How Did I Do With My 2015 Media Predictions?

1. Univision will spin off into an IPO - NOPE!

2. CBS Radio will sell all of their radio stations or spin them off - NOPE!

3. Disney will not spin off ABC - NOPE!

4. “Kelly and Michael” repeats will be aired on a cable network - NOPE!

5. ESPN and Univision will move some sports properties to Fusion - YES! Dan Le Batard Show airs daily on the network

6. Tribune will acquire a stake in the CW Network - NOPE!

7. Starz will be acquired by a large conglomerate - NOPE!

8. Sinclair will launch NewsChannel8 nationally via cable or multicast - NOPE!

9. Syndicated television shows will make a move to smaller cable networks in need of original programming - NOPE!

10. Station groups will continue to produce original syndicated programming that serve as a local-national hybrid  - YES!

11. NBC will debut a new graphics package for the Winter Classic and Super Bowl - YES!

12. Universal Sports will shut down after NBC decides to leave the venture. - YES!

13. Pivot Network will shut down their linear network and become an OTT network, partner with a conglomerate to market itself better. - NOPE!

14. Fusion will become a more powerful online news source but lose more clout on its linear service - Fusion will shift away from news and will be filled with hours of ABC News, Univision and ESPN documentary repeats, YouTube shows moved to television. YES!

15. Vice will launch a 24/7 news network in conjunction with A&E - YES!

16. HLN’s social media rebrand will not work and the network will dabble into reality television. They may also sub-license time to HuffPostLive - Almost right. HLN not giving time to HuffPo but will leverage CNN's upscripted shows 

17. CNN will venture into scripted programming about historical events - NOPE!

18. MSNBC will invest in different types of programming including documentaries, concerts, lifestyle shows, advocacy shows, and entertainment. Ronan Farrow’s show will be cancelled with Farrow becoming an online reporter for MSNBC.com - Kind of. Ronan Farrow's show was cancelled. MSNBC is focusing more on news though

19. Fox News will stay the same, might add some Christian values programming - For the most part

20. Al Jazeera America will take more of a political stance, possibly add opinion hosts - NOPE!

21. A major media company invests in an online video satire news network to compete with Comedy Central - NOPE!

22. CNN enters the podcast game - YES!

23. Alisyn Camerota to “New Day,” Kate Bouldan to “SOTU” - 1/2 right. Kate B. moved to 11.

24. Jon Stewart joins CNN - NOPE!

25. Jimmy Kimmel loses ground to Stephen Colbert in the fall - NOPE! Colbert losing to Kimmel

26. Jimmy Fallon and The Tonight Show launch their own video portal - Kinda sorta. NBCU launched SeeSo, a comedy subscription network

27. Tonight Show repeats air on Esquire Network, Jimmy Kimmel also sells repeats to a cable network - NOPE!

28. GMA will continue to dominate Today Show - YES!

29. ABC launches an extra hour of “GMA.” - NOPE!

30. The NFL will opt out of contract with CBS -  NOPE!

31. The NFL will add two new wild card playoff games which will be sold separately between rightsholders. - NOPE!

32. NBC renews rights to Premier League soccer - NOPE!

33. ESPN and Fox acquire Big Ten rights together - NOPE!

34. WatchESPN and Fox Sports Go create joint portal - NOPE!

35. Howard Stern leaves Sirius to launch an online startup - NOPE!

36. Bill Simmons stays with ESPN - NOPE!

37. ESPN launches an ACC Network - NOPE!

38. World Cup will not change locations, Fox will be forced to sublicense games to ESPN - NOPE!

39. ABC Family will be re-branded - YES!

40. Twitter will launch its own video player - blocking out all of the other Twitter video clients. Sports rightsholders will sign deals with Twitter to launch feeds specifically for video highlights, GIFS, Vines of games. Rightsholders will also create segments specifically for Twitter. (The NFL did this with Twitter before launching NFL Now) Rightsholders will also claim copyright whenever highlights are posted without permission on Vine -- YES!

41. SportsCenter or Fox Sports Live will launch mini-editions of their shows for Snapchat - NOPE!

42. Media companies will repurpose content and produce new content exclusive for Snapchat and Twitter - YES!

43. Keith Olbermann will anchor an episode of SportsCenter - NOPE!

44. HBO’s subscription service will malfunction when it starts, will contribute to a decline in Netflix subscribers - NOPE!

