Shawne Merriman, the former NFL linebacker, is breaking new ground by becoming the first athlete to launch a free sports streaming app. Unlike other athlete-led sports media ventures such as Simone Manuel’s Togethxr, LeBron James’ Uninterrupted and Kevin Durant’s Boardroom, Merriman’s Lights Out Sports app is a comprehensive sports streaming network. The app will feature game broadcasts and sports documentaries, offering a unique viewing experience.
Merriman, who also founded Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, shared insights with rolling out about the creation and vision behind this pioneering app.
What is Lights Out Sports TV?
It’s free. It’s an ad-supported app and is available on all major CTV platforms. We’re on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, LG and Philips.
I was in the gym the other day, and I popped it up on TCL when I was getting a workout in. It was pretty cool. It’s also available on Android and iOS.
What’s so cool about it is Lights Out Xtreme Fighting — my MMA league — is now live exclusively on Lights Out Sports TV, man. We’ve got TNA wrestling, chess, a lot of motorsports. We’ve got 12 or 13 channels already, and we’re announcing a big partnership with somebody who’s coming on board.
Nothing against other streaming services. I’m still subscribed to all of them, but everything was so fragmented with sports. To see your favorite sports, you’ve got to go over here and over there. It was never really in one place. I wanted to create this locker-room vibe, where we can go to one place, one platform, and get all the sports you can imagine.
We’re also announcing soon that sports movies and documentaries are coming up, over a couple hundred in the next few weeks. I’m a big documentary guy, all of the 30-for-30 projects that profile the growing pains of an athlete.
How did you build your ad base?
I was fortunate, man, because even when I was playing, I was working with these networks. Fox Sports, ESPN, CBS and NBC. I also worked a little at ABC. I worked at literally all of them.
Then when I retired, I went straight to NFL Network as a broadcaster and helped them launch some of their biggest shows. I left [and] went to Fox Sports for a couple of years; I helped them launch some of the biggest shows. I was a part of some of the biggest show launches at ESPN. I spent some time with WWE by hosting WrestleMania, “Monday Night Raw” and “Thursday Night SmackDown.”
When you have been around as long as I have and have been in front of the cameras a talent — and also been behind it to put together these shows and understand which cameras are doing what — you understand the business.
Then, you start getting into the ad side. And you guys know everything’s about ads, marketing, sponsorship and viewership.
I also don’t overlook being able to come on shows like you guys. It gives a chance to talk, and everybody can’t do that. You guys don’t just have everybody on these shows because you have to be amusing for your fan base and it’s something that people want to hear. I’ve got an upper hand when it comes to that. I can jump on shows and talk about what I’m doing.
All that stuff is key and helpful, man. So, that’s why we’re moving at the pace.
Then, when you work with these bigger networks, I know all the people, so I’m, like, “Hey, man, come over, I need your help. That’s what I want to do.” Everybody I’ve talked to in this space has just been down. They believe in the vision and know I’m going to work my a– off.
