Pay television, which has been clinging to sports and live news to continue having an important share in the entertainment pie, is increasingly concerned, as the incursion of streaming services in these two areas (sports and news) each day is stronger and more important.
NBCUniversal‘s Peacock, ESPN+ inside and outside Disney+, ViacomCBS’ Paramount+, Amazon, and even HBO Max via Turner Sports, all these digital platforms have a presence in sports, and every day they seek more and better rights from different leagues and sports to have the best offer and thus attract the largest number of possible subscribers.
Peacock had a very important participation in the Tokyo Olympics, which translated into great growth for the platform. Although there are no official figures yet, they had 108% more subscriptions than WWE, another sport that the platform offers.
For their part, Disney and ESPN+ increasingly have more programming and rights to the most important sporting events, they negotiate giving priority to their D2D service over their pay signals. The UFC is one of the strongest they have.
Paramount+ has focused on golf, with the rights to the largest tournaments worldwide, and CBS Sports prioritized the streaming service with the March Madness, the most important college basketball event in the US, which moves masses.
Amazon has already secured rights to the NFL, and HBO Max is seeking NHL involvement through Turner Sports. With this they would be covering American football and hockey also on the big OTT platforms, giving a lot to worry to traditional channels, when also CNN + is making strong progress in the world of news.