45. AXS TV merges with another entertainment network - NOPE!

46. Ann Curry leaves NBC - YES!

47. American Idol goes on hiatus - YES! CANCELLED!  

48. Hillary Clinton will announce she is running for President on social media/YouTube - conduct her first interview with Univision/Fusion’s Jorge Ramos -- KINDA, she announced on YouTube but hasn't talked to Ramos

49. Advertisers will begin to produce multiple television programs for cable networks - NOPE!

50. Television advertising will continue to take a downturn as online advertising emerges - YES

51. Showtime and HBO partner up for Pacquiao/Mayweather PPV on May 2nd in Dallas, Texas- YES!

52. CBS talks to Viacom and Time Warner about merging, buys Lionsgate. Alibaba buys Sony. - NOPE!

53. Yahoo finds a way to air Katie Couric’s news programs on television through CNN, Fusion or HLN - NOPE! But she did make more appearances on both Today and GMA

54. CNN Center is used solely for CNN International and Turner Sports, all HLN and CNN programming move to New York - 1/2 right. HLN has a new studio in Atlanta and most of its live programming comes from ATL. CNN's morning and afternoon weekend shows also still come from ATL.

55. Amazon moves Twitch into a subscription format - NOPE!

56. Roc Nation gets into television and film production - NOPE!

57. Keith Olbermann finds a way to return to politics - NOPE!

58. Ryan Seacrest leaves NBCUniversal - NOPE!

59. Simon Cowell re-launches X-Factor OR launches another franchise online - NOPE!

60. Robin Meade and Nancy Grace will leave HLN - NOPE!

61. Nikki Finke and TMZ expand their coverage to Washington, D.C. - NOPE!

62. The National Enquirer/Radar Online owners increase video - YES! Radar Online teaming w/ Dr. Phil for a new TV show

63. Imus announces his retirement - NOPE!

64. Showtime will launch an OTT subscription service - YES!

65. Jim Rome will join The NFL Today - NOPE!

66. If CBS renews TNF, they will re-do the studio team - NOPE!

67. Facebook will expand digital video - YES!

68. Vessel will provide some extreme competition for YouTube - NOPE!

69. The Young Turks will get increased investment or possibly acquired - NOPE!

70. Major athletes partner together to start their own social network/app or media company - YES! Uninterrputed, Players Tribune, Unscripted Raw

71. ESPN will produce programming from a non-affiliated network - NOPE!

72. MSNBC will change their graphics package - YES!

73. Dan Patrick will be named as Alex Trebek's replacement on Jeopardy in 2017, Patrick leaves Sunday Night Football and is replaced by Josh Elliott - NOPE!

74. Sports Jeopardy will air on television via Game Show Network or a sports network - NOPE!

75. Mike Francesa will move to MSG TV - NOPE!

As I think of more predictions, they'll be posted here.

76. Stephen A. Smith will re-sign with ESPN - YES!

77. Jamie Horowitz will join Fox Sports 1 - YES!

78. Rex Ryan will be fired by the Jets, sign with ESPN as a Monday Night Football commentator - NOPE!

79. Yahoo will not merge or get acquired by AOL or anyone else, Marissa Mayer gets one last chance to prove herself - YES!

80. A live network centered around YouTube stars will launch - NOPE!

81. The networks above alongside newspapers, apps and digital website will all delve into creating more personalized newscasts on mobile devices. - YES! Reuters Live

82. Facebook and ABC News will strengthen their relationship and increase the reach of ABC's videos, ABC News' GoStream and Nightline video venture will help the network grow it's user base online. - Unknown

83. NBC News will launch a streaming network similar to CBSN which is based around the "Today" and "Meet the Press" franchises. - NOPE!

84. HuffPostLive will find it's way on television in 2015 - NOPE!

85. BuzzFeed will enter into a partnership with ABC News that benefits Fusion. They will also increase their live streaming videos.- NOPE! BuzzFeed/NBC partnered up

Turner Sports' ELeague Could Spark Other New Ventures

While ESPN seems to be in a declining state at the moment, Turner Sports is adapting to television's ever-changing climate.

