NBCUniversal has announced a multi-year agreement with EverPass Media that will grant the company the ability to distribute exclusive sports content from Peacock to commercial businesses across the United States. The deal comes ahead of the kickoff of football season, which, for NBC, marks the first year with rights to the Big Ten Conference. Peacock, the network’s over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform, will also exclusively present two games throughout the year – a contest between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday, Dec. 23; and a Wild Card playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 13.
The platform will also broadcast Premier League matches, U.S. Women’s and Men’s National Team games and featured groups throughout various major golf tournaments. Additionally, long-heralded major sporting events, including the Preakness Stakes, Tour de France and SuperMotocross World Championship, will also be distributed by EverPass Media as part of this out-of-home media rights agreement.
“Peacock has one of the most extensive live sports offerings of any streamer in the U.S. and this exclusive agreement for the commercial distribution of its sports programming is an important milestone for EverPass,” Alex Kaplan, chief executive officer of EverPass Media, said in a statement. “Peacock’s exclusive sports events will now become widely available for commercial businesses, creating new opportunities to expand the reach of these events. We’re excited to continue building our content library and network of distribution partners to become the preeminent premium sports and entertainment content platform for commercial establishments.”
EverPass Media also came to terms with UPshow on a distribution agreement that will accentuate the reach of Peacock’s sports content to commercial venues around the world. UPshow was founded in 2015 and works in the digital marketing, communications and entertainment sectors. EverPass launched earlier in the year under 32 Equity, the National Football League’s strategic investment arm, along with RedBird Capital. It was initially used to exclusively distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to commercial establishments across the United States. The company works with bars, hotels, restaurants and other businesses to streamline the process of presenting these matchups to customers, and will now be firmly within the process for years to come.
Peacock continues to post losses, aligning with larger industry trends after rapid growth upon the launch of various direct-to-consumer platforms. The company divulged that it had an EBITDA loss of $651 million in its most recent quarterly earnings report, 39% higher than the figure last year.
Overall, its EBITDA losses are projected to surpass $3 billion this year, coming at a time of transition at the outlet following the departure of NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua. Mark Lazarus is now responsible for overseeing NBC Sports in his role as the chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group. The entity is reportedly considering trying to land part of the national media rights with the National Basketball Association upon the expiration of the existing deal after the 2024-25 regular season.
