In Depth
A Sports Menu for Digital Channels
NBC’s Universal Sports Aims to Fill Stations’ Subchannels
Among the programming options being developed for television stations with subchannel space to fill due to the digital transition is one geared specifically to NBC affiliates.
It packages thousands of hours of sports competitions that eventually lead to the Olympics, the jewel in the crown of NBC Sports and a boon to NBC affiliates.
Universal Sports, a 24/7 digital channel created by NBC Universal and World Championship Sports Network, is expected to be available to 30 million homes in early 2009.
Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics and executive VP of strategic partnerships, believes there is enough interest to comfortably support that projection.
The new digital channel, already a multicast subchannel carried by the 10 NBC-owned stations in major markets, is available to upwards of 23.3 million homes. Some 14 million of those are cable homes. Of the remainder, many are not yet watching over-the-air digital TV. The over-the-air audience is not yet quantifiable, which makes ad sales difficult.
That makes cable homes crucial to the Universal Sports plan.
Universal Sports, which was offered to the NBC stations early last summer, is a different beast than NBC Weather Plus, which was a joint venture with stations. NBC Weather Plus, which lasted four years, is being dissolved in the wake of NBC Universal’s acquisition of the Weather Channel. With the exit of Weather Plus by the end of this year, many NBC affiliates will have a subchannel to fill.
Instead, stations that carry Universal Sports are allotted advertising time they can sell and local programming time they can fill with infomercials or local sports-related material on the digital channel. The terms include five minutes per hour for local advertising and seven hours per week for infomercials or local sports content.
The satellite-delivered channel would be free to the local stations through 2011. Under the contract, stations must launch Universal Sports within 90 days and guarantee cable carriage in their markets by Jan. 31, 2009.
If an affiliate can’t secure cable carriage, the network is free to line up another station in the market that can. Mr. Zenkel said there has been interest expressed in some markets by stations, and even station groups, not affiliated with NBC.
NBC Universal has held off for months making outside deals because the goal is to try “to get as deeply distributed across the NBC affiliate base as we possibly can,” Mr. Zenkel said.
The initial timetable gave affiliates until Dec. 1 to agree to carry Universal Sports. If they declined to do so, the channel could be offered to other stations in the same market. However, Mr. Zenkel described that timeline as a “loose deadline.”
“We are continuing to talk to them. There are some issues that are being worked on between NBC and the affiliates,” Mr. Zenkel said, declining to elaborate.
While the NBC executive said the process is somewhat slow, he believes the proposal represents a match made in branding and synergistic heaven.
Michael Fiorile, president and chief operating officer of the Dispatch Printing Co., which owns NBC affiliate WTHR-TV in Indianapolis, agrees. After looking at other subchannel offerings, he decided Universal Sports is “a natural” for Indianapolis. The city has five pro sports franchises, the Indiana Motor Speedway and a reputation as “the amateur sports capital of the world.”
As president and chairman of the NBC TV affiliate board, Mr. Fiorile said Universal Sports will be discussed at the next board meeting, but that the board has not endorsed the channel and cannot bind affiliates to carry it.
Olympic Archives
Carrying Universal Sports makes a station the exclusive local distributor of Olympics-related competitions outside the Games themselves. In addition to more than 5,000 archival programming hours per year, the channel will schedule more than 2,400 hours of live championship events and complete seasons of all the Olympic sports and live Olympic trials.
NBCU will carry the ball on marketing and promotion, loading plugs for Universal Sports on the NBC Sports Web sites and into such events as the 90-minute network special on the Paralympics Games held in Beijing after the Olympics concluded. Some 25 hours of Paralympics coverage has run on Universal Sports.
When it comes to sending people back and forth between NBC Sports programming and related programming on Universal Sports, Mr. Zenkel said, “We’re starting to find something of a rhythm.”
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Comments 66
ROBERT PLANTE
MY NAME IS ROBERT PLANTE AND I AM A
GREAT OLYMPICS SPORTS FAN AND I SURE
HOPE THAT COMCAST DIGITAL CABLE TV
IN OUR LOCAL AREA LEBANON,NH TAKE
NBC WEATHER PLUS CHANNEL WHICH IS
ON CHANNEL 297 WHDH WEATHER PLUS
CHANNEL THAT WOULD BE A GREAT
CHRISTMAS FROM COMCAST TO GET
MY FAVORITE NBC UNIVERSAL SPORTS TV
THANK YOU I HAVE CALLED COMCAST
AND THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT
IT YET HOPE THAT NBC UNIVERSAL
SPORTS TV STAFF AND OWNER'S TALK
WITH THEM THANK YOU HAPPY HOLIDAY'S
TO EVERYONE AT NBC UNIVERSAL.
ROBERT PLANTE COMCAST DIGITAL
CABLE CUSTOMER IN OUR LOCAL
AREA LEBANON,NH
cadariu
Please get Comcast to show Universal NBC sports, we are in East Haven, CT and as we speak missing the skiing world championships broadcast by Universal sports, please advise how we can change to different provider ASAP otherwise!
happy holidays!
john
I LOVE Universal Sports! I am so tired of watching the same boring sports on the main networks. It is great to see skiing, long jumping, yacht racing, etc. THANKS!!
Blayne
Need to find out if your on direct tv,.. My kids are huge bmx racers and enjoy watching the races we cannot attend. please help us find nbc universal sports in our area zip 61073
paul wenger
Comcast, in the area of Hartford CT, apparently has NO plans to show Universal Sports. Do either Dish or Direct TV carry it? Please advise ASAP if either one does!
Ema Craib
Don't forget curling!!!!
My husband and I love watching speed skating and curling during the Olympics...and when it is over then we have been left with nothing to watch.
This station was an unexpected cool bonus when we got HD the other day and we are still reeling in surprise and pleasure! :-)
And PLEASE cover all major cycling. We will be glued to the TV.
Keep it up...we are boomers with $ willing to watch the ads if it keeps this sort of international wide ranging sports programming coming.
Joe Pomponi
Im. into cycling, the Giro is on now. Is Universal on Direct TV? If not then when?
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I am a great fan of Universal Sports. Is universal sports on direct tv? If so, what channel does it come on.
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Have had direct tv for the second time for the last 2 weeks or so. Universal sports was showing for the first 2 1/2 days and then disappeared from the menu. What gives?
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