ESPN and NBC - an odd combination?

[Honolulu Blue]

I've noticed something the past few weeks. During the Triple Crown run, the French Open and now during Wimbledon, ESPN and NBC have been working together - sharing commentators and analysis, and even mentioning the other network!

It hasn't been unusal for networks to work together - like ABC/ESPN, NBC/CNBC/MSNBC, or Fox/FX/Speed - but all of those combos are owned by the same company. ESPN and NBC, of course, are not.

It makes sense, though. NBC can't possibly cover all the major Triple Crown prep races, or more than a sliver of the French Open or Wimbledon. ESPN and The Deuce can certainly do a lot of coverage, but they could use a higher profile partner.

I wonder if we'll see more combinations like this.

[RPI-Fan]

I think it's just a coincidence that Wimbledon and the Senior Open had the rights bought by those two networks. For more standard television, things 'el be back to normal I imagine. (TNT/NBC, ABC/ESPN, USA/CBS)

[WussGawd]

Originally posted by Honolulu Blue
I've noticed something the past few weeks. During the Triple Crown run, the French Open and now during Wimbledon, ESPN and NBC have been working together - sharing commentators and analysis, and even mentioning the other network!

It hasn't been unusal for networks to work together - like ABC/ESPN, NBC/CNBC/MSNBC, or Fox/FX/Speed - but all of those combos are owned by the same company. ESPN and NBC, of course, are not.

It makes sense, though. NBC can't possibly cover all the major Triple Crown prep races, or more than a sliver of the French Open or Wimbledon. ESPN and The Deuce can certainly do a lot of coverage, but they could use a higher profile partner.

I wonder if we'll see more combinations like this.

It's particularly interesting in light of ESPN and ABC being owned by Disney.

[kcchief19]

I think you can bet it is not a situation either network is happy with that much. In large part, it's a by-product of these events selling network and cable rights separately. NBC aggressively outbid ABC for the network rights to the USGA and Triple Crown events, but putting either of those events on one of NBC's news cable outlets would be a ratings disaster (i.e., who in the hell watches the Champions "Senior" PGA Tour events on CNBC?

The networks also do not have on-air talent under contract for these events -- they are in most respects free lancers. As a result, you see a lot of golf, horse racing, college backetball and other on-air talent on multiple networks. It makes financial sense for the companies and doesn't hamper branding. It's not like you are going to see Chris Berman on NBC (except for the unfortunate incident for NBC when Chris Berman was on the driving range during the U.S. Open).

When they do mention the coverage of the other, it's also not by choice -- the events require them to promote the coverage on the other network.

So while it's not exactly cooperation, you will still see a lot more of it, if for no other reason than Disney is so money-grubbing that they have no problem doing business with NBC/CBS/Fox and CBS/NBC don't have a sports cable option. The only real surprise is that Fox Sports hasn't been much of a player, but I think that's mostly due to the regionalism of that network.

[vtbub]

Fox doesn't have the distrubution of ESPN or a TNT. It was a disaster when Sportschannel had the NHL and Fox allowed their FX/FSN package to go to ESPN for baseball.

For NBC/CBS/ABC, in some ways it's good. It's their staff and technicians doing the grunt work, and in the case of the PGA, their announcers calling the action. A good effort on cable usually leads to better numbers on the weekend coverage.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally posted by vtbub
Fox doesn't have the distrubution of ESPN or a TNT.

But I bet it's closer than you think :)

ESPN - 86.44 million
TNT -- 86.00 million
ESPN2 -- 84.19 million
FoxSportsNet -- 80.00 million
FX -- 79.18 million
2003 Cable Network Profiles (http://www.tvweek.com/cable/index.html)

[vtbub]

I'm actullay(sp) not surprised by those numbers, IIRC FSN is on basic cable in parts of the country and a premium service in others and just never really offered enough original programming to seriously compete with ESPN or more importantly clear national games around local schedules.

When the NHL was on SportsChannel, any national games were shown here in New England if the Whalers or the Celtics were not playing. That still would be a problem today, and FSN has worked around it with "The Best Damn Sports Show".

I am surprised that they have not taken more advantage of FX as a crossover tool, then again Fox doesn't hold rights to many events who last longer then one day.