The recent spin-off of several Comcast-owned linear TV networks into a new publicly traded company has been given the name Versant, and its chief executive, Mark Lazarus, has said that it is targeting the capture of more sports media rights upon the completion of the spin-off later in 2025.
Lazarus, who had been chair of the NBC Sports business unit since 2011 before the spin-off, told CNBC (one of the linear networks that will be part of Versant) that he has been in contact with major US sports properties such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) about potentially acquiring rights packages for game broadcasts.
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The NWSL currently has four major rights deals in place with four different US broadcasters, and recently carved out a fifth broadcast package for sale.
While MLB meanwhile is shopping its primary Sunday Night package for 2026, with pay-TV sports giant ESPN ending its accord with the league at the end of the 2025 campaign, its likely that the main package will come at too steep a fee for Versant, but a similar deal to what MLB supplied to Roku, with a smaller package of non-prime time games, could be possible given the sheer number of MLB fixtures each season.
Lazarus said: “We have a pretty good sports portfolio. We’re looking for sports deals that drive distribution, diversify ad sales, and have a value.
“We’re not going to be in the NFL business. We’re not going to be in the Big Ten business, because that stuff’s all spoken for. But we’ll be with the next-level stuff.”
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By GlobalDataVersant will include networks such as CNBC, MSNBC, the USA Network, and the Golf Channel.
Rights currently held by the suite of networks, primarily the US, include English soccer’s Premier League, motor racing’s Nascar, professional wrestling’s WWE SmackDown, and several prominent golf events, including the Open and US Open majors.
In addition, USA will also gain a rights package for US women’s basketball’s WNBA in 2026 courtesy of a league-wide deal with NBCUniversal, the Comcast subsidiary that Versant is spinning off from.
Other NBCUniversal rights stretching to Versant include some Olympics coverage, which will be presented on CNBC, and the Ryder Cup golf major, which will take place in 2025, which will be aired on the Golf Channel alongside the primary NBC network.
On the latter, Lazarus also commented that golf will be “an important vertical” for Versant going forward.
To facilitate these rights, which will most likely begin post-2027, Versant recently appointed experienced executive Matt Hong as president of sports.
Crucially, Lazarus ruled Versant out of bidding for motor racing’s elite Formula 1 series, which is currently shopping its US rights, adding that he doesn’t believe the series’ viewership will drastically amplify any attraction to the Versant offering.
The collection of Versant networks, which also includes the entertainment channels Oxygen, E!, and SYFY, collectively made around $7 billion in the 2023-24 fiscal year (October 2023-September 2024), and are all still profitable, however, this move is likely an effort by Comcast to preempt their declining popularity by making them easier to sell off individually.
This spin-off stemmed from the emergence of Peacock as a home for NBCUniversal’s sports rights, combined with the trend of cord-cutting among US consumers looking to eschew costly cable TV packages in favor of cheap yet weighty OTT services.
