CBS President and Acting CEO Joe Ianniello is all in on the network’s chances of retaining NFL rights when the current TV contracts expire after the 2023 season. Ianniello, speaking at the Credit Suisse Annual Communications Conference on June 5, said the parties have mutually benefited from each other. He acknowledges the league can go in a lot of different directions, as it has with Amazon and Twitter simulcasting Thursday Night Football. Still, Ianniello said the NFL’s core audience, its “bread-and-butter,” has been broadcast and “they figured out a way to have it on three broadcast networks and a cable network. I think they understand the vast reach of what we provide to them and the production capabilities we have. We fully anticipate we’ll be partners for a long, long time.”
Ianniello is also taking a long view when it comes to sports betting, which he noted has been legalized in seven states, including Pennsylvania, where the company owns two stations that are already generating millions in advertising revenue. “As that expands, I think there’s a huge advertising opportunity, again, particularly in local advertising,” he said. Down the road, Ianniello believes the company’s SportsLine business will become a bigger platform for CBS Sports: “We’re having multiple discussions with several partners on that to make sure we get the opportunity right, but it’s going to have to be legalized in more than seven states I think to be big…But it appears to be on its way.”
