Jon Miller, President of acquisitions and partnerships for NBC Sports is bullish on using a hybrid approach to retain sports rights. Speaking at NAB during a panel moderated by Puck’s John Ourand, Miller pointed to Peacock as a key piece of the company’s long-term strategy.
He described the platform as a complement to broadcast, not a replacement.
“It’s enabled us to make investments in properties that we wouldn’t have been able to make otherwise,” Miller said. “We would not have been able to acquire NBA [rights] if we didn’t have Peacock as a platform. We would not be able to acquire the exclusive [U.S.] rights to the Premier League.”
Peacock now reaches roughly 44 million homes, but when added with NBC Sports Network carriage on YouTube TV and Xfinity, that figure reaches roughly 65 million homes. A figure Miller said puts it in line with competitors such as ESPN, FOX and TNT Sports. However, he emphasized that its role centers on expanding opportunities rather than shifting core distribution.
Despite the rise of deep-pocketed streaming competitors for sports rights, Miller believes traditional networks still hold meaningful advantages.
“I think the streamers have a different set of priorities and strategic objectives than we do,” Miller said. “They have very deep pockets, but they can’t offer a lot of what broadcast can offer. They can’t offer the marketing and the promotion. Certainly, they can’t offer the production expertise that NBC Sports, CBS, Fox and Disney [ABC/ESPN] can offer to partners.”
Miller also highlighted decades of investment by NBCUniversal in infrastructure and technology. Those resources, he said, allow NBC to deliver high-level production quality and broad distribution at scale.
He added that partners continue to value that reach, especially when compared to newer platforms. In Miller’s view, companies like CBS and Disney remain well positioned as the sports rights marketplace evolves.
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