http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/..._netw.html

It's just a matter of time before others do. Picking up ESPN3 is probably the biggest part of this deal.

How does dish offer espn3 an internet based channel.

(03-03-2014 10:39 PM)cleburneslim Wrote:  How does dish offer espn3 an internet based channel.

The same way your cable company does. You have to be a cable subscriber to get it. The login is tied to a cable (and now Dish) subscription.

So LHN is nationwide

(03-03-2014 10:41 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  So LHN is nationwide

ESPN has some very big plans....

LHN can mail its thank you for making this possible to the SEC, care of Mike Slive, at 2201 Richard Arrington Blvd. North Birmingham, AL 35203

No, the Dish contract with Disney expired 12/31/13 and so LHN can thank ESPN and ESPN2. So can the SECN.

DirectTV is up 12/31/14 and neither is likely to get on DirecTV until then. But both probably will then.

(03-03-2014 10:27 PM)CommuterBob Wrote:  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/..._netw.html

It's just a matter of time before others do. Picking up ESPN3 is probably the biggest part of this deal.

Reading your later comment, isn't it available now on the internet w/o a cable subscription? I'm not clear on how ESPN3 is changed.

ESPN3.... how's that going to work? On ESPN3 online you've got a choice of what you want to watch.

If you don't have a cable subscription currently you can't watch all of the live broadcasts on ESPN3 or WatchESPN

(03-03-2014 11:24 PM)bullet Wrote:  No, the Dish contract with Disney expired 12/31/13 and so LHN can thank ESPN and ESPN2. So can the SECN.

DirectTV is up 12/31/14 and neither is likely to get on DirecTV until then. But both probably will then.

I'm not sure DirecTV can wait until after an entire football season to add the SECN. I have DirecTV, and I will be switching to UVerse in April after my two year contract expires. DirecTV will probably keep everyone who has a long term contract running into 2015 because the buyout is so hefty, but they need to be very careful with those Southern customers whose contract expires this year. They are already getting bombarded in their customer service from what I hear and read. The SEC and ESPN will do everything they can to get at least one meaningful game from each school on the SECN as early as possible in the season to put the pressure on.

(03-04-2014 12:12 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  

(03-03-2014 11:24 PM)bullet Wrote:  No, the Dish contract with Disney expired 12/31/13 and so LHN can thank ESPN and ESPN2. So can the SECN.

DirectTV is up 12/31/14 and neither is likely to get on DirecTV until then. But both probably will then.

I'm not sure DirecTV can wait until after an entire football season to add the SECN. I have DirecTV, and I will be switching to UVerse in April after my two year contract expires. DirecTV will probably keep everyone who has a long term contract running into 2015 because the buyout is so hefty, but they need to be very careful with those Southern customers whose contract expires this year. They are already getting bombarded in their customer service from what I hear and read. The SEC and ESPN will do everything they can to get at least one meaningful game from each school on the SECN as early as possible in the season to put the pressure on.

Maybe not, but they are the only significant player not to carry the Pac 12 network and are continuing to resist. So far, the SECN only has AT&T and Dish, so there's not as much pressure. The Rockets/Astros network in Houston hasn't been able to get carriage except with Comcast who owns part of the network. Its not easy any longer to get carriage.

Companies like to have a point of differentiation instead of being a commodity. DirecTV has NFL Sunday Ticket. DISH will have SECN. They may like it that they have different offerings.

(03-04-2014 12:27 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(03-04-2014 12:12 PM)bigblueblindness Wrote:  

(03-03-2014 11:24 PM)bullet Wrote:  No, the Dish contract with Disney expired 12/31/13 and so LHN can thank ESPN and ESPN2. So can the SECN.

DirectTV is up 12/31/14 and neither is likely to get on DirecTV until then. But both probably will then.

I'm not sure DirecTV can wait until after an entire football season to add the SECN. I have DirecTV, and I will be switching to UVerse in April after my two year contract expires. DirecTV will probably keep everyone who has a long term contract running into 2015 because the buyout is so hefty, but they need to be very careful with those Southern customers whose contract expires this year. They are already getting bombarded in their customer service from what I hear and read. The SEC and ESPN will do everything they can to get at least one meaningful game from each school on the SECN as early as possible in the season to put the pressure on.

Maybe not, but they are the only significant player not to carry the Pac 12 network and are continuing to resist. So far, the SECN only has AT&T and Dish, so there's not as much pressure. The Rockets/Astros network in Houston hasn't been able to get carriage except with Comcast who owns part of the network. Its not easy any longer to get carriage.

