Under the deal WCSN, which is owned by private equity firm InterMedia Partners, will now be known as Universal Sports. NBC Universal made an unspecified investment in the company and will assume joint control with InterMedia Partners. Universal Sports will continue to be run by its management team Claude Ruibal and Carlos Silva.
NBC Universal officials have promised to aggressively increase WCSN’s two million subscriber base over the next year. The partnership kicks off Thursday with webcasting the early-round Olympic Trials for gymnastics and diving.
WCSN has rights deals with many, but not all, Olympic sports federations, including track and field, gymnastics, swimming, World Cup skiing, beach volleyball and curling.
"The whole vision of this is that we can give the fans 24/7 access to these sports," Silva said.
