New Golf Channel chief speaks on community’s future, PGA Tour buy

It’s a brand new yr and in addition a brand new daybreak at Golf Channel.

The cable community enters January initially of a brand-new period after its longtime house owners at Comcast introduced Golf Channel as certainly one of a number of networks spun off into a brand new cable bundle. For the primary time, the person liable for ushering in that future, Mark Lazarus, has spoken about his imaginative and prescient for the longer term, which is the place issues start in at present’s Sizzling Mic.

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‘THE NETWORK OF RECORD‘

Lazarus, chief government of the brand new firm for now named SpinCo, gave a putting vote of confidence for Golf Channel in an interview with SBJ’s Josh Carpenter. Lazarus recommended that Comcast’s resolution to spin off Golf Channel had no bearing on the well being of the enterprise, and emphasised his optimism for the community’s future within the cord-cutting period.

“Golf Channel was earlier than, is now and can stay the community of report for all issues golf,” Lazarus stated. “I’m as assured in Golf Channel’s future as I’ve been previously.”

Lazarus indicated that a lot remains to be fluid for the brand new firm, which is anticipated to start operations later this yr. For instance, SpinCo will nonetheless have to determine the place to broadcast its productions from, and learn how to allocate expertise who’ve spent the final a number of years working for each NBC and Golf Channel. However the huge headline? His imaginative and prescient for Golf Channel’s future is current inside the brand new enterprise, not being offered out from beneath it.

MONEY MATTERS

Finally, Golf Channel should pay somebody for studio house to conduct its operations. The PGA Tour constructed a glistening new constructing in Florida for exactly this objective, however Lazarus indicated the community might additionally look to remain within the Stamford space, the place a lot of its employees is positioned. (“They did say in case you want house, now we have some,” Lazarus stated.)

As for dealing with expertise, Lazarus indicated that Golf Channel would look to signal current expertise to contracts that allowed them to cross over between NBC and Golf Channel.

“We’re not going to harm one enterprise for the betterment of one other,” he stated.

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BIG MONEY

As we first wrote in December, Lazarus has the advantage of stepping right into a enterprise crammed with worthwhile belongings. The issue is that SpinCo’s networks are seeing their income dwindle as audiences transfer in direction of streaming and away from conventional cable tv. Comcast chief government Brian Roberts determined the telecoms big was higher off letting a smaller, leaner firm navigate the uneven waters in cable’s future, however tapped an all-star crew of government expertise to go the enterprise, led by Lazarus, a longtime NBC Sports activities collaborator.

That will appear to point that Lazarus et al. plan to leverage the collective power of SpinCo’s cable networks in constructing a brand new product, however that method is a secret for now. Will SpinCo be solely a cable enterprise, or might it look to broaden into streaming? Will it bundle the choices collectively below a unified value, like the brand new sports activities streamer Venu, or present direct-to-consumer choices, like ESPN?

After all, these questions result in bigger strategic ones. May Lazarus look to unload the sports activities properties like Golf Channel to an keen investor? May he look to boost non-public capital that will rework the form of the Golf Channel enterprise? And naturally, might Golf Channel look to vary the form of its core enterprise? All choices are nonetheless on the desk.

STRATEGY

In his interview with Carpenter, Lazarus repeatedly winked on the concept of Golf Channel mixing its present linear choices with the explosive world of YouTube golf. These aren’t the phrases of somebody seeking to unload Golf Channel IP to the PGA Tour, as has been rumored for years. When requested straight about it, Lazarus demurred, saying there “haven’t been any discussions in regards to the PGA Tour, or anybody else for that matter, shopping for Golf Channel.”