It seems Sports Illustrated is jumping in on the cord cutting bandwagon with a new subscription video service.
The service will play home to original series, documentaries, analysis from SI’s roster of experts, fantasy sports shows and live and on-demand programming from sports and entertainment events and the brand’s extensions like the Swimsuit Issue and the annual Sportsperson of the Year celebration. SI Group publications like GOLF and The MMQB will also produce content for the platform.
It seems that Sports Illustrated is going to try and target the cord cutting sports fans who wants their sports coverage without having to pay for a live TV service like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, or DIRECTV NOW.
“We had all this great long-form content and we needed a better platform for it, frankly. One that we had greater control over. Of course we could pursue licensing deals but we wanted one of our own platforms that was something more than just putting it on SI.com,” Stone told FierceOnlineVideo. “With OTT, we think there’s a real opportunity to create a platform that aligns with the quality of the video we’re creating.”
The only question now is how this will effect the Sports Illustrated Roku Channel that already offers both long and short form sports coverage.
Please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news, tips, and reviews.
Need cord cutting tech support? Join our new Cord Cutting Tech Support Facebook Group for help.