In the past couple of years Turner has decided not to renew NASCAR rights in order to continue their NBA deal, broadcasted the Final Four on Snapchat, expanded video content on Bleacher Report, invested in virtual reality/fantasy sports, and launched a new athlete POV brand with LeBron James. All of these moves have been done in order to combat television's biggest struggle at the moment - reaching a younger audience.

But their most interesting move yet is about to launch in the New Year. Bringing e-sports to the small screen. Digiday says:

Next summer, Turner and Hollywood talent agency WME-IMG will kick off the “ELeague,” a professional video gaming league. TBS will air weekly three-hour competitions during two 10-week seasons. It is pairing that coverage with 30 hours of digital content every week of daily competitions, behind-the-scenes coverage and profiles of the teams and players.

This will not be the first time Turner Sports has dabbled into videogames. The latest version of NBA 2K16 features Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal as in studio commentators. Since Turner already has a base of basketball fans who watch NBA games on TNT or watch NBA TV, you have to wonder whether NBA 2K will be one of ELeague's next feature games.

2K Sports already has an established online television presence through their NBA 2KTV YouTube channel (which the Inside the NBA crew has made appearances on) as well as Twitch. Turner would have a place to stream digital content based on an NBA 2K ELeague if it were to come to fruition.

Turner will be showing off their new league at next year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with a live tournament which will be streamed on Twitch. CES is a technology convention where hundreds of companies release their new products or announce new ideas they're working on. Even though it is closed to the public, gaming and technology fans typically follow the ongoings of the event very closely through social media which makes it such a smart move for Turner to make its presence known at this annual event.

A sports business forum sponsored by Turner Sports will also be held at CES, the company's first foray into live events.

The inaugural Sports Business Forum, presented by Turner Sports – in partnership with NextVR, CTA and Foxrock Partners – will bring together leading executives and personalities to discuss innovations associated with the in-person viewing experience and general consumption of sports content.  - See more at: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2015/12/11/turner-sports-lays-out-big-plans-for-ces-showcase/#sthash.R5mnMC2G.dpuf 

Live events have become a new trend among publications such as Re/Code and New York Times aiming to innovate the way readers consume news. With the kind of access Turner has into the worlds of basketball, baseball and beyond; it might be a smart idea to continue holding live events in the future because it is not an avenue ESPN, CBS, FOX or NBC seem to be pursuing.

Bleacher Report would be able to increase the live streaming content available on their site and they might even able to draw more high-brow consumers who would typically watch CNBC, read CNN Money and are interested in what sports executives and disruptors have to say about the future of sports. This would also help B/R draw a new kind of advertiser to their brand. Eventually, if streamed live events are successful and buzzworthy enough, maybe the formula moves to television.

As much as television companies embrace DVR and streaming nowadays, there's no doubt in my mind they would gravitate to a new kind of programming which provides fans with the ability to have a live interactive experience with the future leaders of sports whether they are executives or the athletes themselves.

It has not been announced whether Turner's upcoming live event will be streamed online. In past years, keynote speakers and major panels from CES have been streamed on the convention's website and YouTube channel known as CES TV. CES will most likely control any streaming happening from their event but I think it would be a really good idea for Turner to continue experimenting with live events on its own platforms in the future.

Rachel Nichols Moving to ESPN is a Smart Move

She took on Roger Goodell and Floyd Mayweather, anchored international sportscasts and covered championship matchups in basketball and baseball but for Rachel Nichols, its time to say so long to Turner.

While Nichols hasn't officially announced the move yet, it is being reported by ESPN book author Jim Miller and SI's Richard Deitsch that the sports television star is coming back home to the Worldwide Leader which has suffered immense loss in profits and manpower since her last stint at the network.

According to SI, Nichols will be covering issue oriented sports news. ESPN has been criticized in the past for marginalizing newsy shows such as Outside the Lines and E:60 while promoting cheap, hot take shows that "embrace debate." By signing Nichols, ESPN shows that they are still dedicated to hardcore sports journalism which hold the powerful accountable and isn't afraid to address stories in which politics and culture cross paths with sports.

As part of the deal, Nichols will host her own television show. This will give her the chance to showcase her interviewing chops and well as in-depth reporting by ESPN journalists that don't always get the attention they deserve. Nichols will also get the chance to do more reporting than she ever could at CNN.

