Universal Sports Seeks Greater Distribution As Lineup Expands

Universal Sports in the last year has seen "gold-medal growth from 2 million subscribers to 28.2 million," and the network is "looking to push its distribution even higher in the months ahead as it continues to [strengthen] its programming lineup," according to Mike Reynolds of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. With NBC Universal's support, Universal Sports is "now available in 48.5 million homes, with a presence in nine of the top 10 DMAs and 12 of the top 20 markets," and the network "expects it will soon reach nearly 56 million homes." Universal Sports Chair & CEO Claude Ruibal said that with rights to Olympic sports like track & field, gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, skiing and skating, affiliates "see value in Universal Sports and Universalsports.com as destinations for these and other Olympic-style events." But Reynolds notes Universal Sports "won't have Winter Games coverage per se." NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel: "There is only one-third the action for the Winter Games, versus the Summer Games. There isn't enough room for all (NBCU properties)." Meanwhile, Zenkel said that Universal Sports "has not yet had discussions about its role for NBCU's coverage of the 2012 Summer Games in London." Zenkel: "The channel's existence doesn't have to be tied to carrying the Olympics." Still, Reynolds notes Universal Sports "wants to be a home for Olympic and U.S. Olympic sponsors to activate and express their ties to the Games" (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 6/15 issue).

RECORD MONTH FOR WEB SITE: UniversalSports.com set a variety of site traffic records during May thanks to coverage of the Giro d’Italia, USA Swimming Charlotte Ultraswim, Ice Hockey World Championships, and other events. The site recorded 783,000 unique users, 11.9 million page views and 2.1 million total video streams during the month, all measures exponentially higher than measures for May '08. Even compared to prior high-water marks set during April '09, the May numbers were up 50% in unique users, 100% in video streams and 56% in page views. Ruibal: “With each new event and programming we offer, our numbers increase dramatically" (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).