New Golf Channel execution increases in growth opportunities, talks about USA deal

How did the Golf Channel start one of the most radical changes in its 30-year history?

Changing absolutely nothing.

On Tuesday, Golf Channel and its new parent company, Versant, announced that it had signed the first rights agreement in the new history of Behemoth, a 6-year deal with USA To keep each of his 15 championships in the same network that they have called a home in a form for the last three decades. News marked the first major announcement of any kind for veant, the collection of NBC and Comcast cable channels that will be Officially “spin” by ombrela Comcast Later this year.

The USA Agreement is a suitable microcosm of the moment for the verant, holding a long partner with Golf Channel while officializing the company’s goal to stay the course on cable TV. The announcement calms some external concerns that versant may seek to sell or dramatically adjust its collection of cable TV assets in response to the structural unrest of the cable business in the broadcasting age. Instead, she suggests that Versant aims to revitalize her cable assets, doubled the fall (but still lucrative) enterprise while using the force of its cable channel collection to seek new investments.

Golf Channel, who will be moved to the new year ownership, is one of the leading players in that strategy. In many ways, Verant hopes that the new “new” golf channel will look similar to the old one, continuing to bring direct golf tournaments and important studio coverage for viewers across the country while supporting complementary businesses like Golfpass and Golfnow. To execute that strategy, Golf Channel needs programming like USA, said Matt Hong, Versant’s new president, in an interview with Cnbc‘S Alex Sherman.

“We will continue to be active for high -level, high -level sports programming, such as the USA, or as a USGA rights group we announced today,” Hong said. “This is our main business, and we will continue to invest in our essential business. But we will also invest in growing our digital properties. linear. ”

Corporatespeak aside, Hong’s response suggests that Verant is armed to make future investments in the media. A reliable area for those investments is in sports, where Golf Channel, CNBC and USA Network have accumulated some assets, and where there are still real financial stubborn ones for Linear TV businesses. In recent months, some have suggested that Versant may see to join another sports entity to gather some other TV rights groups, following a recent Dragon of Linear TV profits.

But Hong said at the moment, a union was out of the picture.

“I don’t know that we will join an entity that has sports rights only because we have a lot of programming to help run our linear business,” Hong said. “I think the future will be purchasing – inorganic purchases, which help diversify our income flows.

It is generally believed that any long -term success plan for a cable television business will be comprehensive broadcasting, which is where most of the media growth has taken place in the last decade. Despite the USGA signature in a TV deal, Hong did not discuss this fact.

“We still believe a lot in the strength of the linear networks we have for sharing the sport, but also for all of the veant including CNBC. We are also not blind to the reality of how sports fans consume the media,” Hong said. “So although this agreement (USA) is exclusively linear, we will also have streams that you will be able to see at Golfchannel.com at the beginning of next year, and more to talk about broadcasting in the face of the next few years.”

On the topic of broadcasting, Hong suggested that Versant could see to license some of their best linear TV content for streaming companies. Some partnerships may be comprehensive of Corporate (current) corporate partners in the peacock, but some may come outside the NBCU umbrella.

“All the other things are equal, we would like to continue working with him and partner with NBCU and Palua going forward,” Hong said. “I think one of the unique things about being public companies shared here is soon that we will be able to partner potentially with Peacock, but we will also be able to partners with other third -party broadcasters in situations when a group of rights may or cannot work for peacocks, but we will have them in the Versant. We have not necessarily been freedom for the partner. “But we love them.

For Hong, the most valuable word for versant today is track. For all pearl pieces about the crash of cable TV, most of the verse assets remain strong financial (if they fall with the cord cutting trend). While Comcast had no organizational patience to navigate the decline and repositioning for the future, the versant remains specialized in cable TV for that reason.

“I think we have a strong business. We have $ 7 billion in annual income and flux of healthy cash. I also think the reason people are allocated to linear television are asset as those that exist in CNBC,” Hong said. “We have had strong news asset, and we had strong sports wealth that I am particularly partial. And I think this provides us with a runway to see how we can evolve this business through inorganic growth and I think it will be a focus on our company. For us in sports sharing, this will be a focus and I think about it – for all our company.”

In other words, the winds of change are blowing on the Golf Channel HQ-but in the short term, it will certainly not look like that.