http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journ...tter%22%7D

Quote:Don’t expect an ACC-branded TV channel to be launched any time soon.

The biggest problem so far is a rights issue. ESPN needs to control the conference’s syndicated rights to launch a channel. But those rights are tied up until 2027 through deals with Raycom and Fox Sports Net.

“There’s no way an ACC network co-exists with a syndicated model,” said Chris Bevilacqua, a media consultant who worked with the Pac-12 to form a league network. “They’re going to have to get those rights back.”

Quote:ESPN and Raycom engaged in meetings at the Charlotte offices of ESPN Regional Television, but those talks centered on how to program new member Notre Dame, not how to work together on a channel.

Quote:But the only commitment ESPN has given the ACC is that it will discuss the benefits of launching a channel. Industry insiders say there is not a rush to put together an ACC channel, and that it likely would be 2016 or 2017 before one would launch, if then.

If, in three to four years, ESPN decides an ACC channel is not financially viable, sources say there will still be financial benefits to the ACC.

The league’s current media rights contract is valued at $260 million a year through 2027, or about $18 million per school on an average annual basis across 14 schools. Notre Dame’s cut is much smaller because the Irish have their own football deal with NBC.

ESPN, if it says no to a channel, would increase its compensation to the ACC, pushing the per-school average to close to $20 million.

And then there's this, which contradicts what some in the ACC have previously said about the ACC's digital rights:

Quote:When it signed its ACC deal in 2010, ESPN and Charlotte-based Raycom Sports cut a deal that grants Raycom the ACC’s digital and corporate sponsorship rights, plus a heavy dose of live football and basketball games.

So the ACC does not own their own digital rights. Plus, according to the article Raycom sublicensed a bunch of games to Fox's RSNs. So its not just Raycom that would have to be bought out to start an ACC Network.

That's not to say it can't be done, but the chances of it being done are slim for at least a few years.