Weekly Roundup – Week of August 22, 2022
Sports Media & Sports Betting News
Disney CEO Says Company Is “Working Hard” To Bring Sports Betting To ESPN
“Disney CEO Admits Company is “In Conversations” with Multiple Sportsbooks
The Walt Disney Company is so big – $203.6 Billion huge – that whenever they decide to do something it becomes news, and the fact that they seem to be heading towards adding sports betting to their mix is as interesting as it gets when it comes to odd bedfellows.
But installing betting kiosks on Magic Mountain is not the plan; according to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, the idea is to add a sports betting element to one of its holdings – ESPN – and embrace this new multi-billion dollar industry in a way that will please its shareholders.
In a recent Q3 Disney Earnings call, CEO Chapek explained why his diverse company was embarking on such a daring new ride:
“We think sports betting is important. We’re working hard on it, and we hope to have something to announce in the future in terms of a partnership there that will allow us to access that revenue stream and also make sure that our guests are being – having their needs met.”
It makes sense – legal sports betting is no small world, after all, but instead a multi-billion dollar US industry that the ‘kids’ all seem to be enjoying more and more.”
How Amazon’s Foray Into NFL Streaming Impacts The Viewer – And The Business
“Amazon is about to change how you watch — or don’t watch — the NFL.
After lucrative rights negotiations and months of high-profile talent acquisition, “Thursday Night Football” will makes its Amazon Prime debut on Sept. 15. Up first: an AFC West showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, featuring rivals with Super Bowl aspirations and two of the game’s most electric young quarterbacks. It’s a fine way to kick things off.
Take note — that’s a Week 2 matchup. The NFL is certainly excited about its new partnership with the America’s dominant retailer and the roughly $1 billion annual rights fee that comes with it. It’s just not limiting its Sept. 8 season kickoff between the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills to a streaming audience. NBC will handle that game. Which brings us to the crux of the change.
Not since the advent of the RedZone channel or perhaps the 2006 premier of “Thursday Night Football” itself has the business of delivering the NFL to fans undergone such a seismic shift.”
The Big Ten’s New Deal Makes Sports Streaming Rights More Confusing Than Ever
“The Big Ten Conference announced a new slate of sports TV and streaming deals on Thursday, which will reportedly bring the conference more than $8 billion over the next seven years. It’s the richest rights deal in the history of college sports, with most of the money coming from Fox, CBS, and NBC — and most of the games coming to linear TV. There’s a streaming element, too, mostly through Peacock and Paramount Plus. But the big takeaway from the latest big-money deal? Watching sports is only getting more confusing and more expensive.
Here’s the basic rundown of the deal as it pertains to the upcoming football season: Fox got the best package of Big Ten games, which will kick off at noon on Saturdays during the season. CBS gets a handful of games next year and then a bigger slate of 3:30PM games starting in 2024, all of which will also stream on Paramount. Night games will be on NBC and Peacock, and there will be eight games throughout the season exclusively on Peacock. ESPN, which for years was the main broadcast partner of the Big Ten, will no longer have games — it’s focusing on the SEC and NFL instead.
…
What the deal actually is, is a giant bet on the ongoing primacy of cable TV.”
Politics + Media + Radio News
How Abortion Transformed Democrats’ Midterm Chances
“As the 2022 primaries wind down and the general-election campaigns intensify, cautious Democratic optimism is everywhere, fueled by lower gasoline prices, a possible “soft landing” in which inflation abates without a serious recession, a burst of congressional activity, and some questionable candidate choices by Republican primary voters. But perhaps the biggest reason things are looking up for Democrats is the anger and determination generated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s abolition of federal constitutional abortion rights in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.
Key indicators such as the generic congressional ballot took a turn in the Democrats’ favor almost immediately after Dobbs dropped in June. The party also did better than expected in special congressional elections in Nebraska and Minnesota. And the biggest sign that the tide had turned came in heavily Republican Kansas on August 2, when the first direct opportunity for voters to weigh in on abortion policy produced an overwhelming pro-choice victory.”
YouTube And NPR Partner To Bring Podcasts To More Users (Press Release)
“NPR has partnered with YouTube to bring over 20 of its top-performing podcasts to the streaming platform including fan favorites such as Up First, Fresh Air, and The Limits with Jay Williams, amongst many others. The relationship connects NPR’s diverse collection of podcasts with YouTube’s audience of over 2 billion monthly logged-in users and brings new viewers to these popular shows.
Speaking to the significance of this relationship, Global Head of Podcasting at YouTube, Kai Chuk notes, “Podcasters have been leveraging YouTube’s reach for quite some time. In fact, a good portion of the more than one billion hours watched per day on YouTube is podcasting content from creators, artists, and others looking to share their unique perspectives. We are very excited about partnering with NPR to continue the growth we’ve seen in this area over the last few years, and look forward to expanding our relationship with them in the future.””
Big Tech Could Be Forced To Pay For Online News Under Legislation Aimed At Helping Local Publishers
“The newspaper industry, which has been struggling with deep ad revenue declines in the digital age, is backing proposed legislation that would force Big Tech to pay publishers for aggregating their news stories online.
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act seeks to level the playing field by allowing local newspapers, broadcasters and other online publishers to negotiate collectively for an annual content fee from Google and Meta/Facebook, which dominate the digital advertising market.
The full text of the Senate bill, released Monday, cites a power imbalance that has benefited Big Tech at the expense of the shrinking newspaper industry, which has lost thousands of publications and tens of thousands of journalists during the new millennium, creating local “news deserts” across the U.S.
The proposed legislation would both recapture digital revenue and incentivize local news publishers to hire more journalists.”
Read more on ChicagoTribune.com
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