http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-acc-network-year-away-0801-story.html
August is upon us. One year until the ACC’s linear television channel debuts with Mark Richt back-flipping off the high dive and Dabo Swinney reenacting his long-ago encounter with Augusta National security.
The ACC’s 15 schools continue to upgrade their on-campus studios and other video infrastructure, while conference officials huddle with television partner ESPN to discuss more sustainable programming.
But the paramount ACC Network challenge for ESPN and its parent company, Disney, during the next 12 months will be securing carriage deals with the nation’s top cable and satellite providers. And odds are those negotiations will be public, protracted and, perhaps, contentious.
Just look at the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks today. Just gaze back to the SEC Network’s 2014 launch.
DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite outlet. And that’s only the headline of the project’s distribution and financial shortcomings.
The Big Ten Network, the granddaddy of conference channels at 11-years-old, has been a windfall for its members. But at the league’s football media days last week, network president Mark Silverman ascended the podium to discuss a potential carriage issue.
Seems that Xfinity Comcast, cable’s leading provider, and Big Ten partner Fox Sports are at an impasse over a new deal that affects games on not only the BTN, but also Fox Sports 1. The current contract expires Aug. 31.
The conference has created a website, KeepBigTen.com, and social media hashtag, #KeepBigTen, to pressure Comcast, which earlier this year dropped the Big Ten Network in markets outside the league’s footprint.
In prepared remarks, Silverman called the stalemate “our biggest challenge since the launch of the network.”
“Unfortunately, my fear is the removal of BTN in the outer market may just be the first step in Comcast’s plan to remove BTN from their systems everywhere,” Silverman said, “including the Big Ten home markets. … BTN and FS1 have made a proposal to Comcast dating back to February, and we’ve had no substantive response at all.“As a result, we believe BTN and those Big Ten games that are on FS1 are in danger of not being carried on Comcast this coming season.”
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.
But as the SEC Network teaches, ACC fans shouldn’t expect similar deals this far in advance, even with Disney/ESPN’s considerable portfolio and, therefore, leverage with providers .
Time Warner. Charter purchased Time Warner two years ago.
Aug. 4: DirecTV. This was 10 days before launch.
Aug. 14: Mediacom serving SEC states Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Grande Communications in Texas.
Aug. 26: Verizon Fios. This was 12 days post-launch and two days before the SEC Network’s first football game, between Texas A&M and South Carolina.
Their challenges notwithstanding, the SEC and Big Ten networks are models for the ACC as it attempts to close the revenue gap with the richest Power Five leagues.
During the conference’s annual football kickoff two weeks ago, ACC commissioner John Swofford said that he and his staff look forward to the new undertaking of collaborating with ESPN on programming for the conference’s channel. And even with ESPN’s recent presidential transition from John Skipper to Jimmy Pitaro, Swofford pronounced the working relationship as “stronger than ever.”
“This fall we will finalize the live event programming schedule for the fall, winter and spring sports,” he said. “Throughout the academic year, we’ll begin the process of considering our non-live program needs and reviewing different show ideas that will be on the ACC Network. And by next spring, we will have identified the talent for the programs that we create, as well as our lead game announcers for all sports. …
“It’s not that I don’t want to share more with you, but the reality is I’ve provided all the answers we have at this current time. But, rest assured, by next year's football kickoff, there will be no shortage of information surrounding the ACC Network shows and talent, and we will at that time be within weeks of its launch. Bottom line, whether it’s production, distribution, scheduling or anything else related to the network, I am pleased to be able to tell you that we are right on schedule.”
But as Swofford acknowledged in a subsequent one-on-one interview, “on schedule” for distribution is a relative concept.
Carriage negotiations are, Swofford said, “a tough world.”
August is upon us. One year until the ACC’s linear television channel debuts with Mark Richt back-flipping off the high dive and Dabo Swinney reenacting his long-ago encounter with Augusta National security.
The ACC’s 15 schools continue to upgrade their on-campus studios and other video infrastructure, while conference officials huddle with television partner ESPN to discuss more sustainable programming.
But the paramount ACC Network challenge for ESPN and its parent company, Disney, during the next 12 months will be securing carriage deals with the nation’s top cable and satellite providers. And odds are those negotiations will be public, protracted and, perhaps, contentious.
Just look at the Big Ten Network and Pac-12 Networks today. Just gaze back to the SEC Network’s 2014 launch.
DirecTV, the nation’s largest satellite outlet. And that’s only the headline of the project’s distribution and financial shortcomings.
The Big Ten Network, the granddaddy of conference channels at 11-years-old, has been a windfall for its members. But at the league’s football media days last week, network president Mark Silverman ascended the podium to discuss a potential carriage issue.
Seems that Xfinity Comcast, cable’s leading provider, and Big Ten partner Fox Sports are at an impasse over a new deal that affects games on not only the BTN, but also Fox Sports 1. The current contract expires Aug. 31.
The conference has created a website, KeepBigTen.com, and social media hashtag, #KeepBigTen, to pressure Comcast, which earlier this year dropped the Big Ten Network in markets outside the league’s footprint.
In prepared remarks, Silverman called the stalemate “our biggest challenge since the launch of the network.”
“Unfortunately, my fear is the removal of BTN in the outer market may just be the first step in Comcast’s plan to remove BTN from their systems everywhere,” Silverman said, “including the Big Ten home markets. … BTN and FS1 have made a proposal to Comcast dating back to February, and we’ve had no substantive response at all.“As a result, we believe BTN and those Big Ten games that are on FS1 are in danger of not being carried on Comcast this coming season.”
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.
But as the SEC Network teaches, ACC fans shouldn’t expect similar deals this far in advance, even with Disney/ESPN’s considerable portfolio and, therefore, leverage with providers .
Time Warner. Charter purchased Time Warner two years ago.
Aug. 4: DirecTV. This was 10 days before launch.
Aug. 14: Mediacom serving SEC states Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee. Grande Communications in Texas.
Aug. 26: Verizon Fios. This was 12 days post-launch and two days before the SEC Network’s first football game, between Texas A&M and South Carolina.
Their challenges notwithstanding, the SEC and Big Ten networks are models for the ACC as it attempts to close the revenue gap with the richest Power Five leagues.
During the conference’s annual football kickoff two weeks ago, ACC commissioner John Swofford said that he and his staff look forward to the new undertaking of collaborating with ESPN on programming for the conference’s channel. And even with ESPN’s recent presidential transition from John Skipper to Jimmy Pitaro, Swofford pronounced the working relationship as “stronger than ever.”
“This fall we will finalize the live event programming schedule for the fall, winter and spring sports,” he said. “Throughout the academic year, we’ll begin the process of considering our non-live program needs and reviewing different show ideas that will be on the ACC Network. And by next spring, we will have identified the talent for the programs that we create, as well as our lead game announcers for all sports. …
“It’s not that I don’t want to share more with you, but the reality is I’ve provided all the answers we have at this current time. But, rest assured, by next year's football kickoff, there will be no shortage of information surrounding the ACC Network shows and talent, and we will at that time be within weeks of its launch. Bottom line, whether it’s production, distribution, scheduling or anything else related to the network, I am pleased to be able to tell you that we are right on schedule.”
But as Swofford acknowledged in a subsequent one-on-one interview, “on schedule” for distribution is a relative concept.
Carriage negotiations are, Swofford said, “a tough world.”
