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A New ESPN Chapter & Versant Notes

At next week’s upfronts, NBCU’s Mark Lazarus will be selling the synergistic post-linear potential of Versant, formerly known as SpinCo, while ESPN prepares Flagship for its maiden voyage.

Jimmy Pitaro
On a quarterly earnings call this week, Iger said that ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro would reveal the name and pricing strategy for ESPN “Flagship”—the streaming service that will integrate ESPN’s core linear offerings with all the additional ESPN+ content, while allegedly serving as a sort of streaming hub for sports—at the upfront. Photo: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
May 7, 2025

Next week, the nation’s largest TV networks and streamers will treat their advertising partners to a showcase of their forthcoming content slates: new shows, returning shows, sporting events, etcetera. The upfronts—a once-opulent, multiday wine-and-dine affair across greater Midtown, from Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden to the Beacon Theatre and Hammerstein Ballroom—has become a bit more subdued in the post-Covid late-stage linear era. But it remains a cornerstone of the business: a tussle for advertising commitments fought with sizzle reels and diminishing expense accounts.