US media group NBCUniversal launched NBC Sports Network, a re-branding of the Versus cable channel, on January 2.
Jon Miller, the channel’s president of programming, said the new service would be “radically different over time” [to Versus] and would broadcast more live events, news and talk shows than before.
The channel rebranding is part of a broader brand integration strategy from media company Comcast, which completed its takeover of the NBC network in January 2011. “When we took over Versus there was a lot of programming on the network that we didn’t think was consistent with what NBC Sports was about, and so the first thing we did was we jettisoned some properties,” Miller said.
Miller added that, following the takeover, the newly-merged company had made a commitment to broadcasting premium content by extending a rights deal for the NHL for 10 years from 2011-12 to 2020-21, acquiring rights for Major League Soccer and starting to create more original programming.