• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Something’s got to give -- as seen with Versant Media Group, the spinoff company of Comcast Corp., on the first day trading as a public company. It closed down 13% to $40.57.

Broadly speaking, TV and streaming-minded marketers must worry about C-suite executives asking them how their linear cable TV brands can transition to something else -- as a full-fledged streaming service or perhaps bundled into a streaming service with other similar entertainment content networks.

This is the bottom line: what will happen to long-time cable TV network brands like A&E Network, Hallmark Channel, USA Network, Paramount Network, TNT, MTV, Oxygen or TBS.

Could many of these merge under a similar entertainment, unscripted or other genres?

Think back to that now defunct idea of amassing existing linear sports TV networks/services under a single streaming roof: Venu Sports. That was the sports streaming service that was a planned joint venture of Walt Disney, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery, but was called off in January 2025 before it launched due intense antitrust scrutiny, as well as a successful legal challenge from Fubo that blocked its launch.

The good news is that sports is content that continues to give life and value to what remains for linear TV. And if you are ESPN, one of the strongest sports brands, you can go it alone as a streamer.

Some analysts would say this is not the case for general scripted and unscripted entertainment -- or even for bundling some of those together. What about a USA Network, Hallmark Channel and Paramount Network combination?

While not the high-value sport content, proponents might say those brands still carry some decent value for a segment (albeit small) of U.S. TV consumers.

For its part, Paramount Skydance hints to have a plan to reconfigure or relaunch its cable networks -- although specific details have not yet been disclosed. What we do know -- presently -- is that Paramount (unlike Netflix) wants to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its cable TV networks. So that must tell us something.

Perhaps Paramount is planning some sort of brand shift for some of its old-school cable brands MTV, VH1, maybe even Paramount Network -- giving them a new digital brand patina.

We have some insight into this kind of transitioning: MS NOW was rebranded from MSNBC late last year, now part of Versant Media. Is more of this type of remarketing coming?