While hiring Nichols was a forward-thinking endeavor by Jeff Zucker and the CNN staff, there just wasn't any place available on the network for her to grow. The impending 2016 election leaves no room for coverage of other topics such as sports unless major breaking news happens which is sporadic at best. Her show also didn't play well with the average CNN viewer and struggled to succeed in the ratings.

Nichols' agency, CAA, now has a new vehicle to showcase their clientele as well as ESPN personalities signed to their agency. Michelle Beadle, a CAA client, is in the last legs of her contract with ESPN and could play an essential role as a contributor to Nichols' new show through commentary, reporting or substitute anchoring when Nichols is reporting during other assignments.

ESPN has also been attempting to make sure viewers of some of their popular shows have a chance to experience those shows 24 hours a day online. First Take and SportsCenter normally host Periscope live streams before or after their respective shows while OTL has a 5 minute post show that airs on ESPN3. Expect Nichols' new show to have some sort of social media/digital presence unique to the actual telecast.

In this new age of athletes giving fans a peek into their lives through the Players Tribune and Uninterrupted, Nichols' new show and their digital outlets could be a place for CAA-signed athletes to provide a behind the scenes look at their craft.

Nichols also had a knack for interviewing entertainment stars to discuss sports so it should be no surprise if that same tradition carries onto Nichols' new show.

The biggest problem the show faces? When does it air?

ESPN's lineup is pretty full at this point.

No matter what happens though, it still seems like the safer bet for Nichols was to go to ESPN where the need for quality sports journalism is still intact.

What to Expect From The NFL on Yahoo and Future Implications

We now have a clearer picture of how Yahoo's broadcast of the first ever exclusively live streamed football game wi transpire. Fortune reports that coverage will begin at 8 a.m. with a pregame show focused on fantasy football.

The pregame show, Yahoo's Fantasy Football Live, is the self-proclaimed longest running fantasy football show online and will see its biggest stage ever on Sunday morning. The pregame show will feature a preview of the game, an interview with Bills legend Jim Kelly, stories from Yahoo News global anchor Katie Couric and the fantasy implications of Sunday's game. The actual game broadcast will be produced by CBS Sports with Kevin Harlan, Rich Gannon and Jamie Erdahl calling the action from London.

Yahoo is also offering an alternative broadcast which is meant to serve as a more relaxed call of the game. Yahoo Sports' Shaun King, Larry Beil, Kirk Morrison, Jaguars insider Charlie Bernstein and Bills insider Chris Trapasso calling the game live from Yahoo's studios. The idea is similar to ESPN's yearly tradition of offering an alternative audio feeds to the College Football Playoff final. It is interesting to see Yahoo integrate personalities from other media outlets (Morrison works at Fox, Bernstein at Football Insiders and Trapasso at NFL.com and CBS) onto their pregame show despite Yahoo's deep bench of NFL writers.  Some writers don't necessarily translate well into television commentators but I also believe Yahoo wanted experts of both teams on set rather than general personalities who haven't been following either team as closely. NFL Network's Dan Hellie, Heath Evans and Terrell Davis will also contribute to the pregame show live from NFL Network studios in Los Angeles.

The halftime show will be handled by CBS Sports with James Brown, Bart Scott, Tony Gonzalez, Boomer Esaison and Bill Cowher anchoring live from New York followed by a postgame show with the Fantasy Football Live team. There will also be a Spanish audio option available.

The telecast will done using CBS-style graphics without any branding from CBS. Yahoo has even created a mockup "NFL on Yahoo" logo which looks like a re-creation of CBS's own respective logo. CBS is being placed in charge of production because they already have the infrastructure available to do a football telecast unlike Yahoo. They are also the network which would normally broadcast from this game anyways because it is an AFC matchup. Although it has not been said publicly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of CBS's deal to renew Thursday Night Football. 

Part of the deal includes this clause:

The programming relationship between the NFL and CBS will expand to include, among other elements, the development of new programming initiatives across the various CBS and NFL platforms.

So far, this has included promoting NFL Network's programming on CBS (a live look in to NFL Gameday during NFL Today on Week 1, airing NFL Network's new show "Undrafted" in primetime, NFL Network commercials during sports programming and primetime). But it would also make sense if the NFL used some of CBS's games to experiment with their future. This is why besides having CBS produce all of the NFL Network's games and Yahoo's game, the NFL is letting CBS expand their streaming capabilities to test the future of live streaming online.

