NBCSN

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NBC Sports Network
HeadquartersNew York City
Ownership
OwnerNBCUniversal

NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) is a sports-oriented cable television channel in the United States operated as a division of NBC Sports. It previously launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming primarily involving fishing, hunting, outdoor adventure programs, and outdoor sports. By the turn of the 21st century, OLN became better known for its extensive coverage of the Tour de France, but eventually begin covering more "mainstream" sporting events—resulting in its relaunch as Versus in September 2006.

Comcast, the original owner of Versus, acquired a majority stake in media company NBC Universal in 2011. As a result, Comcast would merge the operations of its cable channels with those of NBC. In particular, it aligned the operation of its sports channels with NBC's sports division, NBC Sports. On January 2, 2012, Versus was re-branded as the NBC Sports Network to reflect these changes.

History

As the Outdoor Life Network

The channel originally launched as the Outdoor Life Network (or OLN) on July 1, 1995; the name was licensed from Outdoor Life magazine. Its programming consisted of hunting, fishing, and outdoor adventure shows. In its early days, the channel reached around one million homes.[1]

In 1999, OLN acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to the Tour de France for $3 million. Coverage of the Tour on OLN brought substantially greater viewership to the then fledgling channel, due in part to the growing popularity of American rider Lance Armstrong. In 2004, where Armstrong would aim for a record-breaking 6th straight Tour de France title, OLN would take advantage of his popularity and the historic run by devoting over 344 hours to Tour-related programming in July 2004 (including documentaries and coverage of the event itself), and running a $20 million dollar "Cyclysm" ad campaign to promote its coverage.[2]

While the popularity of the Tour de France helped OLN's carriage expand to over 60 million homes, critics became concerned that OLN had devoted too much coverage towards Armstrong, and began to wonder how OLN could thrive without him participating in the Tour.[1] After his seventh victory in 2005, Lance Armstrong announced that he would retire from professional cycling. OLN would use the 2005 Tour to help promote a new lineup of programming which would premiere following its conclusion—anchored by repeats of the popular reality television series Survivor. OLN's executives believed that bringing Survivor into its lineup would fit well with the new direction it had planned for OLN, and could attract viewership from fans of the show who had watched it on CBS.[3]

Around the same period, OLN also acquired the rights to the Dakar Rally, America's Cup, the Boston Marathon, and the Iditarod—intending to use a "story-focused" style of coverage for these multi-day events similar to how it covered the Tour, hoping that their coverage could result in a "surprise" result for the channel.[3]

OLN and the NHL

In May 2005, ESPN failed to renew its broadcasting contract with the National Hockey League after rejecting a $60 million offer to extend its coverage into the 2005-06 NHL season, and the league rejecting its alternate proposal for a revenue sharing agreement similar to the one it had established with NBC. With the NFL also shopping a new late-season package of Thursday and Saturday night games to potential broadcasters, speculation began to surface that Comcast would bid on the new contract in order to help build OLN into a national sports channel to take on ESPN directly.[3] Along with OLN, Comcast already owned majority control of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, and four Comcast SportsNet regional sports networks, and were the most interested in acquiring the rights.[4]

In August 2005, ESPN officially declined to match Comcast's offer, and OLN officially acquired cable television rights to the NHL beginning in the 2005–2006 season in a three year deal worth close to $200 million. The new deal would include 58 regular season games on Monday and Tuesday nights, coverage of the NHL All-Star Game, conference finals, and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals.[4]

In 2006, OLN broadcast selected games in the Arena Football League's 2006 season. They televised a weekly regular-season game for 11 weeks as well as a wild card playoff game.[5] However, the agreement was not renewed and was later picked up by ESPN, who also acquired a minority stake in the league's ownership.[6]

As Versus

Versus logo

As a result of its increased focus on mainstream sports programming, the channel was officially relaunched as Versus on September 25, 2006. (However, its Canadian counterpart maintained its original format and retains the OLN name.)

Among the new programming acquired by Versus included a number of combat sports, beginning with a series of boxing programs promoted by Bob Arum's Top Rank group. They also began televising Chuck Norris's World Combat League, a kickboxing promotion where fights are contested in a unique round ring without ropes. Versus entered into a partnership with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) to bring mixed martial arts events to the channel, with the first being broadcast live on June 3, 2007. They aired all the WEC events, except for WEC 48, which aired on pay-per-view, with live preliminary fights being aired on Spike TV.[citation needed]

They also added a variety of sports events as part of the rebranding, including men's and women's college basketball, high school basketball,[7][8] a weekly "game of the week" for the National Lacrosse League, darts competitions, the Major Indoor Soccer League, and the USA Sevens, one of the nine tournaments (then eight) that make up the IRB Sevens World Series, the top annual circuit in the sevens version of rugby union.

