🏈 B1G Network running scared due to cable cord cutting: DirectTV / AT&T dissolving PAC partnership?

[TUSKtimes]

Cord cutting a big threat to college programs
The Big Ten Network says it is "facing our biggest challenge." Is this the flashing warning sign for an uncertain future for college athletics?Dan Wetzel »

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[TerryP]

10 bucks a team
15 for conference online/per month.

You're a Penn State fan. Paying?

 

[planomateo]

Meanwhile, PAC12 cant get a deal with DirecTV.

 

[TUSKtimes]

I wish nothing but gloom and doom for all the Comcast's of the TV world. This thing with internet TV (IPTV) has been another option that I hope continues to make sense as a substitute. When the B1G commish was having his say about "cord cutters" it sounded like he was saying people weren't going to watch it from another source. Which doesn't make much sense to me.

Maybe the sad truth is that the B1G Network want more for their product than the public wants to pay for the whole package, year round. They are filling a lot of hours of programming that aren't about the actual football/basketball games themselves. People might be doing like I am and not messing with ESPN or the SEC Network in the offseason. But I'm still watching the games.

 

[JoseyWalesTheOutlaw]

I wish nothing but gloom and doom for all the Comcast's of the TV world. This thing with internet TV (IPTV) has been another option that I hope continues to make sense as a substitute. When the B1G commish was having his say about "cord cutters" it sounded like he was saying people weren't going to watch it from another source. Which doesn't make much sense to me.

Maybe the sad truth is that the B1G Network want more for their product than the public wants to pay for the whole package, year round. They are filling a lot of hours of programming that aren't about the actual football/basketball games themselves. People might be doing like I am and not messing with ESPN or the SEC Network in the offseason. But I'm still watching the games.

Ed Zackery....F the MSM....they are NOT your friend

 

[Elderfalsedemigod]

People might be doing like I am and not messing with ESPN or the SEC Network in the offseason. But I'm still watching the games.

This is me. After FB season ends I drop my Sling package. I will turn it back on next month and have it through the season. I have no interest in the non FB programming I listen to the baseball and basketball games on radio.

 

[sean]

if they were smart, they'd have their lawyers add a clause to the contract that says they're free to pursue online venues for their "network". that way, they can court online providers (amazon prime, hulu, etc.) in providing the channel in an online format.

it's not like nobody saw it coming...

 

[TerryP]

Meanwhile, PAC12 cant get a deal with DirecTV.

Could AT&T walk away from the Pac-12 Networks (and take DirecTV with it)?

The terms of the AT&T deal were not released. But according to a timeframe laid out two years ago by commissioner Larry Scott, the contract expires this summer — every facet of it.​

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That left two options:​

1. The Pac-12 and AT&T double down on their partnership, with a DirecTV carriage agreement as the centerpiece.
   1. The parties end their relationship … and any chance of the Pac-12 Networks being shown on DirecTV for the foreseeable future.

A middle ground — a continuation of purgatory for the Pac-12 — wasn’t an option, based on comments by networks president Mark Shuken.​

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Shuken was asked in March about the looming expiration of the AT&T deal:​

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“The AT&T sponsorship works very well for both entities. The fact that DirecTV does not carry the networks does not work for us, and we’re not inclined to treat those as separate initiatives.​

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“We’re hopeful that DirecTV will choose to launch the networks the way everyone else carries the networks. But I would rather work with another wireless partner than an entity whose television partner doesn’t choose to carry the networks.”​

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(Hello, T-Mobile?)​

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Shuken told The Hotline on Wednesday that the Pac-12 Networks are in active negotiations to extend their partnership with AT&T through the 2018-19 sports season.​

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Carriage on DirecTV for the networks is not part of the discussion, however.​

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“We’ve isolated the conversation to one of continuing the current terms with U-verse alone,” he said, “instead of continuing the conversation about DirecTV.”​

 

[TUSKtimes]

That would be a direct hit for the Pac 12 (pun intended). Sling TV does carry the Pac 12, why, I don't know. Back in the day, Jefferson Pilot carried the SEC games by way of local over the air channels in the southeast. Maybe whats old is new again. Seriously, does everything have to be on cable to survive?