Amazon Starting Its Own Line Of Sports Talk Shows

Certainly at some point during the football season this year you have heard a friend or family member moan and groan about how certain NFL games are only being played on Amazon’s streaming platform. 

Well, any hopes of it being a one-off, and the company not diving further into the sports world, appear to be fading. That’s because it was reported this week that Amazon is going to be starting its own line of sports talk shows, according to the New York Post.  

The company is going to debut 7 shows between the hours of 8AM and 8PM, the report says. Instead of mining popular sports figures from elsewhere, the report says it is taking a “Moneyball” approach and attempting to go with young up-and-comers in the industry. 

Hosts will include names like Cari Champion, Master Tesfatsion and Rennae Stubbs, and the shows will air for free for those that already have Amazon Prime Video. The platform’s flagship “Sports Talk” will try to have more of a global focus than ESPN, the report says. 

Amazon is shooting for later this week to debut its lineup. Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of Global Sports Video, commented to The Post: “We think there is an opportunity for new emerging voices and a positive, uplifting take on sports.”

“We are dipping our toe. We’re testing and learning, but we are very excited about it,” she continued.

The shows will not feature highlights, the NY Post reports. Donoghue continued: “We want to push the talent and the producers to take this approach and have more deeper and interesting conversations. Nothing is set in stone so we will iterate and adapt, but that’s how we want to go out.”