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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🤝 FCC says yes. After a $16 million settlement with the Trump administration cleared the way for Paramount and Skydance to finally consummate their merger, the FCC made it official. In a 2-1 vote, FCC commissioners approved the $8 billion transaction. Skydance will take over Paramount’s operations “in the coming weeks,” per CNN.

🦚 NBA on NBC completes lineup. A few additional on-air talents have been named to the NBA on NBC team. Play-by-play man Michael Grady will add NBC to his other gigs as the T’Wolves announcer and as a voice on Amazon’s NBA and WNBA coverage. Former Lakers point guard Derek Fisher will join NBC as an analyst, as will former Cavs star Brad Daugherty (who will continue calling NASCAR for NBC as well). Brian Scalabrine, Austin Rivers, and Robbie Hummel will round out the crew.

🏀 NCAA expansion unlikely, for now. NCAA president Charlie Baker cited “logistics” as the main reason why NCAA Tournament expansion is unlikely for the upcoming season. However, Baker did still express support for either a 72 or 76-team format in future years.

️‍🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Is NBC actually wise to launch a new cable network?

When news broke Wednesday evening that NBC could potentially launch a brand new sports-focused cable channel in the year 2025, it’s understandable that people’s first reaction was laughter. After all, we’re talking about the same company that is currently in the midst of spinning off its entire suite of cable networks (sans Bravo) and shuttered its dedicated sports cable channel, NBCSN, in 2021.

But in spite of the optics, which admittedly look hilarious, NBC might be onto something here. See, the network has loaded up on live sports rights for its Peacock streaming service in recent years. Since NBCSN shut down, NBC has acquired rights for Big Ten football and basketball, renewed its Premier League rights through the 2027-28 season, re-upped its deal with the IOC to keep the Olympics through 2036 and, oh yeah, added a massive new deal with the NBA that will see the network pay $2.45 billion annually for a package of regular season games across NBC and Peacock along with inventory that runs deep into the postseason.

Instead of cutting back on sports, like one might have expected they’d do after shutting down NBCSN, the network has doubled down. Initially, the goal was to bolster Peacock. The theory was that adding exclusive live sporting events to the streamer would attract more subscribers.

That theory proved to be correct, to a point. Peacock saw massive subscriber growth around tentpole events like the 2024 Paris Olympics and the streamer’s exclusive NFL Wild Card game earlier that year. But those types of events are different than, say, regular season NBA games. Those are events that viewers can’t do without. NBA regular season on the other hand, well…

That’s the calculation that NBC executives are weighing. A) will NBA regular season games drive meaningful subscriber growth, or will viewers just turn on their subscriptions once the playoffs roll around and B) will that growth justify the $2.45 billion price tag they’ll be paying the league each year.

Given that this sports-focused cable network is even a consideration, it seems to me that NBC executives are rather concerned about their prospects if that inventory stayed tucked away on a streaming service.

Credit to the foresight here, those executives are probably right. And luckily for NBC, they have other ways to monetize these valuable, and still highly desirable, live sports rights.

The go-forward plan, should NBC pull the trigger on this, is to launch a sports-focused cable network that is featured on genre-specific pay TV packages like DirecTV’s MySports. In doing so, NBC can capitalize on dual revenue streams from some of its most valuable (and most costly) programming. Instead of solely relying on folks subscribing to Peacock to watch the wide array of sports programming NBC has bought for the streamer, they can also rake in carriage fees from distributors, just like old times.

And luckily for NBC, there’s almost certainly a market for that. Sports fans are disproportionately more likely to still be subscribed to a pay TV bundle. It’s still the easiest way to get the most sports possible in one single place for one price. On the same note, it’s unlikely anyone would unsubscribe from Peacock because this hypothetical cable network exists. The platforms serve two distinct sets of customers.

So as silly as it sounds on paper, NBC might be onto something by launching a new cable network.

