Comcast debuts soccer-focused video package ahead of World Cup
Comcast has priced the offering, called "World Soccer Ticket", at $85 a month. The bundle includes nearly 60 broadcast, cable news, and sports channels, along with a premium subscription of NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service.
As cord cutting continues to hit traditional TV revenue, live sports content has emerged as one of the few formats that still draw millions of eyeballs and boost advertising demand.
The package comes ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. Every match of the quadrennial tournament will be available in English on Fox and in Spanish across Telemundo, Universo, and Peacock, Comcast said on Wednesday.
The plan will also offer live coverage of major international leagues and competitions, including Premier League, UEFA Champions League, LaLiga, Liga MX and CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Besides, the package will include live coverage of other major sports and leagues like the NFL and NBA on the package's networks and Peacock.
Customers can access the package through X1 set-top box and Xfinity Stream TV app on supported platforms like Apple TV and Fire TV.
Comcast's new offering is expected to drive demand for its networks like NBC and boost subscriber growth for its flagship streaming platform, Peacock, which had 41 million paid subscribers at the end of June, far fewer than rival platforms.
Media companies are aggressively pursuing major sports deals to strengthen their streaming platforms. The newly merged Paramount secured exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years in a $7.7 billion deal on Monday.
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The US lumber industry filed a petition to re-impose high fees on Canadian exports, and the Commerce Department in 2017 announced combined countervailing and anti-dumping duties of 20.8 per cent. The World Trade Organization in 2020 largely backed Canada's claim that the US's levies were unfair. The fees, which are re-evaluated every year, now total 35.19 per cent. Mr Carney's latest pledge of financial support could deepen the dispute, potentially leading to yet higher US duties in the future. The US Lumber Coalition said it will ask the Commerce Department to look at whether Canadian companies 'received a distortive benefit' from the aid. How is Trump escalating the dispute? 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Mr Eby, the British Columbia Premier, told Bloomberg that a quota deal between the countries would give the US access to affordable building materials while securing jobs for Canadian workers. But it is still unclear how the US government would respond to such a proposal. Can the US just product more lumber instead of importing it? The US has large swaths of unexploited forests, and Mr Trump committed to expanding domestic timber production in his March executive order that directed federal agencies to streamline permitting and reduce regulatory limits. The US has 'more than adequate' resources to meet 'timber production needs, but heavy-handed Federal policies have prevented full utilisation of these resources and made us reliant on foreign producers,' Mr Trump said in the order. To comply with that directive, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in April placed nearly 45.7 million hectares – 59 per cent of all federally managed forest – under an emergency determination aimed at giving the government more latitude to increase timber production and fight wildfires. The USDA in late May also committed US$200 million (S$255.9 million) toward its plan to boost timber production. However, though the US has some spare capacity to turn more timber into construction materials, a fully domestic supply chain would likely still require the construction of new sawmills and additional trained workers to operate the facilities – needs complicated by an immigration crackdown – which would slow the transition from foreign lumber. Another factor for US suppliers and buyers is that US and Canadian lumber are not a perfect swap. The southern yellow pine species, which has accounted for much of the US industry's expansion, grows faster than Canada's spruce pine fir. But the spruce pine has long been favoured because it is easier to work with and reacts less to changes in moisture. As of Aug 13, futures prices for spruce pine fir were trading at a premium of about US$210 per 1,000 board feet (2.35 cubic m) over southern yellow pine lumber. What does the escalating trade war mean for housing prices? Though lumber accounts for less than 20 per cent of building costs, the National Association of Homebuilders has long said that restrictions on Canadian lumber translate to higher construction costs. In 2018, after duties on Canadian lumber were put back in place, many homebuilders resorted to using cheaper southern yellow pine, building smaller homes and changing designs to use fewer materials. BLOOMBERG
