The Rise of Live Sports in TV Ratings

Comedies, dramas, animation and reality may be Hollywood’s bread and butter, but when it comes to what Americans actually watch the most, it’s live sports — and now, an avalanche of shoulder programming to support it. As ESPN, NBCU and Amazon spend $76 billion on NBA games alone over the next 11 years, Manningcast spawns imitators and sports docs and series eat up space once reserved for scripted, Elaine Low, Sean McNulty and Natalie Jarvey reveal the aftershocks to traditional TV (hint: grab the hot dogs and peanuts). Then Dealmakers’ Ashley Cullins dives into the wild state of entertainment M&A right now, including why insiders are hyped about Hailey Bieber’s $1 billion Rhode sale, and what they’re saying about investors’ sudden interest in management companies, who’ll win the old media Hunger Games, and what in the world happens with Lionsgate.

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