Yahoo Announces Another Content Deal, This Time With NBC Sports

Yahoo! Sports and NBC Sports Group just announced a content alliance that will cover news, fantasy and video coverage of sports events. In a press release, the two said that the deal will combine “Yahoo! Sports’ original reporting expertise, coverage of big events, Rivals’ college content and popular fantasy sports products with NBC Sports Group’s growing digital assets, and significant television promotion and integration.”

This is the latest of several high-profile partnerships that Yahoo has announced since just before CEO Marissa Mayer took the helm. In a July interview with Ad Age before he quit the company, Jim Heckman, former chief of strategy and emerging businesses, said content deals are part of Yahoo’s bid to be seen as less “uncool” by younger users. Though Heckman left in August after Mayer came on board, Yahoo is still aggressively pursuing partnerships. In October, it signed a deals with CBS Television for video content from CBS’s celebrity gossip and entertainment news The Insider and investment tracking startup SigFig.

It’s also interesting to note that NBC parted ways in July with Microsoft after 16 years of working on their joint news venture MSNBC.com (which NBC kept).

Both Yahoo and NBC say they will continue to maintain separate sites and editorial control of their newsrooms and digital properties. They will collaborate on premium sports news and events coverage online and on the air.

According to the press release, the alliance covers:

  •  Original Video Programming Concepts: Yahoo! Sports and NBC Sports will work together to develop original made-for-web video programs that will appear on both Yahoo! Sports and NBCSports.com featuring fan favorites from among the award-winning editorial teams’ rosters, including: NBC Sports host and Emmy Award-winning commentator Bob Costas: video sports news interviews and editorials; Football Night in America’s Tony Dungy & Rodney Harrison: video segments during NFL season; Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com: daily, weekday NFL web show, Pro Football Talk Live
  • Rivals on Recruiting: weekly college recruiting show with Rivals and NBC Sports talent.
  • Live Streaming: Yahoo! Sports will link to and promote the NBC Sports Live Extra video player. Fans will be able to watch live streams of some of NBC’s biggest events, starting with Sunday Night Football and NHL Game of the Week. Live content from NBC Sports Network will continue to be distributed through NBC Sports Live Extra on a TV Everywhere basis.
  • Fantasy Sports: Yahoo! Sports, the leading fantasy platform, will become the exclusive fantasy game provider of NBC Sports’ Rotoworld, the premiere fantasy news and information site. This will include Yahoo! Sports’ fantasy experiences for football, baseball, hockey, soccer, College Bowl Pick’em and Tourney Pick’em.
  • Rivals.com: The college sports destination will power recruiting and college sporting news for NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports Regional Networks.
  • NBC Sports Regional Networks: The authentic, local sports properties will serve as Yahoo! Sports’ preferred content provider in relevant markets, and integrate Yahoo! Sports’ team pages, fantasy experts and sports talent.