Pac-12 Entering New World

When Larry Scott, the Pac-12 commissioner, finished the 12-year, $3 billion deal with ESPN and Fox a year ago, he was able to set aside a significant amount of games for the network in both football (35) and men's basketball (at least 120).

It was a significant stroke, and in fact is the nucleus of the appeal of the fledging Pac-12 Networks.

It's networks, plural. There's a national network, essentially for those who live outside the Pac-12 footprint, and that one is likely to land on a premium cable tier. But there are six other basic-cable networks, one of which will cover the Washington-Washington State area.

So if you live in North Bend (or Seattle, or Spokane), you get that regional network. It provides you 350 live events per year that are shown commonly on the rest of the networks, plus 45 events each from WSU and the UW.

If you're a UW alum living in Phoenix, you get the ASU-Arizona network. You won't get all the Husky sports on your television, but you can hook into them on a laptop or phone via a "TV Everywhere" concept at no extra charge.


Today, the unfinished business is that the Pac-12 has deals with four cable companies representing roughly a robust 40 million subscribers — Comcast, Time-Warner, Cox and Bright House. But that means there's nothing lined up with others such as DirecTV and Dish Network.

Cheers,
Neil

Interesting. The new television contracts are driving college football (not that they didn't before). Does the ACC have anything like this planned? Would it be as successful as a PAC-12 or Big 10 network? I'd be sure to watch especially if I had to go out of town during sports seasons.

The ACC seems to be pursuing a digital network rather than an over-the-air or cable network.

The Big Ten created its own network and traded some revenue in the short-term (in this case, agreeing to a contract which was below market value) in order to retain broadcast rights which they could use to fill time on BTN.

The Pac 12 were able to get an above-market guaranteed contract PLUS retain enough tier 3 rights to create their own local cable networks. The reason for over-achieving is well-documented: ESPN+Fox overpaid to lock out NBC. How many customers outside the Pac 12 footprint will actually want to pay for the PTN channel remains to be seen.

My understanding is that the ACC schools all agreed that they would give up some revenue short-term in exchange for wider exposure. Nearly every ACC game is covered by ESPN on one of its channels, and thus can be seen by potential recruits everywhere. Essentially the ACC gave up Tier 3 football rights to get guaranteed exposure.

Each conference has gone forward with a slightly different strategy. The ACC strategy puts them behind financially, at least in the short run, but addresses what ACC teams considered to be the #1 problem - winning.

A network is the way forward for the ACC. No excuse not to be aggressive with both internet and OTA and satellite and cable distribution.

(05-27-2012 03:59 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  A network is the way forward for the ACC. No excuse not to be aggressive with both internet and OTA and satellite and cable distribution.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Marketability is at an all-time high with all this realignment stuff going on. It's a perfect time to set in stone large-scale ACC networks that reach across the country. It's a fact that ACC games are often highly-watched on the major networks, and having a network of the conference's own would be a great boost. It's taken long enough for the ACC to really start to get a network underway. Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and PAC 12 all have major networks under their belt with major improvements coming. We in the ACC need to step it up and solidify the conference's position as a power league for years to come. Taking a stronghold of the ESPN network would be a great boost, and consistent total exposure like the ACC is currently planning is only going to help in the long run.

(05-27-2012 04:11 PM)mtsufan561 Wrote:  Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and PAC 12 all have major networks under their belt with major improvements coming.

I don't think the SEC has any more in the way of a network than what the ACC has - namely, it's all through ESPN. SEC fans want them to start their own network, but it hasn't happened yet and may not happen any time soon.

(05-27-2012 04:40 PM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  

(05-27-2012 04:11 PM)mtsufan561 Wrote:  Big 12, Big 10, SEC, and PAC 12 all have major networks under their belt with major improvements coming.

I don't think the SEC has any more in the way of a network than what the ACC has - namely, it's all through ESPN. SEC fans want them to start their own network, but it hasn't happened yet and may not happen any time soon.

The SEC has a pretty big network actually. Not all of it is through ESPN - CBS televises SEC games all the time and CSS provides a ton of SEC coverage. Though it's not a de facto "SEC Network" it's pretty big, and they brand it as the "most widely distributed conference in the nation". Though SEC fans might talk about wanting a network of their own, it's hard to compete with the love that CBS and ESPN give the SEC.