Warner Bros. Discovery continues its move out of the regional sports network (RSN) business and towards a new digital streaming age with news of a sports tier being added on to Max, the company’s new direct-to-consumer streaming platform. The tier will be released on Thursday, Oct. 5, two days before TBS’ broadcast of the National League Division Series, and will implement award-winning content from studio programs in addition to live games. This venture, which will amalgamate SVOD and vMVPD capabilities, marks a seminal moment for the company, granting fans access to the broad portfolio of premium live sports for the first time in its history.
The sports tier will be available for free to all existing Max subscribers through Thursday, Feb. 29 before users will need to pay $9.99 a month for access. Max currently charges $10 each month for its ad-supported service, while the ad-free alternative garners a $6 monthly upcharge. Unlike some of its competitors, games will not be exclusive to either platform, a factor that could affect carriage fees and the sustainability of linear television.
“We want to be everywhere sports fans are, and our unparalleled offering of leading sports, combined with the power of the Bleacher Report brand and content, including the unique way B/R engages with young sports fans, all delivered through the new Max platform will enable us to broaden our audience and delight new fans,” Luis Silberwasser, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, said in a statement. “We are uniquely positioned to offer viewers the best selection of premium sports and exciting events and fan-focused additional programming, all within a fantastic multi-sport product that will meet the evolving consumption needs of our viewers – both casual and hardcore sports fans.”
Bleacher Report has garnered considerable reach and relevance since it was founded in 2005 and sold to the Turner Broadcasting Company in 2012. As part of the reorganization under AT&T after it acquired Time Warner Inc. in 2018, Turner was dissolved and the company’s sports assets were spread throughout WarnerMedia. A few years later, AT&T spun off WarnerMedia, which subsequently merged with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, a transaction that closed in the second quarter of 2022.
“We’re thrilled to offer WBD’s incredible portfolio of premium U.S. live sports – featuring simulcasts of our must-see MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA and U.S. Soccer events, among others – as part of B/R Sports Add-On’s wide assortment of compelling multi-sport content on Max,” JB Perrette, chief executive officer and president of global streaming and games, said in a statement. “The greatest collection of Entertainment, News and now Sports all in one place… makes Max the most complete streaming service for consumers and reaffirms why Max is truly ‘The One To Watch.’”
Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav divulged that the company has digital rights for all of its sports properties, including Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League. NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournament games will be available on the platform this year, including the entity’s broadcast of the Final Four, along with U.S. Soccer Women’s and Men’s National Team games. In essence, the “B/R Sports Add-On” will provide the ability to consume live games on the company’s linear networks to tier subscribers.
Down the road, the company plans to offer more content and unique technology features, such as multiple camera angles and live rewind functionality. The company may also explore alternate-style presentations for live games, leveraging the young demographic Bleacher Report and other digital platforms attract.
According to the company’s last quarterly earnings report, 95.8 million subscribers consume content through Max, generating an average revenue per user of $7.71. Overall revenue for the company’s linear television networks was down 5% year-over-year (YoY) to $5.8 million due to rate increases and a lower threshold of pay subscribers. These numbers were produced despite the network airing the NHL Stanley Cup Final and part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs exclusively on cable television for the first time in 29 years, which was down 43% from Disney’s broadcast on ABC in 2022.
News of the tier comes two seasons before the expiration of the decade-long, $23.6 billion national television media rights deal between the NBA and its partners – Warner Bros. Discovery and The Walt Disney Company. Zaslav has expressed that he hopes the NBA is part of the company for the long-term, although it may not include the Inside the NBA cast intact as currently constructed. Analyst Charles Barkley recently expressed that he will not finish out the 10-year deal he inked with the company last October. Conversations between Warner Bros. Discovery and the NBA can begin on March 9, 2024 within an exclusive, 45-day negotiating window before the rights can be taken to the open market if no deal is reached.
