All articles tagged with #media rights
Amazon Prime Video has finalized a six-year agreement to broadcast the Primetime Emmy Awards globally, replacing the 31-year-old rotation among major broadcast networks. The deal, valued at approximately $120 million total, ensures the ceremony remains free to view for Prime subscribers while marking the first time the event moves entirely to a streaming platform.
WWE and Bleacher Report have finalized a multi-year global content partnership, granting B/R worldwide highlight rights across WWE’s weekly programming and premium live events. The agreement, which begins ahead of the October 10 Money in the Bank event, positions WWE as a major property partner alongside the NFL and NBA. Content will be distributed across B/R, House of Highlights, and B/R Wrestling, with B/R teams securing ringside access at select premium live events.
WWE has entered a multi-year global content partnership with Bleacher Report, granting the platform rights to highlights from Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and premium live events. The deal, which begins ahead of the October 10 Money in the Bank event, positions WWE as a major property partner alongside the NFL and NBA. While the agreement is global, AEW’s domestic media rights with Warner Bros. Discovery remain separate, though industry observers note the potential impact of the pending Paramount Skydance acquisition of WBD.
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters were blocked from White House grounds after Trump said he would ban those outlets for their coverage, drawing First Amendment concerns and signaling ongoing disputes over access rules and press rights.
ESPN signed Joe Buck to a six-year extension worth about $108 million, boosting his annual pay to around $18 million and making him ESPN’s third-highest-paid on-air talent behind Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee. The deal reinforces Buck's marquee pairing with Troy Aikman, who is reportedly unsigned but expected to re-sign, as ESPN pursues a star-first talent strategy even as the network has laid off other on-air staff.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will evaluate reworking its TV-rights packages when it renegotiates media deals, considering repackaging to fit streaming trends and broader global reach, while maintaining free local broadcast access; the opt-out at the end of the 2029-30 season would let the league resell rights amid a shifting media landscape with partners like Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and others.
Pat Forde argues the push to expand the CFP to 24 teams is a greed-driven, unpopular plan led by power conferences and ESPN talks that would erode the regular season, inflate costs, and likely push out smaller programs, despite fan ambivalence.
ESPN publicly rejects a report claiming it won’t renew its WWE Premium Live Event deal, calling the claim completely false. The five-year, about $1.6 billion contract began in 2025 and is approaching its first anniversary, with WWE events streaming on ESPN’s app and occasional cross-promotions around major shows.
ESPN reportedly will not renew its five-year, $1B WWE deal when it ends in 2030, signaling a potential split for WWE's premium events. The outlook is driven by shifts in the media market, the carriage/cost challenges of ESPN Unlimited, and a culture/synergy gap between WWE and ESPN. ESPN has started promoting WWE content more and making some PLEs available on ESPN/ESPN2, but ongoing subscriber and carriage issues persist. Renewal would hinge on a surge in Unlimited subscribers or favorable carriage deals; otherwise WWE would need to find a new home for its PLEs. There is guarded hope for future collaboration if market conditions improve, but the situation remains precarious.
A SEScoops report claims ESPN won’t renew its $1.6 billion exclusive rights deal for WWE premium live events after only a year into a five-year pact, citing a weak media market, culture and synergy issues between ESPN and WWE, and ESPN’s Unlimited streaming bundle struggles with cable providers. The piece notes leadership-level misalignment during deal formation and launch, ESPN’s heavy WWE promotion on SportsCenter facing pushback from traditional sports fans, and the possibility that a renewal could still occur if a big subscriptions or distribution deal materializes, but no decision has been made yet.
NFL Sunday Ticket is losing value as the league expands national broadcast windows (via Netflix, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime, Fox), cutting the number of games included while the base price rises toward $480 per season. The package still omits Thursday/Sunday/Monday primetime games and many local matchups, often forcing fans to subscribe to multiple services to see all games. Discounts exist for students, military, and some groups, but overall the trend is higher costs with fewer games unless price or value improves.
An opinion piece argues the NCAA’s pattern of outdated decisions and resistance to NIL reforms has led to repeated legal losses, forcing schools to share media rights, allow NIL earnings, and even re-evaluate eligibility, with courts increasingly upending traditional rules and signaling ongoing upheaval as college programs must compete with the NFL for players.
The NBA’s second year of its new media rights deal adds a record 71 regular-season broadcast windows (up from 62), placing it second to the NFL in broadcast coverage. NBC gains 11 windows (to 50) while ABC drops to 21; Peacock/NBCSN exclusive windows fall to 31. ESPN/ABC total remains 80, Prime Video 67. Overall, 71 of 228 national games will be on broadcast TV (about 31%), with NBC adding Opening Night tripleheaders and a Presidents Day doubleheader, and Sunday Night Basketball expanding to 16 games across nine dates. ABC will broadcast Christmas Day games plus a January 30 quadrupleheader, while there’s no NBA game on Super Bowl Sunday; ABC will host a rare Oscars Sunday doubleheader on March 14.
Fox will not amend its NFL media rights until the 2030 season due to the current deal’s opt-out clause, after preliminary talks about higher fees and longer guaranteed live-game rights; the NFL is weighing terms with Fox and CBS/Paramount and could add other partners in the future, while Disney has not been engaged on new terms.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the network will not amend or open its NFL rights deal until after the league's 2029-30 opt-out, planning to re-enter negotiations around the 2030 season. The stance, tied to talks with the NFL, could influence timing for other partners and the overall trajectory of NFL broadcast rights amid market pressures and regulatory scrutiny.