An article that was linked on the Syracusefan board by SU Tomcat



Article

(07-31-2018 10:24 AM)cuseroc Wrote:  An article that was linked on the Syracusefan board by SU Tomcat



Article

While Disney can obviously do 2 or more things at once, I would think that ESPN/ACC network issues would have been a backburner thing for Disney until they conclude the deal for Fox. I may be wrong.

Teel points out that...

Dish Network signed up with the SEC Network in March of the year it launched - just 6 months before SECN went on air.

Cox Communications, Comcast and Time Warner all waited until July of that year - just ONE month before launch...

DirecTV signed up with the SEC Network just 10 days before launch...

Mediacom, which serves the big SEC footprint states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee signed up the day the network actually launched! So did Grande Communications in Texas....

Verizon Fios didn't sign up until 12 days later - just two days before the SEC Network’s first football game, between Texas A&M and South Carolina!

If that's how late they signed up for the SECN, why wouldn't you expect cable companies to wait until the last minute to add the ACCN?

(07-31-2018 11:38 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  Teel points out that...

Dish Network signed up with the SEC Network in March of the year it launched - just 6 months before SECN went on air.

Cox Communications, Comcast and Time Warner all waited until July of that year - just ONE month before launch...

DirecTV signed up with the SEC Network just 10 days before launch...

Mediacom, which serves the big SEC footprint states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee signed up the day the network actually launched! So did Grande Communications in Texas....

Verizon Fios didn't sign up until 12 days later - just two days before the SEC Network’s first football game, between Texas A&M and South Carolina!

If that's how late they signed up for the SECN, why wouldn't you expect cable companies to wait until the last minute to add the ACCN?

Which makes this tidbit in the article a point of optimism ...

Disney/ESPN has one carriage agreement for the ACC Network, and it’s big, with Altice, a primary cable provider in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. That population base makes Altice, formerly Optimum by Cablevision, the fourth-largest provider behind Comcast, Charter Spectrum and Cox, according to BroadbandNow.com and Variety.

I don't know the specifics, but it might not be quite as down to the wire. I think the ACC launch was timed to follow renegotiations with most of the big providers. Altice was first up, I think Fios is next. It shouldn't be down to the wire for those, it should be included in the standard ESPN negotiations.

However, if there are any providers who's deals DON'T come up before the ACCN launches, those could be down to or past the wire. I think in the SEC case, they were trying to force an an addition mid-contract. I think ESPN and the conference knew better than to go that route with the ACC, hence the huge lead time. It will be packed into the standard negotiations like it was with Altice.

For what it's worth, Altice was all set up to be a super contentious standoff, and ended up getting done surprisingly smoothly. That's great because it sort of sets a standard benchmark going forward with the others, but also implies that ESPN has a plan.

(07-31-2018 04:26 PM)Lou_C Wrote:  I don't know the specifics, but it might not be quite as down to the wire. I think the ACC launch was timed to follow renegotiations with most of the big providers. Altice was first up, I think Fios is next. It shouldn't be down to the wire for those, it should be included in the standard ESPN negotiations.

However, if there are any providers who's deals DON'T come up before the ACCN launches, those could be down to or past the wire. I think in the SEC case, they were trying to force an an addition mid-contract. I think ESPN and the conference knew better than to go that route with the ACC, hence the huge lead time. It will be packed into the standard negotiations like it was with Altice.

For what it's worth, Altice was all set up to be a super contentious standoff, and ended up getting done surprisingly smoothly. That's great because it sort of sets a standard benchmark going forward with the others, but also implies that ESPN has a plan.