Goodness gracious! Nice start for the retooled and reloaded CUSA. This good tv situation follows CUSA setting up a nice set of football bowls, and nicely geographically balanced between east and west. Picked up this tidbit off the CUSA board.

The following quote is not from a CUSA School official nor from a CUSA Conference official. Rather it is from a Sinclair owned TV General Manager.

New Sinclair TV Venture Involves CUSA
West Virginia Gazette, By Doug Smock, July 17, 2014
"They (Sinclair) want to get into college sports," WCHS-TV General Manager Harold Cooper said of Sinclair. "They talked with several conferences, but didn't think they'd get into the '14 season. But they did."

I have to make a second correction of an initial mistake when I said CUSA has 3 TV partners/outlets. I corrected it to four but that still was a mistake. I forgot about the Longhorn Network. So, CUSA games are appearing on ESPN, FOX, CBSSports, Sinclair, and the Longhorn Network, a total of five.

To me, what Banowsky has done as CUSA commish with what he has to sell is amazing. I would not be surprised when a P5 commissioner opens up if he is not considered.

Fantastic.

Too bad most aren't national broadcasts... without games on national carriers the money will be next to nothing and make it difficult for programs to keep up.

what is a Sinclair? is that like public access or something?

shouldn't the title be :67 of 77 home games will be on A tv?

67 out of 77 is impressive, regardless. Just being on the regional TVs is a huge boost for recruiting.

(07-19-2014 02:41 AM)perimeterpost Wrote:  what is a Sinclair? is that like public access or something?

shouldn't the title be :67 of 77 home games will be on A tv?

This...if it is not on the ESPN Platform it really doesn't matter....

(07-18-2014 07:35 PM)msm96wolf Wrote:  To me, what Banowsky has done as CUSA commish with what he has to sell is amazing. I would not be surprised when a P5 commissioner opens up if he is not considered.

He went to 14 without needing to which was a mistake. And he added some poor performing programs which will make it harder to finish higher in the new payout system. Those are two decisions which will cost CUSA programs money over the years. He should have waited until the new payout system was finalized before making these decisions. As college football and playoff revenue grows over the years, these mistakes will be compounded.

Isn't Sinclair like the public broadcast channels for communities?

Sinclair Broadcasting owns a bunch of variously affiliated television stations across mostly the eastern half of America... filler programming under the banner of American Sports Network -- which won't have to even air live... might be great for their CW and MyTV affiliated stations, but any NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX affiliates would carry their own networked content - not this new ASN content at times that matter.

Sounds like a FCS TV package. With the quality and ease of accessing espn3 via Apple TV etc, I prefer the Sun Belt's deal with ESPN in terms of viewing the games.

"BALTIMORE, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the "Company" or "Sinclair") announced today that it has launched the American Sports Network ("ASN"), a collegiate sports initiative to be broadcast on a number of Sinclair's broadcast television stations, and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference, and Patriot League. The initiative will be led by Doron Gorshein, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Networks, a division of Sinclair, who joined the Company in January 2014. The announcement was made by David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair."

(07-19-2014 09:55 AM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Sinclair Broadcasting owns a bunch of variously affiliated television stations across mostly the eastern half of America... filler programming under the banner of American Sports Network -- which won't have to even air live... might be great for their CW and MyTV affiliated stations, but any NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX affiliates would carry their own networked content - not this new ASN content at times that matter.

That really depends on the stations. Remember WRAL in Raleigh show the Raycom Basketball games over network shows for years. Sinclair has quietly grown it's market share by going after smaller markets. Just the markets that would be loyal to these local colleges.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-07...e-football

http://www.sbgi.net/

(07-19-2014 11:36 AM)msm96wolf Wrote:  

(07-19-2014 09:55 AM)IceJus10 Wrote:  Sinclair Broadcasting owns a bunch of variously affiliated television stations across mostly the eastern half of America... filler programming under the banner of American Sports Network -- which won't have to even air live... might be great for their CW and MyTV affiliated stations, but any NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX affiliates would carry their own networked content - not this new ASN content at times that matter.

That really depends on the stations. Remember WRAL in Raleigh show the Raycom Basketball games over network shows for years. Sinclair has quietly grown it's market share by going after smaller markets. Just the markets that would be loyal to these local colleges.

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-07...e-football

http://www.sbgi.net/

It's similar to the old Raycom Network. Look, it's in smaller markets and it's going to represent spotty coverage that wouldn't even compare to Fox Regionals. That said, it beats the heck out of no TV at all and the coverage will likely fill in around the CUSA schools where games are offered via syndication.