In addition, the channel also added a package of college football games to its lineup, with games from the Mountain West Conference, Pac-10 (now Pac-12) and Big 12 conferences.[9][10][11] totaling 19 scheduled college football games on the channel during 2007.

They secured coverage for the 2007 America's Cup, which was also a staple on ESPN and ESPN2 for years. They began to show qualifying regattas in late 2005. They also aired the Louis Vuitton Cup for challengers in 2007, and the America's Cup match between the Louis Vuitton winner and current champions, won by Alinghi of Switzerland in Valencia, Spain. In 2006, they picked up American broadcast rights (in conjunction with The Tennis Channel) of Davis Cup events.

Versus, with NBC Sports and the World Championship Sports Network (now Universal Sports), broadcast coverage of the 2007 World Championships in Athletics from Osaka, Japan, as well as the 2009 World Championships in Athletics from Berlin, Germany.

On January 28, 2008, Versus and the NHL extended their deal through the 2010–2011 season.[12] In June 2008, operations were moved from Stamford, Connecticut, to Comcast's headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[13] On August 7, 2008, they announced a 10-year deal with the Indy Racing League to broadcast at least 13 IndyCar Series events a year in HD, beginning in 2009. [14] Bob Jenkins, Jon Beekhuis, and Robbie Buhl are on the broadcast team along with Jack Arute, Robbie Floyd, and Lindy Thackston in the pits. Terry Linger is the producer.[15] The channel would also broadcast various motorsports series on its Lucas Oil Motorsports Hour program such as USAC and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.

The channel aired the 96th Grey Cup, the championship game of the Canadian Football League in 2008.[citation needed]

The channel began airing games from the United Football League in 2009. The first season Championship aired on November 27, 2009. The UFL would return to the channel for a second season in 2010.[citation needed]

On April 5, 2010, The Daily Line debuted. The show consisted of a four-person panel (host Liam McHugh, handicapper Rob DeAngelis, comedian Reese Waters, and Jenn Sterger) which discussed, often with heavy satire, sports-related topics that were popular that day.[16] However, the show was canned due to low viewership on November 4, 2010.[17]

The Ultimate Fighting Championship would air two live events on the channel due to the new contract agreement with UFC sister promotion World Extreme Cagefighting. The first edition of UFC on Versus aired on March 21, 2010 headlined by Brandon Vera vs. Jon Jones in the Light Heavyweight division. The second event aired on August 1 with Jon Jones facing Vladimir Matyushenko. Also as part of the agreement with the UFC, several UFC Countdown shows would air. There was a countdown show the week of a PPV, usually lasting for one hour, and covering 2-3 of the biggest fights on the card. In August 2011, the UFC announced a new broadcasting deal with the channels of rival Fox Sports, which would begin to take effect in November 2011.[18]

They had also struck a deal with the NBA to air 10 regular season NBA Development League games as well as 6 playoff games a year. Games will air Saturday nights. In total, they would air 16 NBA Development League games[19] in addition to 25 hours of NBA programming specials.

Starting in August 2010, they aired nine races of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, Wednesdays at 7 p.m. The races originated from a variety of locations, including Stafford Motor Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, and Thompson Motor Speedway.[citation needed]

Merger with NBC Sports

In February 2011, Comcast acquired a majority share in NBC Universal, and merged its content operations into the company. As part of the acquisition, Versus, and Comcast's other sports channels, began to be integrated into the NBC Sports division. Coinciding with the merger, President Jamie Davis was replaced by Comcast Sports Group President Jon Litner. Litner will now oversee the channel, in addition to his other duties following the Comcast takeover.[20]

In March 2011, Versus expanded its college football coverage by becoming the cable partner for NBC's coverage of Notre Dame football, airing replays of Notre Dame games, and the first ever live broadcast of the team's annual intramural game. Its coverage began with a marathon of three classic Fighting Irish games on March 17, St. Patrick's Day, to serve as a prelude to its coverage of the intramural.[21]

For the 2011 season, Versus also returned to airing the National Lacrosse League with a 9 game package, starting with the 2011 All-Star Game and culminating with the Champion's Cup final.[22] Beginning with the 2012 NLL season, U.S. broadcast rights would shift to CBS Sports Network, which will carry eight regular season games.[23]

On June 6, 2011, it was revealed that NBCUniversal would be extending their rights to the Olympic Games through 2020, outbidding competing bids by Fox Sports and ESPN in a $4.38 billion contract. It is expected that Versus will participate in NBC's overall coverage beginning at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[24][25][26]

