Photo by: CBS SPORTS
|
CBS Sports
STYLE POINTS:
CBS continued to show the power of broadcast sports, producing the biggest events (like the NFL, the Masters and SEC football) and negotiating rights deals for the NCAA tournament and Big Ten basketball.
Photo by: ESPN
|
ESPN
STYLE POINTS:
In a climate of cord cutting, ESPN has been at the forefront of signing new carriage deals with services such as DirecTV Now, Hulu, Sling TV, Sony PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV. Throw in its first Academy Award, for “O.J.: Made in America,” and it was another stellar year for ESPN.
Photo by: FOX SPORTS
|
Fox Sports
STYLE POINTS:
Fox was at the center of two of the biggest events in sports: the first Super Bowl to go into overtime and the Cubs winning their first World Series since 1908. Its FS1 channel also registered impressive growth, especially in prime time, where its audience doubled.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
NBC Sports Group
STYLE POINTS:
“Sunday Night Football” remained prime-time TV’s top-rated show for the sixth straight year, and “Thursday Night Football” came in at No. 2. Throw in the massive audiences for the Rio Olympics — both on TV and online — and you quickly run out of superlatives to describe NBC Sports’ year.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
Turner Sports
STYLE POINTS:
In addition to carrying the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship on cable for the first time, Turner renegotiated its NCAA tournament deal to run into the 2030s. Turner was a first mover in the fast-moving esports realm, with its ELeague partnership with WME-IMG.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
Univision Deportes
STYLE POINTS:
The Spanish-language network posted year-over-year ratings growth for a fourth consecutive year, thanks to a steady diet of soccer programming, like the popular Copa América Centenario, which posted demo wins over English-language networks like ESPN, FS1 and NBCSN. It also negotiated rights to 16 of Liga MX’s 18 teams.
