Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said Versant looks at golf as “our third vertical,” adding it is “really the model home for what we’re looking at for the other verticals,” according to Dylan Byers of PUCK. He noted Versant looks at the business “in four verticals,” noting there is the “political news and opinion vertical,” the “personal business, business news, and retail investing around CNBC.” Lazarus noted 12-15 years ago, Golf Channel was 100% of “our revenue and profit in our golf vertical,” but by building out GolfNow and GolfPass, that business is “now [only 50 percent] pay television.” Lazarus said, “Then, the fourth growth vehicle is the general entertainment [and]sports area, really centered around what we believe we can do with Fandango. There’s real upside opportunity” (PUCK, 6/19).
BEST OF THE BEST: In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote that there is “no better postgame show on television than ‘Live From’ on Golf Channel with Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, Paul McGinley” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/20).