DirecTV Adds Universal Sports Channel
With little fanfare, DirecTV has added a niche sports channel to its lineup this month -- Universal Sports -- while it continues its dispute with Versus, another sports channel.
Since the beginning of September, DirecTV has been carrying Universal Sports -- which has been running the Vuelta a Espana, one of the three grand tour pro road cycling races, which runs for three weeks. The other two grand tours are the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia.
Universal Sports -- a partnership of NBC Universal and InterMedia Partners with a focus on Olympic sports -- would seem like an interim substitute for Versus, which is owned by Comcast Corp., the biggest U.S. cable operator. Versus also airs many major cycling events, like the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of California.
"This is not a replacement for Versus," says a DirecTV spokesman. "We're always looking for marquee sports products, and there was a strong lineup of popular cycling events on Universal this month. We knew those passionate cycling fans out there would enjoy it."
A NBC Universal spokesman said: "We had offered them a free view of a number of events, and this was the first one they took us up on. We obviously would like to reach a long-term deal, but don't know when we might."
In regard to Versus, the DirecTV spokesman would only say the two parties were still negotiating.
DirecTV removed Versus over a dispute about higher subscriber fees the network was demanding. According to SNL Kagan, Versus is getting around 18 cents a subscriber per month. Executives say Versus wants a 20% increase, which DirecTV has said was "simply piggish."
For its own part, Versus said it gained about 10 million subs through exposure from free previews on Dish Network and some cable systems.
Versus has 75 million subscribers. DirecTV accounted for 19% of its distribution.
Universal Sports is in 56 million homes through a combination of traditional TV distribution platforms: multicasting local digital TV signals and cable systems agreements.
Recent MediaDailyNews Articles
-
Aereo Is Not Just For Cord-Cutters May 23, 6:34 p.m.
Are cord-cutters most likely to subscribe to Aereo? Not necessarily, according to early returns. CEO Chet ... -
Cars.com Drops Flag On NASCAR.com Sponsorship May 23, 6:25 p.m.
Cars.com has a need for speed. The site has a deal with Turner to sponsor a ... -
Worldwide Pay TV On The Rise, Big Growth In Asia May 23, 4:17 p.m.
North American pay TV subscribers may continue to show little or no growth for the first ... -
Activision Blizzard's Campaign Wins Grand Effie May 23, 4:12 p.m.
Video game marketer Activision Blizzards’ ad campaign “The Vet and the nOOb” for "Call of Duty: ... -
Mag Bag: Bonnier, Source Interlink Swap Mags May 23, 4:09 p.m.
Bonnier, Source Interlink Swap Mags Enthusiast publisher Bonnier Corp. continued wheeling and dealing this week with ... -
Madison Avenue Is Mad As Hell, March Mad: Takes More, Not Less Network TV May 23, 7:46 a.m.
Demand for network TV advertising, which had been lagging so far this year, surged in April ... -
NY1 Show Goes National May 22, 7:32 p.m.
Time Warner Cable (TWC) will begin distributing a show about Broadway and theater at large to ... -
TV Model: Nets, Stations Split Retrans 50/50 May 22, 6:02 p.m.
Gray Television CFO Jim Ryan suggested that networks may capture more than half of an affiliate’s ... -
Newspaper, Magazine Ad Fortunes Continue To Decline May 22, 5:59 p.m.
The release of fourth-quarter figures for newspaper advertising and first-quarter figures for magazine ad pages earlier ... -
Equifax Taps Dentsu's 360i As Lead Agency May 22, 5:24 p.m.
Data collection company Equifax has selected Dentsu shop 360i to be its lead agency -- for ...
Be the first to comment on "DirecTV Adds Universal Sports Channel"
Leave a Comment