CBS has also played a minor role in promoting Sunday's Yahoo game. Besides running promotions about the game throughout their football telecasts last week, they also had their late night host James Corden come in studio to record funny segments for the NFL Network and NFL Now. One of the segments ran during the pregame show of Thursday Night Football two weeks ago while the others ran on NFL Network and NFL Now this week in order to promote the London flair which this game exemplifies. 

Unlike the Sunday and Monday football telecasts on Fox, NBC, ESPN and CBS; Yahoo's telecast will be co-produced with the NFL's media arm just as CBS's Thursday Night Football games are. This has helped Yahoo promote their game on various platforms which reach millions of football fans that Yahoo wouldn't normally have access to. NFL Media has also used their talent to promote the game on sports talk shows across the nation throughout the week. NFL Now even produced a multitude of short, sweet and funny online segments promoting the game which aired throughout the week on their site and raised awareness for the game.

Yahoo Sports sent their reporters to find different angles of the game and the teams playing which resulted in different in-depth news pieces and debates. The biggest investment Yahoo and the NFL made in promoting this game was teaming up with NBC's soccer duo, Men In Blazers. The soccer enthusiasts travelled to Buffalo and Jacksonville and got to know players, coachers and key staff members from both teams and interviewed them in a course of videos that were released daily over the past month. These men were chosen because of their connection to London and the online audience they reach.

Some soccer teams also got involved with promoting the game. Fulham FC, owned by the Jaguars' owner, released a Twitter video urging fans to #WatchWithTheWorld while the NFL's partner in Europe Tottenham Spurs teamed up with the Bills to release a Mortal Kombat parody of a Spurs player being talked by an Bills players. The Spurs typically feature NFL stars on their popular YouTube account to provide young fans of both sports an opportunity to connect with both brands. Expect more crossover videos to occur in the years to come now that the NFL and the Spurs are building a stadium together and will be attempting to gain a share of each entities fans around the world.




Some observers were surprised that Yahoo didn't take more risks with this telecast and didn't attempt to innovate the fan experience online versus on television, according to Mobile Marketer.

"In terms of significance, the NFL continues to be one of the most prestigious media plays in the traditional broadcast realm, delivering massive, highly engaged audiences around a core passion area," said Gian LaVecchia, managing partner of digital content marketing lead at MEC North America. "Although streaming will also exist on the NFL app, I think Yahoo still provides the unique value proposition of audience scale combined with an elegant video playing experience on both PC and mobile.

"In terms of the ad model, it is certainly replicating traditional formats but there appears to be a rational and valid reason, organic pauses in gameplay create downtime so it creates a natural aperture for brands to have a role," he said. "That said, I think there is certainly opportunity for greater innovation and creativity behind video ads. 

"Interactive games, deeper analysis, behind the scenes footage, multiple camera views etc., could help drive greater interactivity that could enhance the viewing experience."

Yahoo says they will be offering fans a chance to ask their fantasy experts questions through Twitter but it is a bit surprising to see that there will be no Twitter integration into the actual game telecast where fans could either follow tweets about the game or even tweet while watching without leaving Yahoo's page. 

Even if Yahoo didn't want to integrate with Twitter, they have a huge social media platform they own which is used by football fans which isn't seeing much integration other than the actual live stream also being available on its homepage - Tumblr. Yahoo should offer viewers a feed of what Tumblr's football fans are posting without having to leave the stream's page.

It is also surprising there is only one alternative feed being offered considering the vast amount of talent available to be used at both Yahoo and the NFL Network who could've hosted a feed with deeper analysis. An All-22 cam would've also been innovative. Even an option with just the natural sounds of the game or a fan cam or announcers who are British natives (maybe even the Men in Blazers themselves). 

The way in which the advertisers were integrated onto the broadcast seems so bland and traditional as well. I was expecting some branded content tailored to football fans but instead we're just getting the same old regular commercials you find on television already which no one pays attention to because they turn to Twitter.

I'm even surprised Yahoo Sports' GIF Maker isn't being integrated somehow.

I think many such as myself just expected a tech company to think a little more about changing the way fans have been watching football for decades through a web experience.

