Three weeks after the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger closed, Skydance Corporation has emerged as the dominant force in live sports television. The combined company now holds 36 unique premium sports rights properties, according to a TheDesk.net analysis published Thursday. Its nearest rival, Comcast with NBCU and Versant combined, holds 19.
The portfolio is substantial. The NFL on CBS runs roughly $2.1 billion per year through 2033. NCAA March Madness is now exclusive to Skydance at about $1.1 billion annually through 2032. The UFC deal totals $7.7 billion over seven years. MLB and NHL rights run through 2028 at $3.75 billion and nearly $1.6 billion respectively. The French Open comes in at $65 million per year through 2034. College football rights span the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West, Big 12, and Big East, plus the College Football Playoff.
The one notable gap: the NBA. TNT Sports held NBA rights for decades, but the league moved its new deal to Amazon Prime Video and NBC. Skydance enters this era without basketball.
Co-CEOs David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz have positioned sports as central to the company's linear television business. David Berson, former CBS Sports CEO, was named chair of the Skydance Global Sports Group, reporting to George Cheeks, co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance TV. In a company memo, according to Front Office Sports, Cheeks described sports as "an important part of Skydance, adding value for internal and external stakeholders." Luis Silberwasser, who ran TNT Sports, is departing.
The company carries roughly $80 billion in debt. UBS analysts have noted that the combined rights portfolio gives Skydance more capacity to absorb expected increases in NFL rights fees when current opt-outs expire after the 2029 season. Whether that scale becomes leverage or liability depends on whether streaming growth outpaces the decline in linear television.