This week the NBC Sports Group finally announced it will be dropping the Versus name and rebranding the cable network as NBC Sports Network on Jan. 2, 2012. The move may seem minor, but when it comes to branding in sports, there is a great deal in a name.
Currently, Versus is in a little more than 76 million homes nationwide as compared with ESPN and ESPN2, which log in at just under 100 million homes.
Versus started off as the Outdoor Life Network, but when Comcast invested so heavily in the NHL rights in 2005, it felt the network needed to be rebranded. Hence, it was relaunched under its new name.
While the NHL was the network’s signature programming, Versus also has carried the Tour de France, Indy Racing, Professional Bull Riders and college football games from the Pac-10 and the Mountain West. Still, the network had trouble convincing cable companies that it was a true sports network on the level of ESPN.
It is not like Versus did not try. Comcast came close to getting cable rights to some major league baseball games and the Thursday night football package that was kept in house at the NFL Network, but it fell short.
But as the NBC Sports Network, it can begin to make up that 24 million subscriber gap that separates it from the ESPN family of networks. Help will be on the way from NBC, one of the hallmark names in sports since TV started broadcasting sports back in the late 1930s.
The NBC Sports Network will serve as a 24-hour cable platform for NBC Sports’ rich heritage of storytelling, best-in-class production and broad promotional power. Many NBC Sports production and programming elements already have been introduced on Versus since the merger, such as adopting the “Inside the Glass” production philosophy for all its NHL games and adding horse racing and Notre Dame football-related programming. Viewers can expect to see even more changes in the future.
“This effort is a major step towards a complete strategic alignment of all our platforms and businesses,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of the NBC Sports Group. “This is more than just a name change for Versus. It’s a complete repositioning of the brand to provide value for marketers, consumers as well as all our affiliates and distributors. We want anyone who comes into contact with any of our assets to immediately connect with the NBC Sports brand promise.”
Examiner columnist Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this!
