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As sports betting fever continues to grip the U.S, The E.W. Scripps Co. can’t stop laying its own bets on over-the-air. In December, the company announced the formation of a new unit, Scripps Sports, that will look to leverage its OTA Ion networks (the nation’s fifth largest) to start picking off leagues and teams from regional sports networks as their contracts begin to expire there.
In this Talking TV conversation, Brian Lawlor, a veteran Scripps executive and new head of the division, explains the company’s plan to lure sports franchises with the prospect of 100% local reach via broadcast versus the dwindling audience RSNs face with cord cutting and audience belt-tightening.
Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.
Michael Depp: Last month, the E.W. Scripps Company announced it’s launching a new sports division. The aim is that Scripps will look to leverage its local market depth and national broadcast reach for partnerships with sports leagues, conferences and teams.
I’m Michael Depp, editor of TVNewsCheck, and this is Talking TV, the podcast that brings you smart conversations about the business of broadcasting. Today, that conversation is with Brian Lawlor, a veteran Scripps executive who’s now president of the new Scripps Sports division. We’ll be discussing just what this is going to look like and the thinking behind it. We’ll be right back.
Welcome, Brian Lawlor, to Talking TV.
Brian Lawlor: Michael, good to see you. Happy holidays.
Happy holidays to you, Brian. I must confess that after reading several stories about the launch of