Score Media inks college sports programming deal with Fox

Jan
10

Quarterly numbers show slip in profits

Sports specialty broadcaster Score Media is adding to its U.S. college sports coverage, inking what it describes as a "long-term" programming agreement with Fox International Sports Channels.

The agreement - which commenced early this month - includes a minimum of 250 hours per year of U.S. collegiate sports coverage from leading college conferences including the Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference and Conference USA.

In addition to college football and basketball, the deal also includes live coverage of "top-flight" collegiate hockey programs including the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin and the University of North Dakota.

Benjie Levy, Score Media's executive vice-president and chief operating officer, said the partnership will enable the company's sports specialty channel The Score to "enhance" its NCAA basketball and football coverage while at the same adding U.S. college hockey to its programming mix.

While Score Media has previously partnered with Fox on soccer programming, this marks the first time the two companies have come together on a U.S. college sports package. Levy wouldn't disclose how many hours of live sports coverage is currently aired by The Score, but the schedule currently includes NBA coverage, Serie A soccer from Italy as well as WWE coverage.

"I wouldn't say it's a material amount of new content, but we think it's high-quality content that helps round out our schedule," said Levy. "Our advertisers are always looking for great solutions to reach young audiences, and that's who gravitates to the type of programming we air."

Today's announcement accompanies the release of first quarter results for Score Media showing that the company's first quarter profits slipped to $1.9 million from $2.7 million a year earlier - the result of increased expenditures on personnel and technology to support what it characterized as "significant growth" for its digital media platforms.

Revenues for the three-month period ending Nov. 30 were up 14% to a record high $13.4 million, with broadcast revenues for its 24-hour sports specialty channel The Score accounting for $12.4 million of that total.

Digital media revenues for the quarter were also an all-time high $1 million.

The independent media company is claiming "record" audience growth for its digital media assets, with its ScoreMobile applications averaging 3.3 million unique users per month, a 60% increase from the year-earlier period.

site averaged 1.2 million unique visitors per month in the quarter, an increase of approximately 700,000 from the year-earlier period.

"We're very pleased with our first quarter," said Levy, who noted that Score Media's digital group has grown in size from 50 to about 100 employees over the past year. "We're investing heavily in this group and we're expecting it to deliver significant results."

The company also opened a digital media sales office in New York and Chicago, and named Ethan Ross to the position of vice-president of digital sales. Ross, a former vice-president of mobile advertising sales with Baltimore, based Millennial Media and VP of digital sales with XOS Sports, will be responsible for Score Media's U.S. digital media sales strategy.