Versant President of sport Matt Hong says the soon-to-be independent media company plans to keep its streaming relationship with Peacock intact while also exploring flexibility with other platforms. Speaking with CNBC Sports’ Alex Sherman, Hong said the separation from NBCUniversal will open new doors for Versant in terms of distribution partnerships.
“All other things being equal, we’d like to continue to work with and partner with NBCU and Peacock going forward,” Hong said. “One of the unique things about being separate public companies here soon is we’ll be able to potentially partner with Peacock. We’ll also be able to partner with other third-party streamers in situations where a set of rights may or may not work for Peacock, but we want them at Versant.”
Hong spoke about the luxury of no longer having to worry about which streamer the company would have to work with saying, “We’ll have the freedom to partner with some streamers that previously didn’t necessarily have that freedom to partner with.”
That freedom comes at a time when Versant is inheriting a diverse and valuable set of sports rights. The USGA extended their rights agreement with NBCUniversal earlier this week. Starting in 2027, Versant — the independent media company set to spin out from Comcast Corporation — will also hold media rights for the USGA championship on USA Network and Golf Channel through 2032. USA Network will continue to provide U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open coverage, while Golf Channel will air events including the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior Amateur, and the Walker and Curtis Cups.
Hong pointed to the company’s holdings across USA Network and Golf Channel as proof that its portfolio can compete with any major sports media player.
“If you look at the rights that we currently have just at Versant, we have a wide variety of top-tier programming that crosses almost every geography and every demo that we could possibly want,” Hong said. “We’ve got NASCAR, we’ve got the PGA Tour, we’ve got the USGA, we’ve got WNBA and WWE. Going forward, those will be Versant properties separate from NBCU. And were we to renew those properties, we’ll do so with Versant. We have programming that I think is competitive with most networks out there. I like what we have, and will continue to be competitive going forward.”
Despite industry chatter about potential mergers among sports rights-heavy media companies, Hong said Versant will take a different approach.
“I don’t know that we will merge with an entity that has sports rights only because we have plenty of programming to help drive our linear business,” Hong said. “I think the future will be inorganic acquisitions, which help diversify our revenue streams. And so it’ll really be continue to invest in our core linear business, and then looking for inorganic opportunities that complement that business.”
With the sports media marketplace shifting toward more direct-to-consumer streaming plays and strategic alliances, Hong’s comments signal that Versant intends to chart its own course. The emphasis will be on maintaining cornerstone relationships like Peacock while also leveraging independence to negotiate with multiple partners.
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