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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🚨 NBC eyes Scott Hanson. The NFL RedZone star is a media free agent, and NBC is reportedly interested in his talents. According to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, Hanson is in talks with NBC Sports about reprising his role as the host of Gold Zone during the Olympics. The longtime RedZone host is still apparently in negotiations with NFL Media, though those discussions have stalled as the entity mulls a sale to ESPN.

🏎️ ESPN drops F1. According to a report by John Ourand of Puck, the Worldwide Leader has chosen not to renew its current media rights package with Formula 1, despite reports late last year that the network was looking to re-up its deal. ESPN currently pays in the $90 million neighborhood annually for the rights, but F1 is seeking a substantial bump in its next deal. The top contenders to pickup the racing circuit are Netflix and NBC

🤒 Sean McDonough absent again. ESPN’s lead NHL play-by-play announcer was absent again on Thursday night after being scheduled to call USA-Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Bob Wischusen pinch hit, but it’s fourth time this season McDonough has been scheduled to call a game before being replaced last minute. When reached by AA for an explanation, ESPN explained that McDonough is battling the flu, and he’s taking the game off to get his voice back to 100% for Saturday’s game between the USA and Canada.

🏀 Carmelo joins NBC. The Peacock network is filling out its NBA talent lineup, and they’ve reportedly found their star in the studio. 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony is set to join the NBA on NBC, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Melo is the first studio analyst named or reported for NBC’s coverage, but continues a trend of the NBA’s new partners starting fresh in the studio. Amazon has already hired two studio newcomers, Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Paramount, YouTube TV at odds

Right as college basketball season is beginning to heat up, one of the sport’s main media rights partners is at odds with a popular pay TV platform.

Late last night, Paramount and YouTube TV reached a short-term extension that will keep the company’s content on the platform, narrowly avoiding a dreaded blackout. But sports fans that rely on CBS and CBS Sports Network for games aren’t exactly in the clear yet. The two sides still have to firm up a long-term carriage agreement, else they risk leaving fans in the dark on some marquee properties this spring.

Outside of football season, March and April are the two most important months on the CBS Sports calendar. The network is set to air the semifinals and finals of the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, the NCAA Tournament from Selection Show to Final Four, and then the Masters one week later.

YouTube TV has over 8 million subscribers nationwide, making it one of the largest pay TV services in the country. That’s a lot of people potentially being left in the dust if negotiations go South.

These carriage disputes have become commonplace in today’s media ecosystem, and boy have the tables turned. Back in the day, when customers had only one or two options for a cable/satellite provider (say, Comcast or DirecTV), content providers like Paramount had distributors over a barrel.

Pay our ransom, or all of your customers will switch to your competitor because they have our content and you don’t.

That dynamic is a thing of the past. As annoying as the current TV ecosystem is for consumers, there are more options than ever. Consumers aren’t reliant on YouTube TV to get all of Paramount’s content. In fact, it’s quite easy to get it as long as you’re willing to pay. You have your traditional cable and satellite providers, YouTube TV competitors like Fubo, a direct-to-consumer option in Paramount+, or an old fashioned over-the-air antenna.

And this is essentially YouTube TV’s argument. If Paramount isn’t going to offer what they see as a reasonable deal, they’ll simply direct their subscribers to signup for Paramount+ at $7.99 per month. In fact, YouTube TV has already announced plans to rebate subscribers $8 per month if Paramount’s content becomes “unavailable for an extended period.”

In the recent past, similar disputes have dragged on over issues like bundling, tiering, and access to direct-to-consumer products.

For instance, the Disney-Charter dispute in 2023 was settled when Disney agreed to drop some of its lesser-watched networks and allowed Charter to offer Disney+ as part of its bundle. Perhaps YouTube TV is bargaining to drop some of Paramount’s low-wattage networks like MTV2 or Nick Toons to get a cheaper rate.