So, in the end, these games will all end up on local TV around their respective CUSA schools and will appear in some other areas where the Sinclair Network affiliates choose to pick up that particular broadcast. Thats a win since many of these games would have likely had either no tv coverage at all--or just local coverage with exposure in NO other markets.

(07-19-2014 06:26 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote:  67 out of 77 is impressive, regardless. Just being on the regional TVs is a huge boost for recruiting.

I agree. These tier 3 games won't be national broadcasts, but they will be a great opportunity to showcase our program to local recruits that might not usually get to see our team play. This season our Sinclair games are against Nicholls State, UAB, and FIU. North Texas should win all of those games. Some quality recruits looking to stay close to home, will enjoy having games broadcast locally, off of cable, where older or sick members of their families can still watch them play. I think this is a big win for C-USA programs.

(07-19-2014 10:47 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Sounds like a FCS TV package. With the quality and ease of accessing espn3 via Apple TV etc, I prefer the Sun Belt's deal with ESPN in terms of viewing the games.

"BALTIMORE, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the "Company" or "Sinclair") announced today that it has launched the American Sports Network ("ASN"), a collegiate sports initiative to be broadcast on a number of Sinclair's broadcast television stations, and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference, and Patriot League. The initiative will be led by Doron Gorshein, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Networks, a division of Sinclair, who joined the Company in January 2014. The announcement was made by David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair."

I think ESPN3 is great, but realistically, the percentage of people that use it is pretty low. It is a great way for fans of teams to a catch a game, but a poor way broaden your reach to new people. Few people casually browse and watch games on ESPN3.

As a younger person that consumes a lot of media online, I'd love a deal like what the SBC has with ESPN3, but looking at it from a broader perspective, I'm happy with the Sinclair deal. Older people still do not use things like AppleTV. My parents have a Roku, and they use it for Netflix, but never even think to use it for something like ESPN3.

(07-19-2014 10:47 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Sounds like a FCS TV package. With the quality and ease of accessing espn3 via Apple TV etc,[b] I prefer the Sun Belt's deal with ESPN in terms of viewing the games.[/b]

"BALTIMORE, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the "Company" or "Sinclair") announced today that it has launched the American Sports Network ("ASN"), a collegiate sports initiative to be broadcast on a number of Sinclair's broadcast television stations, and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference, and Patriot League. The initiative will be led by Doron Gorshein, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Networks, a division of Sinclair, who joined the Company in January 2014. The announcement was made by David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair."

That makes no sense to me. It's much easier to turn on the T.V. and change the channel to your local CW network. Most are in HD. Plus, most of the Sun Belt's ESPN games will only be available on ESPN3. Only a few will be aired on one of the ESPN channels. Sure some of your games might get carried on local stations, but those games probably won't get added to the ESPN3 lineup.

This deal allows for C-USA's tier 3 games to be aired on local Sinclair stations within our conference's geography. The games can also be syndicated to other broadcasters, and carried by Sinclair stations in other markets. Also, these games will be produced by Sinclair, but will still be available for viewing over the C-USA Digital Network. I don't think we will be dealing with terrible student produced stadium feeds like we had to deal with on ESPN3, back when UNT was in the Sun Belt.

When UNT was in the Sun Belt, only getting 3 conference games a season picked up by ESPN (1 on ESPN2 and 2 on ESPN3), I hated it. I think this C-USA deal with Sinclair is the perfect complement to our deals with Fox Sports and CBS Sports. This season every North Texas football game will be on T.V and I believe they will all be available online through the C-USA Digital Network too. It sure looks like a good deal to me.

(07-19-2014 02:57 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-19-2014 10:47 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Sounds like a FCS TV package. With the quality and ease of accessing espn3 via Apple TV etc,[b] I prefer the Sun Belt's deal with ESPN in terms of viewing the games.[/b]

"BALTIMORE, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the "Company" or "Sinclair") announced today that it has launched the American Sports Network ("ASN"), a collegiate sports initiative to be broadcast on a number of Sinclair's broadcast television stations, and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference, and Patriot League. The initiative will be led by Doron Gorshein, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Networks, a division of Sinclair, who joined the Company in January 2014. The announcement was made by David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair."

That makes no sense to me. It's much easier to turn on the T.V. and change the channel to your local CW network. Most are in HD. Plus, most of the Sun Belt's ESPN games will only be available on ESPN3. Only a few will be aired on one of the ESPN channels. Sure some of your games might get carried on local stations, but those games probably won't get added to the ESPN3 lineup.

