Versant is strategically pivoting to digital-first growth, refusing to dilute its future with legacy cable assets that offer only temporary cash flow.
Insiders whisper that Lazarus is distancing himself from the 'cable graveyard' label, signaling he wants Versant to stand alone rather than merge with a struggling giant.
Lazarus stated digital is currently less than 25% of Versant's revenue. The company's stock has fallen 29% since its January spin-off from Comcast/NBCUniversal.
Lazarus is calling the bluff on cable consolidation: he wants digital dominance, not just more dying TV channels to babysit.
Mark Lazarus, the CEO of Versant Media, has officially poured cold water on the speculation that his newly spun-off company would act as a white knight for Skydance’s sprawling cable portfolio. Speaking at the Axios Media Trends Live conference in New York on Tuesday, Lazarus delivered a blunt assessment of the cable industry’s future, stating that acquiring more large-scale cable assets would essentially be a life-extension procedure rather than a cure.
"Buying more cable assets on a large scale would prolong our life but not necessarily make our life better because we would still have the secular decline," Lazarus said. His comments come just as the media landscape braces for the fallout of the Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which closed earlier this month and created a behemoth with more than 50 cable networks under one roof.
The drama here isn’t just about what Versant won’t buy; it’s about what they are desperately trying to become. Versant, which launched in January after being separated from Comcast/NBCUniversal, owns a heavy hitter list of former NBCU networks including MS NOW (formerly MSNBC), CNBC, and USA. However, Lazarus made it clear that the future isn’t in linear TV.
He outlined a three to five-year timeline to make digital properties the primary source of total company revenue. Currently, that digital segment—home to platforms like movie ticketing service Fandango and Golf Now—accounts for less than 25% of the pie. Lazarus admitted the company still needs to "prove out our thesis," a candid acknowledgment of the skepticism facing the new entity.
Skydance, for its part, has been publicly stating it aims to keep its networks, using their cash flow to pay down debt rather than shedding them. But the market has been buzzing with rumors that the sheer weight of these assets might force a sale. Lazarus’s rejection suggests he sees no strategic advantage in inheriting a portfolio that doesn’t change Versant’s trajectory.
"Might there be some interest in another vertical that we could create around a pay television business? Yes, but just buying big networks or a bunch of networks that don’t necessarily change our trajectory is probably not in our short-term future," he explained. Perhaps the most telling moment of the interview was when Lazarus was asked about the possibility of reuniting with his former employer, NBCUniversal.
Despite the strong cash flow of Versant, he hedged on a merger, stating, "no, that wouldn’t be the plan to necessarily go back to them." He also addressed the ongoing advertising sales deal with NBCU, which he previously oversaw for years. He noted that the arrangement is "going very well," providing scale for their sports programming, but indicated that a decision on whether to renew, outsource, or bring sales in-house will happen within the next year. For now, Versant is standing firm: no rescue missions for legacy cable, just a hard pivot to digital survival.