Direct TV crayfished yesterday on an earlier statement they had made about not changing their program lineup for the Fall. Yesterday they said they would always entertain changes to improve their sports package. Bullet I promise you that you are underestimating the number of subscribers that Direct TV has in the Southeast who are past their two year agreement and who will switch if the SECN is not offered. UVerse is available in Alabama in April as well. Since it utilizes phone lines there will be few problems with distribution. Direct TV is presently the bundle package with AT&T. Even billing structure will be lightly affected by the switch. Direct TV is dead meat in the Southeast if they don't get on board. People are lazy when it comes to the hassle of switching. If Direct TV announces soon that they will carry the SECN many of their customers will stay on board (until they realize that UVerse is cheaper and stays on during a thunderstorm). But if they wait for their customers to switch it will be twice as difficult to ever get them back, especially when the option is UVerse. The SECN being on UVerse means eventual national distribution and satellite distribution is becoming an obsolete delivery system anyway.

If the SECN is not on the basic cable package it will be a flop.
Casual SEC watchers will be able to see as much SEC football as they want for free on CBS and ESPN. If it's not on the basic cable package why would anyone pay even $1.30 per month to watch a bunch of women's softball and vollyball?

(03-04-2014 01:20 PM)XLance Wrote:  If the SECN is not on the basic cable package it will be a flop.
Casual SEC watchers will be able to see as much SEC football as they want for free on CBS and ESPN. If it's not on the basic cable package why would anyone pay even $1.30 per month to watch a bunch of women's softball and vollyball?

Sour grapes and misinformation. The SECN has ESPN's cooperation in scheduling good games between contending teams and the occupation of 3 of those a week during football season. Plus we have the most compelling college football content in the nation. The Big 12 is second, just without the market size. Basketball will be treated similarly and SEC baseball has been even better than that of the ACC for a while now, especially in the CWS and in actual attendance. Baseball is a money making sport for almost half of the SEC programs. The Southeast is sports nuts. We will saturate our market and the numbers prove that already. Meanwhile people along the Eastern Seaboard will be able to watch the ACCN on ESPN3 if they care to stream it.

But women's volleyball, equestrian events, track and field, swimming and diving, women's gymnastics and even tennis and golf will all find air time. Women's softball can be fun to watch, just not in competition with the top 3 men's sports. Live sports is what it is and that is the only guaranteed non rerun on the almost 300 channels that most people have to watch. The overhead production costs are relatively low, the advertising higher because it's live, and it will be successful as long as the average American home can afford it. And XLance compared to holding season tickets it is far more affordable than actually attending games. I'm blessed to be able to do both, but am at the age where I prefer the comfort of my den, the selective menu of my kitchen, and the convenience of my own bathroom, more than the stadium options.

(03-04-2014 12:43 PM)bullet Wrote:  Companies like to have a point of differentiation instead of being a commodity. DirecTV has NFL Sunday Ticket. DISH will have SECN. They may like it that they have different offerings.

I would not trade my DISH package with NFL Red Zone/Sports Package for the Direct TV's NFL Package. Costs me around $11.00 a month and I can even just suspend it through the summer months if I wish. My son switched to Direct TV and is now coming back to DISH. Cable will come along soon enough to the SECN.

(03-04-2014 01:20 PM)XLance Wrote:  If the SECN is not on the basic cable package it will be a flop.
Casual SEC watchers will be able to see as much SEC football as they want for free on CBS and ESPN. If it's not on the basic cable package why would anyone pay even $1.30 per month to watch a bunch of women's softball and vollyball?

JR responded well to this, but further... the SEC Network does not have to worry about carrying everyone's softball, but they darn sure better carry the University of Tennessee's. Similar approaches will be made for LSU baseball, Kentucky cupcake basketball, and absolutely any possible football content for Alabama, TAMU, Auburn, and much of the rest of the SEC. I'm sure they will place the most compelling programming for each fan base on the Network to ensure that is is a necessity.

I heard that the Directv - ESPN deal ends on 9/30/2014.

(03-04-2014 01:57 PM)curtis0620 Wrote:  I heard that the Directv - ESPN deal ends on 9/30/2014.

I saw 12/31/14 in an article about a month ago. Disney likely gets it carried then, but I'm not sure DirecTV would be in a hurry to get it done by August.