Warner Bros. Discovery Bringing Nightly Sports Bloc to truTV in Effort to Prop Up Cable Channels
Simulcasts of NBA, NHL and MLB games are heading to truTV, along with new programming in a bid to snatch revenues while cable reels.
Warner Bros. Discovery is attempting to revitalize truTV. According to an exclusive report from Variety the cable channel, which is usually reserved for episodes of “Impractical Jokers” and other reality fare will soon play host to a nightly schedule of sports games featuring alternative broadcasts of live contests on TNT and TBS, highlight shows and more.
- truTV’s nightly sports bloc begins on Monday, March 11.
- The channel hosts a large number of games from the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, in addition to these new arrivals.
- WBD is attempting to bring more viewers to the channel to boost ad revenues and perhaps carriage fees for truTV.
According to Variety’s reporting, WBD will bring alternative broadcasts of NBA, NHL and MLB games simulcast from the Turner Networks to truTV starting Monday, March 11. There will be several such alternate broadcasts tailored toward different audiences, a tactic similar to that used by Prime Video with its streams of “Thursday Night Football” during NFL Season. The channel will also get a “TNT Sports Update” show every evening at 6 p.m. ET, and each week a show based on “House of Highlights,” which sees distribution primarily through social media channels will also appear on truTV.
The new sports broadcasts and shoulder programming on truTV will be joined the following week by games from the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. truTV has traditionally been a host of March Madness games, but now it will pursue a much wider audience by placing original and unique sports content on its airwaves. The channel will host a nightly sports betting series that crosses all major sports, sports movies, and documentaries, and more.
“We are constantly striving to create and deliver the best sports content and experiences to sports fans wherever they are, and this is an exciting opportunity to expand the reach of our premium TNT Sports programming with greater consistency throughout the year,” CEO of TNT Sports Luis Silberwasser said in a statement to Variety. “By creating a primetime block of sports programming on TruTV, in addition to our existing premium live sports on TNT and TBS, we are now able to deliver a more comprehensive sports offering for our fans, while generating additional growth opportunities for our sports division and strategic business and league partners.”
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| $79.99 | $94.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| truTV | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | + $6 | ✓ | ✓ | |
Why is WBD Putting More Sports on truTV?
To answer this question, it’s not necessary to look further than WBD’s most recent quarterly earnings statement. Despite the fact that the company turned in a nominal streaming profit of $103 million in 2023, and Wall Street has not rewarded the news with a higher stock price or any other signs of esteem. Linear revenues are still a drag on WBD’s balance sheet, as advertising sales were down 14% in the fourth quarter alone.
Putting sports on truTV is a not-so-subtle attempt to increase ad sales on a linear channel that is languishing at the moment. Variety’s report cites research from S&P Global Intelligence’s research firm Kagan that estimates truTV gets $0.33 per customer in monthly subscription fees, whereas a channel like TNT commands $2.97. The revenue WBD expects to collect from distributors for carrying the channel is expected to drop this year, and if the company wants to ask for carriage fee increases for truTV in its next round of negotiations with big cable providers, it has to do something to bring more viewers to the network.
WBD’s equation for determining profitability from its direct-to-consumer (DTC) segment reportedly includes revenue from linear HBO subscribers, as well as from licensing fees. This means that Max and discovery+ aren’t ready to become main profit generators for the company yet, and it has to continue relying on its linear cable channels to bring in revenues. As seen in its latest earnings report, which included an 8% drop in total linear revenues, that money isn’t going to simply appear by magic. WBD has to take action if it wants to try and squeeze every last drop of income possible from its cable channels, a dilemma facing most major cable/broadcast channel owners as entertainment transitions to the digital space.
Speaking of Max move will bring more sports content to that streamer as well. Max is currently offering all sports broadcast on TNT, TBS and truTV in its Bleacher Report Sports add-on, which continues to be free for subscribers despite original plans to start charging for it at the end of February. This is likely to encompass the new alternate broadcasts appearing on truTV, though there was no official confirmation of that assumption included in the announcement of the new sports programming lineup on the channel.
Might the addition of this new sports programming to truTV affect the price of the joint venture sports streaming service on the way from WBD, Disney, and Fox? It’s not likely; although a full livestream of truTV is intended to be a part of the bundle of channels that make up the platform, it’s not bringing games that are exclusively found on truTV to the package. Considering the JV streamer will likely end up costing around $50 anyway, executives at the three companies probably won’t see the addition of sports to truTV as a reason to up the price even more.
Putting more sports on truTV could give WBD extra leverage when negotiating with the NBA, whose current broadcast deal ends following the 2024-25 season. The new sports programming on truTV will begin rolling out on March 11, so keep an eye on the channel or on WBD’s streaming service Max to see if its new content ends up there as well.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.