NBC Sports Washington will officially be rebranded as Monumental Sports Network later this year. The change is not just in name but is part of a much wider image and product update.
Back in 2022, Comcast agreed a deal to sell its majority ownership in the regional sports network to Monumental Sports. As Monumental already owned the remaining minority share, the deal resulted in the Washington, D.C.-based company becoming the sole owner of NBC Sports Washington.
Now, that shift in ownership is set to continue with the rebranding of NBC Sports Washington as Monumental Sports Network. According to Monumental, the changeover will officially take place in September 2023.
While the network will continue to be available on the same broadcast channels across all cable and satellite providers, viewers can expect to see “new on-air graphics, digital aesthetics, and more.”
As NBC Sports Washington holds the exclusive local TV media rights to Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals’ games, Monumental says it will also launch a brand awareness campaign during the summer, and ahead of the 2023-24 NBA and NHL regular seasons to ensure viewers are aware of the upcoming transition.
This brand awareness campaign appears to have already begun on social media.
In addition to the NHL’s Washington Capitals and NBA’s Washington Wizards, Monumental Sports Network also holds the exclusive local TV media rights to WNBA’s Washington Mystics games. The network will also carry “hundreds of hours of programming for local collegiate and high-school level games across D.C., Virginia and Maryland” as well
Once the changeover does take place, and in addition to the visual changes, Monumental also says that the new Monumental Sports Network channel “will launch a variety of new original and studio programs that overhaul the network’s 24-hour programming experience.”
To further improve the game-day experience for fans, the rebranding will result in the network gaining new in-game enhancements and alternate feeds of live games.
According to the details, fans can expect at least 100 games where alternate feeds will be available across both the Wizards and Capitals’ regular season games each year. These feeds will be accessible directly through “the network’s soon-to-be launched digital platform” and will feature advanced data analytics and other data visualizations.
