CBS launched a free streaming sports news channel, CBS Sports HQ, on Monday in advance of the network’s spring coverage of the NCAA March Madness men’s basketball tournament and the Masters golf major.
Chairman and CEO Les Moonves had touted the coming of the over-the-top (OTT) sports streaming network last August and, on an earnings call earlier this month, said CBS Sports HQ would be “complementary” to its existing linear sports content. The new offering will include live anchored coverage and draw on all the company’s sports properties — CBS Sports, CBSSports.com, 247Sports, SportsLine, CBS Sports Fantasy and MaxPreps — for news, highlights, analysis and more.
CBS holds March Madness streaming rights through 2032 as well as several shorter term sports deals for PGA Tour, NCAA, SEC football and the NFL, including Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
The news vertical, CBSN, debuted in 2014 and, Moonves said, captures nearly 80 percent of its viewership from the 18-to-49 demographic with a median age of 38; it had 287 million streams in 2017, up 17 percent from 2016. Two other CBS direct-to-consumer services, CBS All Access and Showtime OTT, have nearly 5 million combined subscriptions.
“CBS Sports HQ is another key step in the evolution of the CBS Corporation,” Moonves said in a press release. “From CBS All Access to Showtime OTT to CBSN, we are creating best-in-class direct-to-consumer streaming platforms that are positioning us to be leaders in the future of premium content distribution. Thanks to the collaboration of CBS Interactive and CBS Sports, I am confident that CBS Sports HQ will become our latest success story in that regard.”
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The network most of its linear channel’s broadcasters, reporters and analysts would be involved with CBS Sports HQ, as well as all of its digital writers and analysts.
“CBS Sports HQ offers fans a new, always-on, easily accessible way to digitally consume sports news and highlights, with the quality coverage, reporting and analysis they expect from CBS Sports,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said. “It’s a terrific platform for us, as we extend the CBS Sports portfolio reaching the growing audience of young viewers who get much of their news and information on digital platforms.”