Versant posts lower second quarter revenues and profits after Comcast spinoff. The CNBC and MS NOW owner, led by Mark Lazarus, has raised its full-year 2026 revenues and EBITDA guidance for the second half of the year. August 6, 2026 4:02am Versant, the cable TV-focused spinoff from NBCUniversal that runs CNBC, MS NOW, USA, Golf Channel and other assets, reported lower second earnings on lower revenue and public company costs from its Comcast separation. Now solo Versant reported revenue for the quarter to June 30 at $1.64 billion, down 3.8 percent from $1.7 billion in the same period of 2025. In that revenue mix, linear distribution was down 6.3 percent to $954 million, as Versant continues to navigate a declining pay TV landscape. Advertising revenue at $423 million was down just under 1 percent from the year-earlier period when ad revenue dropped 13 percent. Platforms revenue grew 0.8 percent to $212 million, and content licensing revenue was unchanged at $43 million. Net income attributable to Versant was down 30 percent at $211 million due to lower overall revenues and one-time costs following the separation from Comcast, including higher tax expenses after the divestiture of SportsEngine. The adjusted EBITDA fell 9 percent to $624 million. Versant is looking to move beyond traditional pay TV channels to invest more in streaming TV platforms and new digital business lines. "Together, these investments extend our audience reach and build upon the foundation of of our iconic, highly cash-generative brands," Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told analysts during a morning call in prepared remarks. Versant is creating direct-to-consumer extensions for CNBC and MS NOW as both platforms have strong brands and engaged audiences, Lazarus said. He also discussed a recent overhaul of Fandango to battle Tubi, Pluto and Roku Channel in the free, advertising-based video-on-demand arena. "AVOD is one of the fastest growing areas in media, and we enjoy clear advantages from the well known Fandango brand: broad, connected TV distribution, rich first-party data and unique and exclusive content," Lazarus argued. "Where we aspire to move this... is to really create a comprehensive entertainment platform where consumers under one brand can buy films or TV series, watch for free at home with differentiated and exclusive content, and with Rotten Tomatoes it's really a great discovery platform," he added. Versant said it was raising both revenues and EBITDA guidance for the second half of the year. The full-year outlook for 2026 will see total revenue of between $6.2 billion and $6.45 billion, while the adjusted EBITDA will come in between $1.9 billion and $2.05 billion. You May Like

Fandango to be overhauled in bid to rival free streamers like Tubi and Pluto (exclusive). The Versant-owned media company is adding content, changing the brand name and adding new features to grab marketshare free ad-supported streaming space. July 15, 2026 9:00am Versant wants to battle Tubi, Pluto and Roku Channel in a bid for free streaming scale. The media company is overhauling its free streaming service, dropping the "Fandango At Home" branding in favor of a streamlined "Fandango" name, and adding a slew of new content and features as it seeks to grow a meaningful streaming business. Fandango, of course, may be best known as the movie ticket service, selling tickets to new release films across the country. It also has a robust PVOD offering, renting out films that recently left theaters to users at home. The free streaming service is more nascent, but Versant executives say that simply by quietly ramping up the content in recent weeks, the service's engagement has quietly been rising. This week, the company will roll out a full-fledged marketing effort under the tagline "We Love Free" to try and drive users to the rebooted offering, which Versant president of entertainment Val Boreland says will have a 20 percent-plus increase in the number of titles and hours available to stream, including 3,500 hours of Versant-owned content. "We have many hours of content, but now we're focusing on increasing the quality of content we have," Boreland says in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "So we're really focused on growing our premium content library. We're curating with hit movies and fan favorite franchises, popular television series. We'll also have sports programming." That sports programming will include Bundesliga, Germany's top soccer league, which inked a deal with USA Sports on Tuesday. It's safe to assume other sports will eventually follow. Boreland says that the service will ultimately also have original entertainment fare as well, though Versant will take its time to do so. "We'll build a slate that's rooted in our own IP and complemented by programming that aligns with what we what we know our audiences will be looking for," she says. According to Will McIntosh, Versant's president of digital platforms, the explosive growth of other free streaming platforms was a big part of why the company is choosing to invest in the space. "Obviously the market has been validated by some of the largest players, Tubi probably most prominently in that," he says, also noting the success of Pluto and Roku Channel, among others. But Versant plans to lean into Fandango's brand identity of new and recent theatrical films to help stand out, as well as its millions of consumers who have accounts to purchase movie tickets or movies at home. "What we think differentiates us from all those different players is that we have this theatrical-adjacent brand that no one else has," McIntosh says. "Any given month we have 50 million consumers who visit either Fandango or Rotten Tomatoes to figure out what they want to watch, whether that is at the movies or at home, and will lean into those as a megaphone." "Where Fandango has a unique advantage is that we can bring audiences in through recent theatrical releases," adds Boreland. "That's something that the others don't really get to take advantage of with our movie library, that offering that we have." Suffice it to say visitors to those websites or apps will be encouraged to check out the revamped streaming service. And the company is pouring resources into an enhanced product offering too, from content recommendations to ad tech. "From an advertising perspective our goal is to have a better experience than what people have today, lower ad loads and ad units and experiences that don't detract from consumption," says McIntosh. "We're going to invest in a very strong recommendation strategy that will help people find the next thing that they love and keep them engaged within the Fandango ecosystem," adds Boreland. "So in some ways, it's similar to what platforms like a Pluto or Tubi have done, but where Fandango has an advantage is the relationship we already have with millions of transactional customers." Longer-term, the goal is to turn Fandango into the heart of Versant's streaming strategy, at least for entertainment and sports, a strategy that will ultimately impact the company's larger entertainment output. "We definitely have obligations to our pay-TV ecosystem, but I also think that windowing is really going to be where we use our strategy to the fullest," Boreland says. "Not everything needs to be on Fandango right away, but it does need to be there at some point. We're also not precious about it living on a third-party platform as well. If our biggest concern is bringing awareness to our content and getting it in front of as many eyeballs as possible wherever that should be, a priority for us is building this Fandango AVOD service, so you will see all of our content eventually end up on that on that platform in some windowing strategy."

Versant inks $530 million deal for sports tech company Full Swing. The tech company, best known for its advanced golf simulators, will expand the Golf Channel owner's presence in the tech and analytics space. July 6, 2026 5:00am Versant has cut an agreement for its biggest acquisition yet: a $530 million deal to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company. Full Swing is best known for its advanced golf simulators, tracking and analytics software, though it also plays in other sports like baseball. Versant is paying $530 million in cash for the company, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. Versant is buying Full Swing from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investors. The deal will bolster the company's Golf vertical, which is anchored by Golf Channel, arguably Versant's flagship sports property, and the business line that CEO Mark Lazarus touts as the best example of where he wants to take the rest of the company. Versant's Golf business, after all, has the linear cable channel, but also GolfPass, a subscription and golf instruction product, as well as GolfNow, which provides software to book tee times and help golf courses manage reservations. "Our golf business is nearly 50% pay TV and 50% other revenue and profit. And that is a goal for us against those other verticals as well, where we're more heavily dependent today on the pay TV revenue," Lazarus said on the Mixed Signals podcast last year. "So that's kind of why it's the model home for what we're trying to do across the rest of the businesses." Full Swing adds advanced analytics and performance data, as well as Full Swing's simulator entertainment business, to that portfolio. Versant has been seeking deals for companies that can tuck into its existing verticals, as it has done with Free TV Networks to its entertainment business, and StockStory, which it folded into CNBC. That said, executives at the company have also expressed interest in adding other linear businesses, provided they fit into their go-forward strategy. You May Like