Comcast Selling NBC Sports Washington
Relevant news here:
Comcast has divested one of its six regional sports networks by agreeing to sell its majority stake in NBC Sports Washington to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which is owned by Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. https://t.co/5PFTtKLswB
— Philadelphia Business Journal (@PHLBizJournal) August 23, 2022
This is something we’ve been writing about. We’ve done a bunch of stories about the myriad changes at NBC Sports Philadelphia, which has trimmed staff and altered programming over the years. Last May, an article in The Wall Street Journal noted that NBC was thinking about selling its regional sports networks outright, or perhaps moving them over to Peacock, which is the streaming service that I finally fucking caved and subscribed to after avoiding it for an entire year. I hate Peacock. Just put Leeds United on USA every week so we can watch Brenden Aaronson (The Medford Messi) do his thing.
Anyway, Jeff Blumenthal wrote the story above and is reporting that NBC Sports Philadelphia is currently not for sale:
Comcast Corp. is not in active negotiations to sell NBC Sports Philadelphia despite agreeing to divest one of its six regional sports networks on Tuesday, according to a source.
The company agreed to sell its majority stake in NBC Sports Washington to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which is owned by Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. Monumental already owned 33% of the network and now will pick up the Philadelphia-based media giant’s 67% stake for an undisclosed price.
Okay, so this was a unique situation. A willing buyer, someone already involved with the regional. This would be like the Sixers having some sort of existing stake and then Josh Harris went and worked a deal to buy NBCSP outright. Obviously that’s not the case up here, however. The Phillies actually have a stake in the network, which shares an owner with the Flyers. Each NBC regional has unique existing relationships and quirks.
Keep an eye on “this space,” as the corporate types like to say. TV consumer habits are changing so rapidly via streaming and whatnot. What happens with the regional sports networks will be a good big-picture indicator of where all of this is heading.