Time Warner Cable's move to stream TV channels to tablets inside subscribers' homes has met resistance from media companies like Viacom, but media execs from four major sports leagues threw their support behind the idea during the panel session titled "Sports Media Co-existence: League-owned Nets and Traditional Nets." Part of the reason leagues support the idea is because their network partners, like ESPN, see sports as impervious to risks associated with the idea of TV Everywhere. ESPN Exec VP/Content John Skipper said, "It is more important for sports than anywhere else because you want to watch it on the best available screen and you have to watch live and you might not be able to watch it on your 50-inch television screen in your living room, so we're advantaged in this." Skipper noted that one in three people watched the FIFA World Cup last year on their phone or computer, and ESPN captured and sold that audience. "This is already here," he said. NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Adam Silver agreed, saying that while the NBA had passed along digital rights to Turner and ESPN, it favored Time Warner's move. Silver said the league will not lose revenue as a result, because those streaming rights "get captured in the way [they] sell" the NBA, and ESPN and others pay for it. Streaming more content benefits leagues in other ways, as well. NFL Media COO Brian Rolapp said the NFL directs fans to their mobile phones and iPads where they may consume other league content and that consumption can be monetized, as well. MLB Exec VP/Business Tim Brosnan said one of the reasons some programmers are resisting the Time Warner Cable plan is because they were surprised by it. "A little of the dispute with Time Warner is that they didn't tell anyone. They just kind of launched it, [and said] happy birthday." NHL COO John Collins said the onus for addressing those issue will be on leagues and media companies whose "rights deals have to somewhat catch up to the concept."
CALLING COMCAST: When an audience member asked if Comcast's new NBC Sports partnership could take ESPN "head-on," most panelists hedged. Rolapp: "I'm not sure you have to take ESPN head on. … Will they be in the sports business and do they have potential to be in the sports business in a big way? Absolutely." Collins agreed, saying, "If that’s their plan, they have the wherewithal to do it. [But] I don’t think their business plan will be exactly what ESPN's is." Silver got the biggest laugh from the audience when he questioned Brosnan's assertion that Comcast and NBC Sports would have a hard time taking on ESPN directly because of ESPN's size. Silver said that is what Microsoft thought before Facebook.
Brosnan: "I don’t think anybody can take ESPN head-on. They're too big."
Silver: "That's what they said about Microsoft."
Brosnan: "It would take massive and massive amounts of money and commitment."
Silver: "You’re in danger of being in the next 10-year issue of SportsBusiness Journal when it happens."
Brosnan: "I'll be long gone. What I'm saying is head-on conjures up images for me of diving into a pool head-first without checking if there's water in there or not. You've dealt with the folks involved. I've dealt with the folks involved. They're a lot more cautious than head-on. ... I think they absolutely will be in the national cable sports network business with a network affiliate. ... I want them to be in that business because it's more competition for us to offer our content to."
Skipper said he expects NBC Sports to be a competitor to ESPN, but that ESPN spends more time worrying about companies that might do something other than traditional TV broadcasting. Skipper: "We take nothing for granted. Our job is to be sure that whatever the next thing is, we're doing. ... Our concern is about somebody doing something different."
GIMME MORE: Contrary to what media observers warned, providing more content results in more consumption, not less. Skipper said, "We find the more people watch, the more they watch. We worried for a long time with our broadcast partner ABC about promoting games on ESPN at the same time. On Saturday night with college football, we have a game on ABC, a game on ESPN, a game on ESPN2 and a game on ESPNU, and the more we promote each of those broadcasts the more overall audience we have." Rolapp agreed, saying that the more content that the NFL provides on NFL.com, NFL Mobile and the RedZone Channel, the more ratings rise. Rolapp: "Whatever we add, is consumption going up and is the economic pie growing? All those things we can check yes."