Relaunch as NBC Sports Network

In April 2011, NBC Sports and Versus announced they had reached a ten-year extension to the television contract with the National Hockey League worth nearly 2 billion dollars over the life of the contract. As part of the announcement, Dick Ebersol, the former chairman of NBC Sports, said that Versus would be renamed "within 90 days" in order to reflect the synergy resulting from the merger.[27] However, no announcement of a new name would come until August 1, 2011, when Comcast officially announced that Versus would be relaunched as the NBC Sports Network on January 2, 2012. The relaunch coincided with NBC's coverage of the NHL Winter Classic, which took place on the same day.[24]

In an interview with TV Guide, president of programming Jon Miller detailed that NBC Sports Network would be "radically different" from Versus in many ways. His goal was for Versus for to become a credible "full-service sports network", with a new lineup of sports news and talk programs and live event coverage. Low-brow programming such as Whacked Out Sports and The T.Ocho Show, were quickly removed from the lineup after the takeover, as Miller believed they were inconsistent with the ideals of NBC Sports, and that they would hurt the channel's credibility. At the same time, the channel began an initiative to begin producing new original programming—including NBC Sports Talk and the weekly CNBC Sports Biz (hosted by CNBC's sports business reporter Darren Rovell), which both debuted in the fall of 2011. Additionally, Bob Costas will host the new series Costas Tonight, which will consist of monthly interview specials (to debut in the spring), and quarterly town hall specials—the first of which will air from Indianapolis on February 2, 2012, as part of NBC's overall coverage of Super Bowl XLVI.[28]

Additionally, the channel made efforts to expand its current programming contracts and acquire new properties to air on the channel. The first of these was announced on August 10, 2011, when NBC Sports announced a new broadcasting partnership with Major League Soccer, where a slate of 38 regular season games, 3 playoff games, and 2 national team matches will be aired by NBC Sports Network during the 2012 season.[29] On the same day, the UFL announced that it had not renewed its contract with the channel, and that the league would instead give those games to regional sports networks.[30]

In November 2011, the channel also announced a new package of college hockey games, beginning with a game on December 31, 2011 featuring Boston University at Notre Dame, followed by a series of Friday night games beginning in January 2012, and national coverage of the Hockey East conference tournament (its coverage may be subject to blackouts in New England, since NESN may still cover the event locally). Additionally, NBC Sports Network will air Notre Dame's home games beginning in the 2013–2014 season, when it will join the Hockey East conference. NBC Sports Network's college hockey coverage will be produced by the same staff responsible for its NHL coverage.[31][32] The first NBC Sports Network college hockey telecast aired with Steve Schlanger doing play-by-play and NHL color analyst and commentator Ed Olczyk doing color commentary.

Carriage

In October 2005, Versus elected not to provide NHL coverage to a number of distributors, including EchoStar (Dish Network) and Cablevision, both of which refused Comcast's request to place Versus on a much higher-penetration package. During this time, NHL coverage was blacked out on these systems, replaced with other programming. It was believed that the reason behind these blackouts had to do with a penalty fee that Comcast would have had to pay the NHL if they did not significantly increase their distribution. [citation needed]

While Cablevision eventually came to an agreement making OLN/Versus available to any customer with digital cable, EchoStar retaliated by pulling OLN from its service; it was Dish Network's stance that few of its customers would be willing to have the channel if it meant raising rates. On April 24, 2006, the same date that OLN announced the late-September name change to Versus, Dish Network and OLN reached a long term agreement to restore the channel.

At the beginning of September 2009, DirecTV pulled Versus from its lineup, as it was unable to reach terms on a rate increase demanded by Comcast. In public statements (including a message shown on the channel which formerly carried Versus), DirecTV scolded Comcast for its "unfair and outrageous demands", and considered the company to be "simply piggish" in its demands for higher rates, as it described Versus as "a paid programming and infomercial channel with occasional sporting events."[33] On March 15, 2010 an agreement was reached between the sides and Versus returned to DirecTV's lineup. The channel was returned to its original package on the service, Choice Xtra.[34]

High definition

A 1080i high definition simulcast was launched in January 2007. Initially, it shared an HD feed with sister property the Golf Channel, marketed as Versus/Golf HD, airing Golf Channel programming during the daytime hours and Versus programming at night. The shared channel was replaced by individual HD feeds for both channels in December 2008.[35]

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by NBC Sports Network

They have also aired several sports movies, like Rocky III, The Big Lebowski and Miracle, as well as reruns of Survivor. and original programming shows like Sports Soup, TapOut, The Contender, Holy @$%*!, Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller, and Fanarchy.

