Amazon Reportedly Ending Daily ‘Sports Talk’ Bloc
A 12-hour daily bloc of sports talk was first introduced to Freevee and Prime Video last year, but the experiment is already ending.
The sports entertainment business can be a brutal one to be employed in, as so many ESPN hosts and staffers found out earlier this year. Now it’s Amazon making cuts to its sports segment, specifically the 12-hour daily “Sports Talk” bloc that first debuted on the service in 2022.
Richard Deitsch, a writer for The Athletic first reported the news on Twitter. Deitsch said that Amazon had decided to sunset the “Sports Talk” lineup on Prime Video and Freevee by the end of October.
Amazon Prime Video’s “Sports Talk” bloc, which was announced last year as a daily 12-hour programming block of studio shows, will end at the end of October. The company declined comment. The media business is brutal. Wishing the best for those talent creators.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) September 28, 2023
The “Sports Talk” lineup included hosts like Cari Champion, Master T, Rennae Stubbs, and more. “Sports Talk” gave users several different programs throughout the day to catch up on highlights, breaking news, and even crossover shows that examined sports through the lens of culture.
In reacting to the news, many online commentators noted that they couldn’t find “Sports Talk” easily on Prime Video or Freevee, and some indicated they had never even heard of it. Sports content is highly desirable, but Amazon never seemed to make a concerted effort to advertise “Sports Talk” on its platforms.
One big factor in the failure of “Sports Talk” for Amazon could be that the company simply doesn’t offer that many live sports of its own right now. “Thursday Night Football” will continue to call Prime Video home for the better part of the next decade, and Amazon has expressed interest in acquiring NBA and other sports rights, but other than that the sports cupboard at the company is relatively bare outside of some niche events like pickleball.
Given that fact, and given how hard the “Sports Talk” bloc is to find on Prime Video or Freevee, it’s understandable that users would decide they could find similar programming more easily elsewhere. Why go to Amazon to listen to analysis about a game on ESPN when fans could just watch the game itself on that channel, and flip on “SportsCenter” after to hear a breakdown?
The ending of the “Sports Talk” segment may also spell doom for Amazon's plans to launch a standalone sports streaming app. With so few live sports to offer, and soon no shoulder programming to accompany them, it doesn’t seem that there would be much point in paying the costs to create such an app, at least not now.
Loyal “Sports Talk” listeners have just one month left to enjoy shows like “The Power Hour.” As of the end of October, those shows will no longer be offered via Prime Video or Freevee.
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Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.
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Freevee
Freevee is a free video streaming service that includes on-demand access to thousands of movies and TV shows. The service also offers 400+ virtual live streaming channels like Dove Channel, CON TV, Docurama, Tastemade, and AMC Presents. Freevee was previously known as IMDb TV.