This deal allows for C-USA's tier 3 games to be aired on local Sinclair stations within our conference's geography. The games can also be syndicated to other broadcasters, and carried by Sinclair stations in other markets. Also, these games will be produced by Sinclair, but will still be available for viewing over the C-USA Digital Network. I don't think we will be dealing with terrible student produced stadium feeds like we had to deal with on ESPN3, back when UNT was in the Sun Belt.

When UNT was in the Sun Belt, only getting 3 conference games a season picked up by ESPN (1 on ESPN2 and 2 on ESPN3), I hated it. I think this C-USA deal with Sinclair is the perfect complement to our deals with Fox Sports and CBS Sports. This season every North Texas football game will be on T.V and I believe they will all be available online through the C-USA Digital Network too. It sure looks like a good deal to me.

If the Sinclair games will also be available on the CUSA digital network then the Sinclair deal is really pretty good. Your looking at games that were not going to be televised at all. Now they are going to be televised in the home markets (and likely in many other Sinclair affiliate markets)---PLUS anyone who is not covered by an affiliate can still watch on the digital network! That's huge improvement over the alternative.

(07-19-2014 03:14 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(07-19-2014 02:57 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-19-2014 10:47 AM)GSU Eagles Wrote:  Sounds like a FCS TV package. With the quality and ease of accessing espn3 via Apple TV etc,[b] I prefer the Sun Belt's deal with ESPN in terms of viewing the games.[/b]

"BALTIMORE, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) (the "Company" or "Sinclair") announced today that it has launched the American Sports Network ("ASN"), a collegiate sports initiative to be broadcast on a number of Sinclair's broadcast television stations, and has entered into comprehensive sports rights agreements with a number of distinguished NCAA Division I conferences including Conference USA, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big South Conference, Southern Conference, and Patriot League. The initiative will be led by Doron Gorshein, Chief Operating Officer of Sinclair Networks, a division of Sinclair, who joined the Company in January 2014. The announcement was made by David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair."

That makes no sense to me. It's much easier to turn on the T.V. and change the channel to your local CW network. Most are in HD. Plus, most of the Sun Belt's ESPN games will only be available on ESPN3. Only a few will be aired on one of the ESPN channels. Sure some of your games might get carried on local stations, but those games probably won't get added to the ESPN3 lineup.

This deal allows for C-USA's tier 3 games to be aired on local Sinclair stations within our conference's geography. The games can also be syndicated to other broadcasters, and carried by Sinclair stations in other markets. Also, these games will be produced by Sinclair, but will still be available for viewing over the C-USA Digital Network. I don't think we will be dealing with terrible student produced stadium feeds like we had to deal with on ESPN3, back when UNT was in the Sun Belt.

When UNT was in the Sun Belt, only getting 3 conference games a season picked up by ESPN (1 on ESPN2 and 2 on ESPN3), I hated it. I think this C-USA deal with Sinclair is the perfect complement to our deals with Fox Sports and CBS Sports. This season every North Texas football game will be on T.V and I believe they will all be available online through the C-USA Digital Network too. It sure looks like a good deal to me.

If the Sinclair games will also be available on the CUSA digital network then the Sinclair deal is really pretty good. Your looking at games that were not going to be televised at all. Now they are going to be televised in the home markets (and likely in many other Sinclair affiliate markets)---PLUS anyone who is not covered by an affiliate can still watch on the digital network! That's huge improvement over the alternative.

I agree. C-USA said the games will be produced by Sinclair, and will be available through the conferences digital network. I'm very happy.

I am hopeful for CUSA that this Sinclair deal changes the dynamics of the upcoming CUSA/ESPN/FOX negotiations. As I look at this new Sinclair development, I think of it as the first round of tv negotiations. For example, it would be nice if CUSA Commish Banowsky in meeting with ESPN and FOX for the first time could say something like this: "Sinclair has been very good to CUSA since they entered into the picture and now they have laid a very attractive offer in front of the conference to build upon and expand the CUSA telecasts of the first two years. But we told Sinclair that ESPN and FOX also have been very good to CUSA and we feel we owe it to them to see what new and expanded programming that they might be considering before making any final decision."

(07-19-2014 04:53 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  it would be nice if CUSA Commish Banowsky in meeting with ESPN and FOX for the first time could say something like this: "Sinclair has been very good to CUSA since they entered into the picture and now they have laid a very attractive offer in front of the conference to build upon and expand the CUSA telecasts of the first two years. But we told Sinclair that ESPN and FOX also have been very good to CUSA and we feel we owe it to them to see what new and expanded programming that they might be considering before making any final decision."

How have ESPN and FOX been "very good to C-USA"?