As CBS's Thursday Night Football games go up for bid next season, should we expect those games to go digital? No. Re/code's Peter Kafka puts it perfectly saying:

More likely is that the NFL sells off its Thursday games to a traditional TV network, and offers a few more low-stakes London games to digital outlets for the next couple of years. If Apple, or Google, or someone else with deep pockets and big ambitions wants to stream NFL games, they’ll probably end up waiting a few more years before it’s a reality.

 

If Yahoo's stream goes successfully, expect Yahoo to bid again against Google, Apple and Verizon for digital exclusive rights to next season's London games which the NFL will convince their network partners at Fox and CBS to give away. Also expect those digital brands to flirt with TNF in order to get the prices up for bids. CBS will end up winning out.

Next year will be an intriguing year for NFL rights among the digital outlets as Google continues to grow YouTube's subscription service, Verizon continues to grow its new app Go90 along with AOL and Huffington Post and Apple launches a TV service which is trying to draw users away from cable. 

Yahoo doesn't necessarily have a media strategy yet but has a knack for streaming live events even though they haven't become a huge revenue booster for the company. Will Yahoo be as incentived to carry NFL games as the other digital outlets when their own future is kind of blurry at the moment?

Photos: @alanspringer

Dan Patrick Reports Rams and Chargers Moving To LA? NFL Network Studios to Hollywood Park?

Dan Patrick spilled some major gossip on his show regarding the NFL's future in LA as well as how it could affect the NFL Network. According to what Patrick's sources are telling him, the Rams and Chargers will be moving to LA soon and the NFL Network will get their own new studios built together with the stadium.

ESPN2 Picks Up New York Cosmos Exhibition In Cuba

On a day overshadowed by shameful behavior among the leaders of the world's biggest game, some good news transpired for the NASL and their most popular team - national television exposure.

The New York Cosmos will be spreading some American love to Havana, Cuba through a display of sports diplomacy by competing against the Cuban men's national soccer team in an exhibition matchup on Tuesday. The game will be produced by One World Sports, an international sports network which shares common ownership with the Cosmos. Sports Video Group recently covered the small network's buildup to the big game and mentioned how OWS has used ESPN's expertise to better prepare themselves:

The match marks the first-ever live sports production involving a U.S. team and originating out of Cuba to be produced in HD and the first of any kind since ESPN produced a U.S.-Cuba FIFA World Cup qualifier in SD in 2008. As a result, ESPN was one of One World Sports’ first calls when it came to coordinating production facilities in Havana.  

“Our colleagues at ESPN were very helpful, and they walked us through some of the challenges they had,” says Feld. “We thought from the beginning that we would have to put a truck on a boat from the States or somewhere else or figure a flypack and build the facilities from scratch.” 

This partnership has now extended into a simulcast on the ESPN family of networks. The English-language broadcast airing on OWS will be simulcasted live to a much wider audience than OWS reaches through ESPN2 and ESPN3. ESPN Deportes will also use OWS's video feed to provide fans with the action but they'll enlist their own troupe of broadcasters for the Spanish-language version.

ESPN will also increase the exposure of this game to its audience through reports and analysis on SportsCenter before the match. This should come as no surprise since ESPN3 already has a deal with NASL to carry 1 game each week and it helps the league gain some prestige despite their connection with FIFA's corruption scandal (Traffic Sports, a marketing company which owns part of the league, has been charged with not negotiating soccer TV deals in good faith).

The game's much broader reach will also expose many American sports fans to One World Sports for the first time. A good quality performance in producing this game may be enough to convince cable operators to carry the network for their subscribers to access in the future. JP Dellacamera will be calling the exhibition and is a top notch soccer announcer who used to call World Cup and MLS game for the Worldwide Leader and he will definitely give a solid performance.

It might also doom them if something goes wrong on-air or if an operator questions the act of simulcasting the network's big ticket events on another channel.

OWS has already set a precedent of simulcasting their high demand matchups on channels with bigger audiences when they aired Yankees' player Mashiro Tanaka's Japanese professional baseball league games on the YES Network. Will an operator want to pay a carriage fee if their valued programming will already be available anyway?

