• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, October 8, 2024

Sports programming is expanding its importance to cable TV networks that you don’t normally associate with sports: How about a cable TV shopping channel airing a pickleball league?

QVC, which has a number of home shopping cable TV networks, has signed an exclusive deal with USA Pickleball.

The programming deal will start with USA Pickleball’s 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships next month, to be aired on QVC’s free streaming platform, QVC+/HSN+.

The deal seems to make sense from multiple perspectives -- perhaps especially older women TV viewers who watch the home shopping channel. 

Pickleball caters, in part, to older U.S. consumers who have gravitated to the sport.

The network says more than five million women over the age of 45 actively play pickleball. This works with QVC's overall efforts into leaning into their audiences. Recently it launched a network-promotion branding campaign called the “Age of Possibility,” which is geared to women over 50.

All this makes even more sense that as part of the deal, the shopping TV channel group will also be the exclusive retail industry partner of USA Pickleball.

The rapid rise of pickleball as a sport grew out of tennis. The size of the playing court is smaller with pickleball than for tennis, and less effort is required in running on the court, but the action and points scored are faster.

This might give other non-sports cable networks some ideas about sports content residing on their airwaves.

For example, during this past summer period, you could find Paris Olympic coverage on NBCU’s CNBC channel -- a business/financial news network -- during periods when the financial markets were closed. 

And it’s spilling over for all types of networks. Over the last year or so, the mini-broadcast network The CW has been very active in shifting its scripted TV programming focus to include WWE NXT and NASCAR Xfinity Series. ACC and Pac-12 football, as well as the LIV Golf League.

Live, linear TV networks have been suffering due to massive cord-cutting of pay TV services for over a decade. Sports remain one way for cable networks to stem that trend, as well as using their streaming sister platforms, to continue bringing in advertising revenues. 

Generally, analysts says live programming -- especially sports, of almost any type --  continues to generate “premium” pricing versus library and other content on non-sports cable network

So what networks could be next for adding more sports -- of any type? That could be cooking channels and home improvement reality TV networks. 

Bravo, which has a strong branding association with its “Real Housewives” franchise of shows, could be next.

Along with those shows' usual heightened drama and sharp talk, adding pickleball to the mix might offer a different perspective when it comes to those shows’ central "catfight" activity.