Shocker: CBS and Univision win UEFA Champions League rights. SBD has the story. https://t.co/svTstzM5uB— John Ourand (@Ourand_Puck) November 8, 2019 Whoa
Looks like what happened 3 years ago with a completely random channel getting the English rights. But without the cable staple of TNT. I had no idea I even had CBSSN on my YoutubeTV.
wonder if the full slate of games will be streaming on CBS All Access Edit: Now that I actually read the story, yes this will be the case
It is over-the-top so I would assume so. Honestly the only major changes here will probably be: four live CL matches a week on a smaller cable channel than TNT (CBSS), probably two EL matches Thursday back to cable and the final back on a main OTA network (which is probably a big UEFA preference).
So the CL rights is going to be a way for these tv channels to test their streaming services. I really wish it just went to NBC or ESPN. NBC because they are the only ones who have proven to be able to effectively handle Soccer tv rights. And with ESPN their coverage sucks but, it is very convenient when they have Soccer. .
This will be an improvement. CBS Sports is an actual sports channel that's well-established and carried by all the big TV service providers including streaming. I've had it non-stop for years whether I was with Dish or DirecTV or YouTubeTV and so on. If you don't watch college football/basketball it probably isn't on your radar, but it's there. We'll get a couple live Europa League matches every Thursday on TV - what a concept! Plus, CBS All-Access is a legit, existing OTT app, pouring money into original programming (Star Trek shows, Twilight Zone reboot, etc.). I assume it is and will be way better to use than the still terrible B/R Live app that was thrown together after Turner won the rights. It also only costs $5.99/mo. (or $9.99/mo. w/o commercials). Who knows the cost by 2021, but unlike B/R Live it has a much wider audience base than just American soccer fans, allowing it to charge less for more content. Unlike Turner winning the current rights, this is way less of a stab in the dark. CBS has covered sports for a long time, CBSSN has been on the air for 17 years as a full-time sports network, and All-Access is an established/successful OTT service.
CBSSN is probably in about 25-30 million fewer homes than TNT. From a cable accessibility POV this isn't a win, but if people want to see the CL live on cable they'll get the right package for it (a lot of times its a package higher or with a sports pack, TNT is always about as basic as you can get). And if people don't want that tier they have a streaming or Spanish option.
I agree. I'd expect TNT, ESPN, and ESPN2 to be basic cable everywhere. CBSSN is in fewer households, and maybe comparable with Big Ten Network or Golf Channel. That's just a guess. CBSSN must be in more households than beIN. I would think the amount of people who get CBSSN and know what channel it is would be higher than the amount of people who get TNT, know what channel it is, know it shows it the UEFA Champions League, and know that the UEFA Champions League is for European soccer clubs. People scrolling through TNT on their guide could see "UEFA Champions League" without knowing or caring what it is, so that's why I added the end of my previous sentence.
Glad to hear that Univision will continue to have the rights to the Champions League. They show games on Galavision, Univision and TUDN. I just DVR up to six games and watch them when I get home. I don't even speak Spanish, but their broadcast is years ahead of the joke that is TNT.
I don't see why it matters if CBS Sports is in as many households as TNT. The channel is readily available to those who want it and the coverage will be better on a sports network. And the CL Final will be on CBS, so it'll be plugged just like The Masters usually is throughout March Madness. That could be really big for viewership. As it is now, Champions League matches shown on TNT may be available to millions more viewers compared to CBSSN, but that expanded audience is the same one that TNT caters to by showing reruns of Charmed, Supernatural and Bones on Thursday instead of Europa League matches. Anyone who doesn't currently have CBS Sports Network has two years to figure out the best way to get it. YouTube TV, Hulu Live and Fubo all have it (as has PS Vue - RIP). Those who insist on paying out the ear for cable/satellite might already have it, or can pay a few extra bucks a month for the corresponding sports pack. I feel like we could have said the same thing about NBC back when it first won Premier League rights. I believe 2013/14 was the first PL season on NBC and back then NBC Sports wasn't as widely available as it is now, a newer channel, and had previously just shown stuff like Olympic sports, rugby, racing, etc.
we know the decision is to help the CBS Sports Network get more traction in terms of carriage deals on different cable/satellite systems across the country
I think this is a pretty big deal. Has CBS ever broadcast international soccer since the 1974 World Cup? The World Cup has been on ABC (1970), CBS (1974), ABC/ESPN (1982) and (1994 - 2014), NBC/ESPN (1986), TBS/TNT (1990), and FOX/FS1 (2018) since I have been watching. And all of those networks have broadcast European soccer presently or in the last few years. But CBS is the only one of the Big 4 networks that has not shown any recent interest. Times have changed.
No. For this cycle (2021/22 to 2023/24), UEFA is offering the Europa League separately - bundled with the new competition "Europa Conference League". The new competition will be played on Thursdays (like the Europa League). Apparently, UEFA have not gone deep enough in the barrel and scraped all of the crud found on the bottom so they introduced another competition. Personally, I hate the Thursday matches because they really interfere with domestic league play on weekends IMHO. But with UEFA, like FIFA and every other organizing committee, money talks... SA
Basically it just splits the 64-team Europa League into two separate competitions, with a 32-team Europa League proper for teams from the top leagues and the 32-team conference league for teams from the smaller countries. Works for me, I can just ignore the conference league and concentrate on the better-known teams to watch.
CBSSN is the current TV home of noted soccer-hater Jim Rome. So I guess it would be "Jungle Karma" if his show gets bumped a couple of times a week for CL games
It will be intresting to see if CBS goes after any other soccer properties. Sure, CL is nice, but it would be good to supplement it with something else. Not sure what else they could get, but CL alone won’t make a lot of money.
No one really makes money directly on European club soccer in US media (rights vs ads, ROI). But it does help long term with getting the attention of a younger audience. I think that's the whole game for CBS -- maybe get some more subscribers for CBSSN and lower the average age of CBS All Access subscribers. And it's not too hard to lower a CBS audience since the average is probably about 65 years old
Indeed, seems like a play to drive All Access subscriptions. To the Europa and Conference, I guess TNT can hold onto at least Europa. Conference is for smaller teams/countries to make much needed extra scratch.
CBS also has a (free) streaming sports news channel, and look who occasionally appears on it 1179852422128312320 is not a valid tweet id
Uh, no. NBCSN was originally OLN and then Versus. It's been around since 1995 and has had the NHL since 2005.