Expect a feature piece from OWS at halftime which will disseminate soccer's current impact in Havana as well as a documentary covering the Cosmos' journey to Cuba which will air exclusively on OWS, according to Sports Video Group. Overall, it will be a great day for US/Cuba relations, One World Sports and soccer. It also shows ESPN's continuing commitment to soccer despite losing World Cup rights to Fox Sports, who will begin their own journey with FIFA in the next few weeks with the Women's World Cup.

Discovery Channel Was Interested In Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee

Last week, Wikileaks published over 30,000 pages of leaked emails from Sony's offices for public consumption. Among the most interesting things to surface is the amount of interest Jerry Seinfeld's latest venture received from other television networks.

Discovery Channel's Velocity, DirecTV's Audience Network and YouTube's newest competitor Vessel were among the outlets interested in second window rights to the hit online series which has been streamed over 25 million times. Dan Russell, vice president of programming for Discovery Channel's automotive programming network Velocity, tried to sell Sony Television president Steve Mosko on the network's ratings advantage over league-owned sports networks last July:

Velocity has been around since October 2011, is in 70M homes, and has been steadily moving up the charts in attracting Men 25-54 and Men 18-49.  Velocity out-delivers other notable male-skewing channels such as MLB Network, NBATV, NFL Network, Golf Channel, Fox Sports 2, CNBC, HLN, and Esquire.  Moving forward, we’re looking to attract a bit more women too, without alienating the men who love our channel.  That’s where your series, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, comes in.

Russell noted that his colleagues had tried to reach out in the past but received no response in return. He asked for sublicensing rights to older episodes and guaranteed that Seinfeld's show would be treated as the top show of the network. Discovery would also heavily promote new episodes of the show airing on Crackle and would occasionally air Velocity's reruns on Discovery Channel. Despite Discovery's generous offer, Sony wasn't interested:

Thanks for the note....we aren't doing anything right now...we are keeping it exclusive to crackle....if anything changes we will let u know.

DirecTV, which was also in talks with Sony about a potential OTT offering as well as acquiring a second window of Dan Patrick's Sports Jeopardy, also wanted rights to reruns of CCC but they were denied. CBS and Lionsgate's entertainment network, Pop! (known at the time as TVGN), was interested in airing clips of CCC during a Paley Center interview they planned to broadcast between Seinfeld and David Letterman but just like the other network execs at DirecTV and Discovery, they were denied the opportunity.

In his interview with Letterman, Seinfeld mentions that he doesn't want CCC to air on television because “I was really thinking what would be a good tv show for a phone, because you don’t have to follow a story.”

In early 2014, Jason Kilar's short form content service Vessel, which has received the blessing of another famous comedian with a huge fan base - Ellen DeGeneres, wanted to license clips from the 90s hit Seinfeld along with CCC but it doesn't look like this idea picked up steam at the Sony offices because of the harm it could do to a larger, expansive SVOD deal with multiple episodes of Seinfeld. It also in direct competition with Crackle, which already showcases clips from the New York-based series.

They want to license Seinfeld and CCC clips.  Clearly we can't do that, but will explore other options.

Despite Sony's lack of interest with Vessel, the same can't be said about their feelings towards CBS All Access, the new SVOD service offered by the Tiffany network. Sony attempted to initiate discussions about CBS acquiring Seinfeld for the new service with extra marketing done of Jerry's part:

Nice move on streaming ...just an FYI..We are in discussions with the obvious players on Seinfeld for subscription and some of your more direct competitors... Series has not been offered on subscription to date and it's available now..plus jerry would do some marketing ..in case you were putting out a broader offering I wanted you to be aware. 

On another note, it sounds like Jerry Seinfeld was in negotiations to acquire an equity stake in Crackle. It is unknown how far those talks got.

How about something like this?:We come up with an overall deal relationship like Jerry's commitment to promote/market Crackle, first look at his digital programming, shut down CCC site, maybe take a little more fee on CCC (any money that moves over to Crackle increase its value), etc - we'll come up with a list.Jerry gets a 5% economic interest in increased value of Crackle ie 5% of increased asset value over today's value, call it $200 mil. We'd do a fmv put/call after five years so he could sell or we could buy. If Crackle's worth $400 mil in five years, it's worth $10 mil to him. Likely to be worth a lot more than that.I think this might get us a lot more value and get Jerry the "skin in the game" we discussed