We’ll find out soon enough. But in the meantime, consumers are the ones (again) at risk of losing out on content they pay for.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

👏 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🗣️

⚾ MLB on the move. Major League Baseball is relocating its media operations from Secaucus, NJ to Elmwood Park, NJ, marking a strategic shift in its long-term vision. The new space will be cutting-edge, and have plenty of space to accommodate third-party productions as MLB Network expands its footprint. And with MLB looking to control the local media rights for at least 15 teams by 2028, it’s likely they see the new facilities as a hub for game production in the future, similar to what the PGA Tour has done with its new remote production facilities in Florida.

💰Utah Jazz losing coin. Last season, the Jazz made the bold decision to ditch Root Sports Utah in favor of a combo over-the-air and direct-to-consumer strategy for its local media rights. But so far, it’s not paying off. Per Sports Business Journal, the Jazz have had their media rights revenue cut in half since the switch. Even still, Jazz owner Ryan Smith says, “You couldn’t pay me enough money to go back to the old model.”

🦗 Fox addresses Ye. After airing a Super Bowl ad from disgraced rapper Kanye West that directed viewers to his website selling swastika t-shirts, Fox has finally acknowledged it’s mistake — at least internally. Per Jeremy Barr of the Washington Post, Fox TV Stations executive Jack Abernethy sent a memo to employees Wednesday saying, “We regret that these commercials aired in these three markets, and we strongly condemn any form of antisemitism.” The network is still crickets in terms of any public apology.

✍️ AROUND AA ✍️

The 4 Nations Face-Off is really fun

Has the NHL finally solved the All-Star format? Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder thinks they have.

For years, the major sports leagues have helplessly flailed at different ways to try to fix their own respective All-Star Game amidst sagging interest both from players and fans. But the NHL has pulled an absolute masterstroke in finally getting rid of it all together and debuting the 4 Nations Face-Off over what was its All-Star break.

The 4 Nations sets aside All-Star Game shenanigans and replaces something meaningless with something that absolutely matters – best-on-best international hockey. Four of the top six countries in the world are represented with the United States, Canada, Finland, and Sweden. The countries will play a round robin schedule in the first round and the top two teams in the standings will play for the championship.

Think about it, is any hockey fan screaming to see a return of the 3v3 fantasy draft format from last year’s All-Star Game where a bunch of guys get together with the same intensity that you’d see at your local ice rink during a children’s open skate? Or would they rather see the best players in the world compete for their country at the top level in the 4 Nations Face-Off? It’s no contest.

Read all of Matt’s excellent column here.

️‍🔥The Closer🔥

Are upstart leagues a savvy business play?

There have been no shortage of upstart leagues in recent years. Just in 2025 alone, both TGL and Unrivaled have launched. Last year was the inaugural season of UFL, the XFL-USFL tie-up helmed by Fox. Then there’s established leagues, like the WNBA, which are catching fire and putting up viewership numbers approaching some of the “Big 4” North American sports leagues.

It begs the question: all things equal, are these emerging leagues more cost-effective investments for networks than paying the exorbitant rights fees demanded from the likes of MLB or the NHL?

Of course, this is a thought experiment spurred by the likelihood that ESPN will opt-out of its MLB deal in a couple weeks, making its future with the league entirely uncertain. Exiting the deal would save ESPN around $550 million per year. In turn, the network would sacrifice 30 national window MLB games, the Home Run Derby, and a Wild Card series.

Whether that’s actually a good decision is debatable. If ESPN truly wants to be the Worldwide Leader, having a relationship with all four major pro sports leagues seems like a prerequisite. And MLB content seems like it would be a vital part of preventing summer churn for its future “Flagship” streaming service.

But half-a-billion dollars is a steep price to pay for a package that averages just 1.5 million viewers during the regular season. Especially so when considering upstart leagues like the UFL and TGL are drawing comparable numbers for pennies on the dollar.

Now, this is not an endorsement for ESPN to get out of the MLB business. Far from it. But it is certainly worth considering how much the media rights value for leagues like MLB and the NHL — both of whom struggle to draw meaningful audiences during their regular seasons — are driven simply by legacy rather than dollars and cents.