Comcast’s NBCUniversal to shut down sports cable channel NBCSN by year-end

NBCUniversal is shutting down its NBCSN sports cable channel at the end of the year and migrating much of its programming to its sister general entertainment network in the United States, the company said.

The high-end properties on NBCSN are the National Hockey League and Nascar Auto Racing, which will begin to transition to USA Network this year. Some content will remain on both channels until NBCSN officially turns off the lights. NBCUniversal informed staff members of the plan on Friday afternoon in a corporate note.

“We are more committed than ever to living the sport as a business, and having a platform as large as USA Network delivering some of our major sports content is great for our partners, distributors, viewers and advertisers,” said NBC Sports Group Chairman Pete Bevacqua.

By putting high performance sports on USA Network, NBCUniversal – a unit of Comcast Corp. – hopes to solve two problems in a single gesture: getting rid of an underperforming asset and increasing an already strong asset. The Premier Soccer League will also have matches on the USA.

NBCSN has struggled to compete with bigger rivals such as Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN and Fox Corp’s Fox Sports cable network. Although it has a broad national reach, its ratings are pale compared to its competitors. Fox Corp. and News Corp, parent company of the Wall Street Journal, share common ownership.