A view from an ESPN college football broadcast camera prior to the all-state Sugar Bowl playoff game between the Texas Longhorns and Washington Huskies at the Kaiser Superdome in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. .
Nick Trey Smith | Graphic Sportsline | Getty Images
To strengthen its sports offerings, Warner Bros. Discovery Signed a five-year sub-licensing agreement with the following companies disney ESPN will televise the first round and quarterfinal games of the College Football Playoff.
Warner Bros. Discovery Channel’s TNT will operate two first-round games this year and next, and will add an additional two quarterfinal games starting in 2026. to Warner Bros. Discovery Channel.
People familiar with the matter said Disney will retain exclusive rights to the championship game throughout the contract, which will run until 2031. disney Paying Approximately $1.3 billion is spent each year to purchase broadcast rights to the entire College Football Playoff.
The new 12-team College Football Playoff slate will debut in December, replacing the four-team tournament that began in 2014. The No. 12 seed plays a first-round game at the home court of the higher-ranked team.
ESPN will produce the games and broadcast them primarily using ESPN talent, and the broadcast will be under the TNT brand, people familiar with the matter said. As part of the sublicensing deal, Warner Bros. Discovery is paying ESPN “hundreds of millions” of dollars per year on average over five years, but the fees are reduced in years one and two because the company only has two games per year. game.
Warner Bros. Discovery has exclusive rights to sublicense the game during the term of the agreement.
“We are excited to add TNT Sports, another well-respected broadcaster, to the College Football Playoff family,” College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock said in a statement. “Across the country ‘s sports fans are very familiar with their work over the past two decades in various sports industries, and we look forward to seeing what new and innovative ideas they bring to the promotion and delivery of these games.”
This year’s first round of CFP will be held on December 20-21.
CFP in, NBA out?
Warner Bros. Discovery Channel plans to add the games to its Max Sports lineup. The company is ramping up its efforts in live sports and is in tough talks with the National Basketball Association over a slate of live games.
TNT has been a partner of the NBA for nearly 40 years, but risks losing to the NBA ComcastOwns NBCUniversal and Amazon If Warner Bros. Discovery decides to waive its matching rights, or the league may choose to ignore those rights.
College football is one of the most popular shows on television. Last year’s Michigan State semifinal win over Alabama drew an average of 27.2 million viewers, the most-watched non-NFL sporting event since 2018.
Even if Warner Bros. Discovery loses the NBA, it will now have both the CFP and NBA until mid-2025, in addition to several weeks of the NCAA men’s basketball March Madness tournament, men’s and women’s basketball tournaments football, Nazca, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League. That should help the company’s upcoming carriage renewal deals for TNT and its other cable networks.
All CFP games remain available after ESPN sublicenses to Warner Bros. Discovery Venu Sportsis a new sports streaming service developed by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery Channel and is expected to launch in the fall.
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