What do NASCAR, ACC, LIV Golf Rights Mean for Nexstar, DIRECTV Negotiations?
What do NASCAR, ACC, LIV Golf Rights Mean for Nexstar, DIRECTV Negotiations?
DIRECTV and Nexstar are still waiting each other out to see who will blink first. The satellite and live TV streaming provider is in the midst of a retransmission fee dispute with Nexstar, who owns more local TV stations than any other company in the United States. The dispute has caused DIRECTV and DIRECTV STREAM customers in more than 100 U.S. markets to lose access to their Nexstar-owned ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, and NBC, local affiliate channels, as well as NewsNation.
But Nexstar isn’t sitting back and doing nothing while it waits out its disagreement with DIRECTV. NASCAR recently announced a deal that will see its Xfinity Series head to The CW — which Nexstar acquired a 75% stake in last year — starting in 2025. On top of that contract, The CW has also secured the rights to air ACC football and basketball games (some in 2023), as well as LIV Golf during the course of this year, though it’s currently unclear if that league’s merger with the PGA into a new global golf organization will change any of its broadcasting agreements.
At all rates, Nexstar and The CW clearly realize that live sports are one of the last cornerstones keeping linear TV standing. That explains why the company is investing so heavily in them, and why DIRECTV may not want to take the hardline stance it has pursued in its negotiations with Nexstar for much longer.
Getting access to more live sports would be a good thing for DIRECTV and DIRECTV STREAM, which already offer more sporting events than most other pay-TV services. For example, DIRECTV STREAM’s Choice plan carries channels like ESPN, FS1, TNT, TBS, NFL Network, and more, plus a whole host of regional sports networks (RSNs) in the areas where they’re offered with no extra RSN fees.
One of DIRECTV’s most consistent arguments during its dispute with Nexstar is that if it met the company’s retransmission fee demands, it would have to raise prices on its customers. But if it were forced to do so, DIRECTV could at least demonstrate to its users that the increases would be accompanied by access to more live sports. In other words, the subscription cost might be rising, but at least users will be getting something more for their money.
Xfinity Series races alone draw around 1 million viewers each according to NASCAR, so there’s clearly a method to Nexstar’s madness in its pursuit of more live sports. Nexstar has accrued an eclectic, but increasingly impressive lineup of sports for The CW, and it may leave DIRECTV with little choice but to accept the station owner’s higher retransmission fee demands.
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