British Open and BCS on ESPN?

General media consolidation hit its zenith after Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Though a few years behind, we may be seeing the harbingers of a similar dynamic taking hold in the realm of sports media. For years, coverage of major sporting events has been covered by CBS, NBC and Fox. ESPN began challenging the major players in the sports industry by introducing 24/7 sports news. Now they’re really starting to flex their muscles.

The first rep comes following the news of Turner Sports officially withdrawing from their bid to renew its rights to golf’s British Open—one the Tour’s four major tournaments. Such a move would put an end to over 50 years of consecutive broadcasting on Turner’s ABC channel. This move all but clears the way for ESPN to come in and pick up exclusive rights to covering the tournament across the pond. ESPN has been showing early-round play for the last several years, but the new deal would see ESPN shelling out $25 million per year for the next seven years to put all four rounds on cable TV.

ESPN is launching an even more impressive bid to secure the rights to all of the BCS college football games, including the national championship game. If the move is successful, it would be the first time that an entire championship “series” was not broadcast, at least partially, on over-the-air networks. Though ESPN’s offer is significantly larger than the one Fox is currently tendering, Fox still has time to accept BCS’s rate-hike demand. BCS is requiring of Fox a 50% increase to a $125 million per year but Fox is holding at a 25% raise. Despite these facts, Sports Business Daily says it’s unlikely that Fox will budge. Thus though we may get more games in HD, there will be less viewers and less demeaning BCS talk from ESPN’s talking heads.