Key Points
- The merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery has created a media juggernaut with more premium live sports rights than any other broadcaster in the United States, according to an analysis of networks and sports rights by The Desk.
- Skydance — including CBS Sports and TNT Sports — has more than three dozen premium sports agreements, allowing the company to offer games from the NFL, MLB, NHL, WNBA, PGA Tour, UFC, U.S. Soccer, NWSL, AEW and college conferences like Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, Mountain West.
- Skydance is now the exclusive rights holder to the NCAA March Madness tournament, with rights previously shared by Paramount’s CBS Sports and WBD’s TNT Sports.
Skydance has emerged as the largest holder of premium sports media rights in the United States following Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery earlier this week, giving the combined company a portfolio that is nearly twice as large as its closest competitor, according to an analysis of live sports rights by The Desk.
The combined company controls 36 unique premium sports rights properties. Paramount contributed premium rights from nearly two dozen sports organizations, including the National Football League (NFL), PGA Tour, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), United Soccer League (USL), Big Ten Conference, Pac-12 Conference, Mountain West, UFC and Zuffa Boxing.
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) brought more than a dozen additional live sports rights into Skydance, including games from Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), U.S. Soccer, Big 12 Conference, Big East, Unrivaled and the French Open (Roland Garros) tennis tournament.
Skydance is now the exclusive rights holder of the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, better known as “March Madness,” whose games were shared between Paramount’s CBS and WBD’s TNT Sports for years. Combined, the deal is valued at $1.1 billion each year through 2032.
Comcast, NBC Universal and Versant collectively rank second with 19 sports properties, followed by ESPN and ABC with 14, Fox with 13, Scripps Sports with eight and The CW with seven.
The analysis covers major professional sports, college athletics and sports entertainment. It measures the number of individual rights properties held by each company rather than their financial value, audience reach or viewership.
The data doesn’t include niche sports tournaments like darts, cornhole and bullriding, and doesn’t include one-off sports telecast deals like those involving the Savannah Bananas.
Paramount’s portfolio is anchored by the NFL on CBS, an agreement valued at approximately $2.1 billion annually through 2033. The company expanded its sports offerings this year with UFC programming under a seven-year agreement valued at $7.7 billion.
WBD brings a substantial portfolio of professional and collegiate sports properties, including Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, NASCAR and the College Football Playoff.
Its MLB agreement is valued at approximately $3.75 billion through 2028, while its NHL package is worth nearly $1.6 billion over a similar period.
WBD holds rights to the French Open under an agreement valued at approximately $65 million annually through 2034. Other properties include U.S. Soccer, Unrivaled women’s basketball, AEW wrestling, MotoGP, FIBA basketball and the FIA World Endurance Championship.
One notable sport missing from Skydance: National Basketball Association (NBA) games and tournaments, which left TNT Sports for Amazon’s Prime Video last season. CBS competitor NBC also began airing NBA games last season as part of a multi-year rights agreement with the league.
