Erik Gruenwedel

July 23, 2025

Cable TV might not be dead yet. NBCUniversal is reportedly considering launching a cable-themed channel that would include Peacock sports content, in addition to the NBA.

The channel would launch in the fall to coincide with NBC Sports and Peacock assuming distribution rights to the NBA as part of the league’s 11-year, $75 billion license rights agreement with Disney (ABC Sports and ESPN), NBC, Peacock and Prime Video, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the move, citing sources familiar with the situation.

NBCUniversal has made no official comment on the situation.

The sports channel would be bundled with select third-party premium TV offerings rather than conventional pay-TV bundles.

The move comes as NBCUniversal is spinning off its cable assets into a separate standalone company called Versant, which includes CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, Golf Channel and digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and SportsEngine.

At the same time, live sports remains a pay-TV staple, while Fox and Disney in the fall plan to launch standalone streaming services — Fox One and ESPN — targeting TV sports viewers.

Peacock, which ended March with 41 million paid subscribers, currently streams NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” and an exclusive NFL game, in addition to PGA Tour golf, college football, the WNBA, Olympics and Premier League Soccer.

Comcast ended the quarter with more than 12 million Xfinity premium TV subscribers.

Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter!

Center Valley, PA (July 23, 2025) – The DeSales University volleyball team was honored with the AVCA Team Academic Award as announced by the organization this week.

Teams were awarded the academic award by maintaining a year-long GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale as 1,450 collegiate and high school volleyball programs earned the award.

“It is very exciting to see that the record-setting, on-court successes during the 2024-25 season have extended to the classroom,” says AVCA CEO Jaime Gordon. “The fact that more programs earned the Team Academic Award than ever before is evidence of how committed our coaches are when it comes to helping their players reach their goals as both students and athletes.”

Head coach Michele Zabinski just finished her 20th season in charge of the volleyball program leading the Bulldogs to a 14-17 overall record and a spot in the MAC Freedom postseason tournament last season. Thirteen Bulldogs earned MAC Fall Academic Honor Roll honors and first-year Allison Reimer was named to the MAC Volleyball Academic All-MAC Team.

 

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Women’s Golf Head Coach Alyssa Waite has announced the addition of two Division I transfers and a freshman who will join three returning players and three high school signees to make up the team’s roster for 2025-26.
 
Alyson Sor | Long Beach, Calif. | Wilson HS | UC Irvine
 
Alyson Sor will transfer to Long Beach State after a pair of successful seasons with Black and Blue rivals UC Irvine. Last season, Sor had a 74.29 scoring average and recorded four Top 20 finishes, including a fifth-place finish at the Soboba Classic at Soboba Springs Golf Club last spring, helping UC Irvine win the team championship. She has a career Division I low of 68 and had a Top 10 finish at the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational as a true freshman. “Aly is our Long Beach local,” said Waite. “We wanted to bring the Wilson High School star back home. She is a long hitter who has big aspirations with golf, and we are excited to help get her to the next level with her game.”
 
Emma Kang | Torrance, Calif. | South Torrance HS | Idaho
 
Emma Kang comes to Long Beach State by way of Idaho, where she spent the last two seasons as a regular part of the lineup. A two-time All-Big Sky selection, she was the Big Sky Player of the Week after winning the Tri-State Invite hosted by Eastern Washington, and she had the lowest scoring average last season for the Vandals at 74.4. “It was time for Emma to come back home,” said Waite. “Her Dad is a Long Beach State alum and she’s from Torrance, so we took the opportunity to welcome her into the team and back to Southern California. She brings great collegiate experience and has the eagerness to learn.”
 
Chloe Park | Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. | Palos Verdes Peninsula HS
 
Chloe Park has an extensive junior golf record and will join Long Beach State as a freshman in 2025. The 2021 Southern California Junior Tour Player of the Year, Park was a winner earlier this year at the Two-Day Spring Series at Morongo, carding a 75 and a 76, and shot a 71 at Bear Creek Golf Club in the TTC Cantlay Series. “We are excited to bring in Chloe as a freshman,” noted Waite. “She is a fierce competitor who knows how to compete.”
 
Former All-Big West golfers Madison Le and Erin Lee are joined by Isabelle Olivas-Lowell in returning to the program, while Olivia Chappell, Summer Schafer, and Kailey Yoon committed to the program in November.

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the unveiling of New Mexico Volleyball’s nonconference matchups and an update to the Mountain West Conference schedule due to the addition of Grand Canyon, the Lobos’ complete 2025 schedule is now available to the public.

This year’s slate includes 14 home matches at the Johnson Center that kick off with this year’s Lobo Invitational, a multi-team event that will feature matchups between and against Manhattan, Northern Arizona and Houston Christian (Aug. 29-30). Last season, the Lobos averaged over 800 fans a game for the third season in a row, with a season-high 1,387 fans in attendance vs. New Mexico State on Sept. 16.

The Lobos have won at a .585 clip over the past four seasons and are 33-18 at home in that span.

