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NEWSLETTERS
nba chicago bulls
John Ourand December 10, 2024
News and notes on the latest deal intrigue consuming the sports media industrial complex: Brian Roberts’ surprisingly generous deal for Zaslav’s cable networks and the simmering R.S.N. warfare in the Second City.
stephen a. smith
John Ourand December 6, 2024
The true value of Stephen A. Smith’s soon-to-be historic ESPN deal isn’t the $20 million annual salary or the half-decade term. Rather, it’s what’s not included.
nba tip off
John Ourand December 3, 2024
As they play chicken with their valuable sports content, legacy media companies are projecting out customer behavior, the future of A.V.O.D.s, cash management, and the decline of cable. Michael Nathanson tries to game it all out.
Mike Tyson Jake Paul
John Ourand November 22, 2024
The broadcast guys are calling bullshit on Netflix’s Tyson-Paul ratings. But Nielsen isn’t unbiased, either. Alas, as streaming reorients the industry toward self-reported data, the only constant is that nobody’s numbers really add up.


TNT Sports chairman and C.E.O. Luis Silberwasser.
John Ourand November 19, 2024
A candid chat with TNT Sports chairman and C.E.O. Luis Silberwasser on losing the NBA, winning back some concessions in the afterbidding market, and the mediaco’s realistic expectations for their accumulating grab bag of new rights—Roland Garros, Mountain West football, NASCAR, etcetera.
nfl Tampa Bay Buccaneers Atlanta Falcons
John Ourand November 15, 2024
For the first time, a streaming service outdrew one of the NFL’s top TV partners in same-week viewership. Now, TV execs are grumbling that the NFL is setting up a future rights battle by giving streamers a taste of potential glory with the choicest matchups.
David Zaslav
John Ourand November 12, 2024
Media C.E.O.s are hoping against hope that Trump 2.0 will usher in a new M&A permission structure allowing them to, among other things, finally offload those linear TV assets they should have bailed on 10 years ago, like Rupert did. But, as LightShed Partners’ Rich Greenfield argues, nothing is easy and everything takes forever.
Jimmy Pitaro
John Ourand November 8, 2024
During his six years in Bristol, chairman Jimmy Pitaro has carefully pivoted ESPN away from a network that condones political expression to a business-friendly safe space for sports. And he’s not changing his tune now.


steve phelps
John Ourand October 31, 2024
How America’s homegrown motorsport is branching out: to new countries, new venues, and most importantly, more broadcast partners. NASCAR president Steve Phelps explains how they plan to grow without pissing off their faithful. (Michael Jordan is another story.)
jimmy pitaro
John Ourand October 28, 2024
TV distributors are struggling to play hardball with the likes of ESPN, Peacock, and Paramount+ as sports programmers move their best content to streaming. But distribution executives also realize how much ESPN needs affiliate fees to compete against the deep-pocketed tech streamers that are piling into this space. And they’ve got their own ideas for how to use that leverage to their advantage.
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