(08-02-2015 09:46 PM)Dr. Isaly von Yinzer Wrote: I sincerely doubt that Oklahoma really wants to expand. However, they probably do want a conference network. As long as LHN is around, that can't really happen. I am guessing that the network Oklahoma was discussing probably did not work out numbers wise. It is almost impossible for one school to fill 24 hours of semi-decent programming. Hell, I don't think these full conference networks are worth watching and are mostly painfully dull studio shows and/or a bunch of whogivesashit games from the past.
Doctor, you make a really good point here that is often overlooked, and which I believe has the potential to dramatically alter sports programming in the future.
If every conference has a network, at some point the quality of the programming becomes so diluted that nobody is going to make as much money as the BTN and SECN are now making just because they were the first to market. To me what makes the most sense in the long run is an entirely new paradigm.
The SEC, by virtue of its geography, has close relationships with both the ACC and the B12, and shares many of the same markets. But if combined into a single network, their footprint would cover more than 1/2 of the entire US population, and the part of it most avidly devoted to all things football. Right now, each of those conferences negotiate media contracts separately, and have their games spread between ESPN and Fox and their OTA affiliates, ABC and CBS.
Those media outlets in turn negotiate carriage fees with companies like Time Warner Cable, who then charge a monthly fee to the ultimate consumer - us. I believe that, if those three conferences (or even the entire P5) were to join forces, it would make sense to cut out the middle men like ESPN and Fox Sports. Sell the product directly to whatever cable or satellite companies will carry your channels. Let ESPN and Fox compete for the G5 conferences if they want to stay in the game.
With 39 (or maybe even 65) major universities providing content in all sports, the quality of the programming would be far superior to anything the individual conference networks now have. And even after deducting production costs, I believe individual school payouts would dwarf what we see today. And the P5 schools would not run the risk of being locked into what could soon become obsolete distribution models and technologies.