Tom Rogers, former President of @NBC Cable and a leading thinker in media strategy, explains why sports has become the ultimate battleground between streaming platforms and traditional TV. As streaming services grow more reliant on advertising revenue, they increasingly view live sports as essential for driving distribution, engagement, and high-value ad sales. 📈💰 At the same time, sports remains the strongest broad-appeal content in the traditional cable and broadcast world, keeping linear #tv alive with massive, real-time audiences. This dual importance has created an intense bidding environment where both digital platforms and legacy networks are fighting for the same premium rights. ⚡📡 Companies that operate in both ecosystems, straddling linear and digital, feel especially pressured to secure these rights, knowing that sports is one of the few content categories capable of anchoring their entire distribution strategy. The result: skyrocketing competition, bigger deals, and un...