The NBCUniversal US media giant has completed the spin-off of the Versant cable-TV operation, which has begun trading on the Nasdaq stock market.
Versant has said that it will focus on four core business pillars, namely: political news and opinion, business news and personal finance, golf and athletics participation, and sports and genre entertainment.
Currently, Versant’s portfolio of channels includes the USA Network linear channel and the Golf Channel sport-specific offering, as well as the GolfNow booking service, GolfPass membership offering, and the SportsEngine management platform.
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 over-the-top services.
Mark Lazarus, Versant chief executive, stated of the spin-off launch: “As a standalone company, we enter the market with the scale, strategy, and leadership, to grow and evolve our business model.”
Versant chief operating officer and chief financial officer Anand Kini added: “With a strong balance sheet, substantial cash flow, and clear capital allocation framework, we are well positioned to execute with discipline to drive long-term value.”
Versant’s burgeoning sports portfolio includes soccer’s English Premier League, golf’s PGA and LPGA tours, motor racing’s NASCAR, basketball’s WNBA, professional wrestling’s WWE, and, most recently, US college sports’ Pac-12.
