. “We want to give all our clients the most flexible and forward-looking solutions possible. Our new partnerships in the U.S. and around the globe are a testament to the strength of our people and their ingenuity. And these deals prove the path we’re on is the right one, equipped to lead our industry into the future.”

NEP will be in Booth #C4535 in the Central Hall of the LVCC during the 2023 NAB Show in Las Vegas, April 16-19.

LOS ANGELES—Allen Media Group has launched the Speedvision FAST channel, which offers more than 500 hours of premium automotive programming, on its free streaming platforms Local Now, Sports.TV and theGrio Streaming App.

The new Speedvision FAST channel on Local Now, Sports.TV and theGrio features blue-chip automotive entertainment from car build shows and garage content, to automotive history and auction programming. The Speedvision FAST channel also offers motorcycle and aviation series. 

With the addition of the Speedvision FAST channel, AMG now streams more than 450 FAST channels, featuring over a dozen motorsports and automotive entertainment networks.

“We are excited to be partnering with Speedvision to bring our viewers more free premium automotive content,” said Byron Allen, founder/chairman/CEO of Allen Media Group. “We are continuously expanding our special interests and lifestyle content library in order to provide our audience diverse entertainment.”

“The original Speedvision was the best media brand ever offered to the auto enthusiast audience and those fans still see it as the high-water mark in the genre,” said president and CEO, Robert Scanlon, a co-founder of the original network in 1995. “I know from first-hand experience that the team of content creators and strategic partners that we’ve enlisted for the new Speedvision will match and build upon the legacy of the original, which has been imitated many times but never equaled.”

LOS ANGELES—Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group newly-created Allen Media Digital division has launched a new free-streaming platform Sports.TV. The service aggregates sports, news, movies, documentaries, and entertainment networks, as well as local broadcast television stations.

The Sports.TV initial line-up features more than 60 free channels, including: Pac12 Insider, HBCUGo.TV, World Poker Tour, Pursuit Up TV, Swerve Sports, SportsGrid, For the Fans, Fight Network, Impact Wrestling, Black Belt TV, MMA TV, Campus Lore, Allied Esports, Outside TV, Horse & Country, NHRA TV, Racing America, and many more to come. 

The company said that Sports.TV will provide subscribers the ability to transact as it launches regional sports networks, pay-per-view, ticket sales, merchandise sales, and sports betting on the platform throughout 2022.

“After many years, we have successfully combined the world’s two favorite words--sports and free,” said Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Allen Media Group. “Advertisers spend more than $50 billion per year to reach this highly-coveted sports demographic, and I’m happy to announce that Sports.TV has already received enormous ad support. Sports.TV is an innovative free-streaming service connecting sports fans to their favorite sports content, giving our subscribers complete access to all of their favorite teams and players on every device 24/7 for free.”

Sports.TV is now available for streaming on Apple iOS/iPhone/iPad, Android, Fire TV, and Android TV, as well as worldwide web, and with launches on Roku and Apple TV digital platforms coming soon.

LOS ANGELES—Entertainment Studios is jumping into the fray with ESPN and Turner Sports with the launch of a new, direct-to-consumer global streaming OTT subscription sports platform, Sports.TV.

According to Entertainment Studios’ official announcement, Sports.TV has aggregated high-profile and independent sports networks onto its platform, including regional, national and global sports channels. Sports.TV will be available on all devices, including smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, gaming consoles, personal computers and laptops.

Sports.TV is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2017. Entertainment Studios projects a subscription base of 50 million users worldwide over the next five years.