Comcast eyeing Warner Bros. Discovery purchase will have significant ramifications for global sports industry says GlobalData

Conrad Wiacek, Head of Sport Analysis at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“Comcast purchasing the newly created WBD to create a new media giant could have significant ramifications both in the US and in Europe for the sports media rights media landscape, with fewer broadcasters competing for media rights and potentially impacting rights fees moving forward. Consolidation of the market is likely going to leave three significant players in the US and Europe, with Comcast, Disney and Amazon owning most sports rights between them. While Apple have made moves into Sports rights in the US, consolidation will likely impact smaller sports with fewer opportunities for broadcast, potentially leading more sports to create D2C platforms.

“Comcast owns both Premier League and Olympic rights in the US, while Discovery has the global rights outside of the US for the Olympics. WBD has already merged with BT Sport in the UK and should this merger go ahead, Comcast would own most English Premier League rights in the two most significant markets as well (having paid in excess of $7 billion for rights) as well as global rights to the Olympic Games, for which it paid over $7billion in the US through to 2032. For premium sports rights such as the Premier League, these leagues and sports could gain massive increases in rights fees as the likes of Amazon look to secure more content.”