💬 AROUND AA 💬

Hulk Hogan’s sex tape scandal and Gawker trial explain it all

Disclosure: I am not a wrestling fan. But if you’re going to read just one piece about Hulk Hogan’s legacy, at least from a media perspective, make it this one. Sean Keeley brilliantly illustrates the connective tissue between Hogan’s infamous Gawker case and the media lawfare we see so often today. Here’s a sneak peak:

Hulk Hogan was a character in a story much bigger than himself.

That was true in professional wrestling, as he rose to prominence as the WWF’s ultimate babyface. A larger-than-life bastion of American pride and doing things the right way, he spent the 1980s fighting off a never-ending onslaught of villains, traitors, and would-be usurpers, often to great success. He changed the story in the 1990s, turning heel and teaching a new generation how institutions become infected, crumble, and eventually go away.

That was also true in real life, as Hogan, whose real name was Terry Bollea, broke kayfabe and turned his personal life into public fodder in the form of reality television, and later, scandal. He eventually inserted himself into the shifting narratives of American politics, remaking his pro-American identity into something different—and uglier. As his personal beliefs broke containment, they seeped into both the wrestling and real worlds, simultaneously damaging the perception of his character.

Read the full column here.

📈INDUSTRY INSIGHTS💰

• ESPN is planning big things for Bill Belichick’s debut in powder blue just over a month from now. According to a report by Bryan Fischer of Sports Illustrated, ESPN is planning a live show from Chapel Hill prior to the Tar Heels’ opening game against TCU. Host Matt Barrie will be joined by analysts Tedy Bruschi, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban, and reporter Pete Thamel. ESPN’s lead college football announcing booth of play-by-play commentator Rece Davis and analyst Kirk Herbstreit will call the game, with reporter Holly Rowe working the sidelines.

• NBA Draft analyst Jonathan Givony confirmed he is departing ESPN after eight years with the network. “My time at ESPN has come to an end. Thanks to everyone, past and present, who helped me grow professionally the past 8 years,” Givony said. “Although ESPN offered an extension, we were unable to find alignment on my value to the company.” He will continue to work at DraftExpress, the basketball prospect evaluation company he founded two decades ago.

• MLS commissioner Don Garber discussed earlier this week the possibility of shifting the league’s schedule to align with the FIFA International Match calendar. “If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen after the 2026 World Cup,” he said. “So making this change is seismic. It’s not something we should do lightly.”

• Fox Sports news editor Tanya Ray Fox announced she was let go by FS1 in a social media post on Thursday. FS1 recently announced the cancellation of multiple shows – Breakfast Ball, The Facility, and Speak. It’s likely that certain behind-the-scenes Fox Sports employees associated with those shows were also let go.

• NBC is moving the Kentucky Oaks to primetime, the network announced in a press release on Thursday. The Oaks will now air on NBC at 8 p.m. ET the Friday night before the Kentucky Derby. “By moving the Kentucky Oaks to primetime, we’re giving one of horse racing’s most treasured traditions the national stage it deserves,” Churchill Downs Incorporated CEO Bill Carstanjen said.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

Can the Savannah Bananas save CNN?

Alright, you got me. The headline for this section is a bit tongue-in-cheek. But if you know me personally, you’ve likely heard me say before that my “toxic trait” is that I genuinely believe I could fix CNN. That’s a Closer for another day, but in the spirit of keeping these Friday newsletters a bit on the lighter side, I need to highlight something that happened yesterday morning on CNN News Central.

Anchors John Berman and Kate Bolduan were dutifully teasing an upcoming segment about the Savannah Bananas when this happened:

The moment was only made better by Berman’s complete inability to stray from his pre-written script.

“That, that, what you just saw there, is a brand new twist on America’s favorite pastime,” the anchor exclaimed moments after the epic fail.

The Savannah Bananas have, in fact, taken the baseball world by storm. The team has inked numerous broadcast agreements with the likes of ESPN, The CW, and truTV. They’ve also continued to sell out entire baseball stadiums during their summer tour.

I’m not really sure if this snafu makes me want to go see them more or less, but I’ve certainly watched that clip a few more times than I care to admit.