Despite its relaunch as a more sports-intensive channel, Versus maintained blocks of outdoors programming under the name Versus Country during parts of its daytime, weekend, and Friday night programming. As part of its re-branding as an NBC Sports service, these programming blocks were re-branded as NBC Sports Outdoors in December 2011, and the Friday night block was moved to Thursdays.

References

  1. ^ a b Deitsch, Richard. "Life after Lance: What happens to OLN once Armstrong finally retires from cycling?". CNNSI. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  2. ^ Bernstien, Andy. "No word could describe the Tour de France, so OLN made one up". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Sandomir, Richard. "With Armstrong Out, N.H.L. May Be in at OLN". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b Rovell, Darren (2005-08-18). "ESPN decides not to match Comcast's offer". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  5. ^ "OLN and AFL announce national TV partnership" (Press release). Arena Football League. 2006-02-17. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  6. ^ "ESPN acquires minority stake, TV rights in AFL" (Press release). ESPN.com. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  7. ^ "MWC Announces 2006-07 Men's Basketball Television Schedule" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. 2006-09-14. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  8. ^ Morfoot, Addie (2006-12-07). "Versus gets rights to basketball tourney; Network will televise all eight high school games live". Variety. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  9. ^ "Mountain West Conference Announces Updated 2006 Football Broadcast Schedule" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. 2006-07-27. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  10. ^ "Mountain West Football". Versus.
  11. ^ Consoli, John (2007-06-06). "FSN, Versus Ink College Football Game Deal". MediaWeek. Archived from the original on 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
  12. ^ "NHL, Versus extend TV contract by 3 Years". yahoo.com. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  13. ^ "Time Warner Cable Closing Conn. Offices". courant.com. 2008-08-06. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  14. ^ "Solid Partnerships". indycar.com. 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  15. ^ "Experienced lineup". indycar.com. 2009-01-14. Retrieved 2009-01-18.
  16. ^ Huff, Richard. "Versus seeks game-changer with 'Daily Line' news show starring Jenn Sterger." New York Daily News 02 Apr 2010, Print.
  17. ^ McCarthy, Michael (2010-10-29). "Versus cancels Jenn Sterger's sports TV show". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  18. ^ "It's Official: UFC and Fox Are Now in Business Together". MMAWeekly.com. 2011-08-18. Retrieved 011-08-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ "VERSUS To Air 16 NBA D-League Games This Season". NBA. January 4, 2010. Retrieved 2011-08-10.
  20. ^ Renyolds, Mike. "McCarley To Head Golf Channel, Davis Out At Versus In NBC Sports Group Reorg: Sources". Multichannel News. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  21. ^ Rosentha, Phil. "Notre Dame football: Comcast-NBC Universal merger helps Versus get its Irish up". Tower Ticker. The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  22. ^ "2011 NLL TV Schedule with VERSUS features two playoff games, plus VERSUS name change?". ILOnline.com. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  23. ^ Bailey, Budd (14 November 2011). "Bandits notebook: New TV package". The Buffalo News. Berkshire Hathaway. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  24. ^ a b Fernadez, Bob. "Goodbye Versus, hello NBC Sports Network". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philly.com. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
  25. ^ "NBC Wins TV Rights For 4 More Olympic Games, All Events Will Be Live Either On TV Or Internet". TV by the Numbers. June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  26. ^ "Update: NBC Bids $4.38 Billion for Olympic Gold". Ad Week. June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  27. ^ Condor, Bob (19 April 2011). "NHL, NBC sign record-setting 10-year TV deal". NHL. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  28. ^ Sands, Rich. "Channel Changing: Versus Becomes NBC Sports Network". TV Guide. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  29. ^ Goal Blogs, New York Times (2011-08-10). "MLS and NBC Sports announce new TV deal". NYTimes.com. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  30. ^ Glanville, Jerry (2011-03-21). "Jerry Glanville Named Hartford Colonials Head Coach and General Manager". United Football League. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  31. ^ "NBC Sports Announces National College Hockey TV Package". College Hockey News. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  32. ^ "NBC Sports Group Launches First-Ever College Hockey Coverage with 16 Games on NBC Sports Network This Season". Press release. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  33. ^ "Versus does disappearing act after dispute with DirecTV". USA Today. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  34. ^ DIRECTV and VERSUS Reach Carriage Agreement; Sports Net Returns to DIRECTV Lineup Today Market Watch March 15, 2010
  35. ^ Moss, Linda. "Comcast To Launch Three HD Nets, Including E!". Multichannel News. Retrieved 20 August 2011.

External links

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