USA Network Now Needs Sports to Survive. NewsWire

NewsWire: 3/6/21

• Once cable’s top network, USA Network (part of NBC, owned by CMSA) is hoping that sports will help turn around slumping ratings. USA will start airing live sports programming from the NBC Sports Network, which will shut down as part of a larger consolidation plan. (Bloomberg)
• NH: From 2006 to 2018, USA Network was the highest-rated cable network in prime time--the longest streak in TV history. Once known mostly as a destination for Law & Order reruns, the network won loyal viewers with a stable of offbeat original series, including Suits, White Collar, Psych, and critical darling Mr. Robot.
• But as the competition from streaming has risen, USA’s ratings have suffered. Since 2017, USA’s prime-time audience in the prized 18-49 demographic has fallen roughly by half. The overall cable business has 14% fewer subscribers than it had in 2013: 85.6 million, down from 99 million.
• What’s a former frontrunner to do? The network’s owner, Comcast’s NBCUniversal, has an idea. NBCUniversal plans to shutter another one of its channels, NBC Sports Network, and move its live hockey, soccer, and NASCAR programming to USA. The idea is to go “lean and mean” and be able to charge pay-TV operators more for fewer channels, since USA will now be carrying coveted live sports alongside its original series.
• This is not the first time USA has carried sports. It used to be the cable home of the U.S. Open, and is currently the home of WWE Raw. But this move essentially turns USA into a “hybrid” network--and it’s very likely its competitors will follow suit. We’re seeing the future of cable: fewer channels whose greatest leverage comes from sports and other live events.

Did You Know?

• The NFT Frenzy. Last month, a 10-second video clip by digital artist Beeble sold for $6.6 million. This clip is part of a new and growing class of digital collectibles known as non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Think of them as the crypto equivalent of fine art or rare baseball cards. The rock band Kings of Leon just announced that their next album will be an NFT; it will be sold for only two weeks. Interest in NFTs has surged during the pandemic: OpenSea, an online marketplace for NFTs, saw its monthly sales volume skyrocket from $8 million in January to $86.3 million in February. Last February, monthly sales totaled only $1.5 million. Digital artists say that the rise of NFTs is a welcome development; unlike traditional artists, many are not used to getting paid for their work. They’re hopeful this could lead to a new model of digital patronage—though so far, the buyers are largely limited to wealthy investors and celebrities with money to burn.