After renewing their rivalry for the first time since 2019 last season, the Lobos will again face New Mexico State twice – they’ll host the Aggies Sept. 16 at the Johnson Center before hitting the road for a match in Las Cruces the following day. UNM is 18-12 against the Aggies at home and 10-19 against them on the road.

Last year, the Lobos defeated NMSU in four sets in Albuquerque (25-19, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21) before sweeping them in three sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-13) two days later in Las Cruces.

The Lobos are looking to return to the Mountain West Tournament after missing out in 2024 to snap a streak of three consecutive tournament appearances. In 2024, UNM found its rhythm late in the season, winning four of their last six after weathering a seven-match skid. The Lobos led the conference in digs per set (15.77) and ranked second in blocks per set (2.53) in 2024, finishing ninth in the conference standings at 13-15 overall and 6-12 in MW play.

Fans will get their first chance to see this years’ Lobos in action when they host D-II New Mexico Highlands in exhibition action on Aug. 23 at the Johnson Center. Follow @UNMLoboVB on socials for promotions, updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.

NONCONFERENCE
After the Lobo Invitational, UNM heads to Stephenville, Texas for tournament action hosted by Tarleton State – they’ll face the Texans on that Thursday (Sept. 4) before meetings with Northwestern State (Sept. 5) and Prairie View A&M (Sept. 6).

They’ll be in Riverside, Calif. the following weekend for one more weekend of round-robin matchups hosted by Cal Baptist, opening up with Portland State (Sept. 11) and Cal State Fullerton (Sept. 12) in neutral-site action before facing host Cal Baptist on Sept. 13.

MOUNTAIN WEST PLAY
Conference play will include an 18-match format with each MW team playing nine home contests and making nine road trips during league action. League play begins on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and concludes Saturday, Nov. 22.

The Lobos will begin conference play with four home matchups in a row, beginning with Utah State (Sep. 25) and Boise State (Sep. 27) in the Johnson Center for Week 1 before matchups with Colorado State (Oct. 2) and Wyoming (Oct. 4).

After a three-game road swing featuring dates at San Diego State (Oct. 9), new conference opponent Grand Canyon (Oct. 11) and UNLV (Oct. 16), UNM returns home for a rematch with the Lopes (Oct. 18) before another road swing to Fresno State (Oct. 23) and San Jose State (Oct. 25).

Another four-match home stretch takes place from Oct. 30-Nov. 8, with UNM hosting Nevada, Air Force, UNLV and San Diego State in that span –  the Lobos’ matchup with the Aztecs will be Senior Day at the Johnson Center.  After heading to Nevada (Nov. 13) and Air Force (Nov. 15), the Lobos close out the season with road dates at Wyoming and Colorado State on Nov. 20 and 22nd, respectively.

If the Lobos qualify for the conference tournament, they’ll be returning to Vegas the following week to begin postseason action. League play will determine the seeding for the 2024 MW Volleyball Championship, which will start Wednesday, Nov. 26, and conclude Saturday, Nov. 29, in Las Vegas at the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV Campus.

The Hungarian women’s water polo team finished as runners-up at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore after a 12-9 defeat to Greece in Wednesday’s final. Rita Keszthelyi, who was playing in her tenth World Championships, was voted MVP (most valuable player) of the tournament.

According to national team coach Sándor Cseh, the silver-winning Hungarian water polo team is very good, but it is not yet ready to win such a tournament. “First of all, I would like to thank the players and the staff, it has been a fantastic six months. I am very happy with the World Championships and the silver medal, but of course not with the final. One thing has become clear: we have a very good team, but we are not yet at the level to win a World Championship. The Greeks were more stable, they played better today and deserved the gold medal,” Sándor Cseh told MTI after the medal ceremony.

In the final, a lot of things did not work the way they had before. On the first attack, we threw the ball beyond the baseline, a move that had been effective for weeks, and instead of blocking, we attacked the opponent, and in our reliable zone play, everyone was just looking for their position,”

said Cseh. “We were not stable enough in many aspects of the game today,” he added.

The national team coach noted that in the future, both the players and the coaching staff need to continue to improve, and that at the moment, we should be very happy that the national team played two finals in six months.

Hungary’s team captain, Rita Keszthelyi, was voted the most valuable player of the tournament.

“I think it was a very good world championship, and except for today, we performed great in every match. We can go home with our heads held high because we lost to a Greek team that was better today and had luck on their side. Unfortunately, we only played freely when the ship had already sailed,” said the Hungarian athlete, who was competing in her tenth world championship.

She added that this is a new, still-developing team with many players for whom this was their first world championship:

With diligence, humility, and a lot of hard work, it will be even brighter,”

Keszthelyi said.

The Hungarian team finished second for the third time in the last four world championships, losing to the Americans in the final in Budapest in 2022 and in Doha last year. The Greeks celebrated their second world championship title, having previously triumphed in Shanghai in 2011.

On Thursday, the men’s team will compete for gold against Spain, starting at 3:35 p.m. Central European Time.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Koszticsák Szilárd