AT&T’s Turner will share overall rights with Disney’s ESPN, which struck a seven-year deal with the NHL in March that will give it control over a larger share of national games and other NHL properties.
Turner is likely to pay around $200 million a year for its NHL package, and ESPN is believed to be paying around $400 million — compared with the $200 million per year that NBC was paying the league for sole control of TV rights.
Warner’s current sports related content:
NBA on TNT
MLB on TBS
NCAA March Madness (shared control w/ViacomCBS)
The Match – celebrity golf tournament
All Elite Wrestling
One Championship – mixed martial arts
Talk Shows: Real Sports w/ Bryant Gumbel / Back on the Record with Bob Costas
Sports observers will want to see if a Turner deal with the NHL comes with any sort of streaming rights for HBO Max, the streaming video hub which has become one of AT&T’s top business priorities.
Adding hockey to the mix indicates sports is very, very much central to their programming strategy going forward.
An announcement is scheduled in the next few days.