StreamTime Sports Sports streaming 101: Launching and scaling a sports platform
Oct 1, 2025
David Guinan, an accomplished sports media executive with a background in niche platforms like the Cowboy Channel and Table Tennis TV, dives deep into the intricacies of launching a sports streaming service. He shares key lessons from his experience, including critical pre-launch decisions and strategies to handle subscriber growth. Guinan discusses how to balance paywall content with free offerings, common pitfalls to avoid, and the importance of a scrappy growth mindset. His insights into audience consolidation and innovative programming highlight the future of sports streaming.
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Scaling Brings New Pains
- David Guinan describes unexpected legal and operational challenges as Cowboy Channel grew, including a VPPA-style lawsuit over user data sharing.
- He learned each subscriber milestone brings a new layer of pain and complexity to manage.
Humbled By A Pro Match
- David recounts getting humiliated playing a former Olympian who beat him 11-1 while using a bottle opener as a joke.
- The experience convinced him table tennis is faster and more impressive live than he'd imagined.
Consolidation Elevates Niche Sports
- Table Tennis has global scale and spectator potential when packaged as consolidated, high-production content.
- Consolidating fragmented rights creates a single destination and elevates athlete profiles.
