Comcast CEO: Sports Rights Require ‘Really Hard Calls’

Comcast spends $20 billion on content between its NBCUniversal and Sky divisions, but the large sum doesn’t make allocating funds easy for the media giant. 

The company wants to “remain one of the premier” sports broadcasters, but making decisions on obtaining sports rights involves “really hard calls,” says Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts.

The CEO said the company picks and chooses its sporting events with care, focusing on the “sustainability of sports.”

• In 2014, NBCUniversal paid $7.75 billion for rights to the Olympics until 2032.
• NBC’s streaming service Peacock struck a five-year deal with WWE worth more than $1 billion in January.
• The broadcaster will pay $1.71 billion per year to keep “Sunday Night Football” — an 80% increase from its current contract.
• Peacock secured exclusive rights to stream the 2021 Premier Lacrosse League season.
• The streaming service was nearing a $25 million deal for a Magic Johnson docuseries, per a report last month.
• Earlier this month, NBCU agreed to a deal with Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media valued in the “high-eight-figure range.”

Roberts said Comcast reaches around 700 million people worldwide. Its revenue jumped 20.4% in Q2.

Comcast reached a deal with ViacomCBS last month to launch SkyShowtime, a European subscription service launching in 2022. Comcast bought Sky for $39 billion in 2018.