"The debut of the channel will end regional syndicated programming from ESPN Plus and the ESPN GamePlan pay-per-view option. Many of those games will air on the Big Ten Channel instead."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../606220344
I sure posters will find a lot of ramifications, but the one which strikes me the most is that THE Big Ten games we are used to seeing on ESPN Plus and GamePlan will be moved to the new network.
My ?:
Will ESPN Regional TV replace those games with what???
This COULD (not sure) be a + for the MAC if it means some our games will move to those slots.
Vandelay might want to engage his friends in the MAC office for their take.
If the ACC follows suit and starts their own network, ESPN GamePlan, e.g., will be hurting for a full suite of games.
I really thing this will give the 'little guys' a big chance to fill many slots.
I tend to beleive it would hurt us (The MAC). More competition for a TV viewers. IMHO!!
HuskiesRule73 Wrote:I tend to beleive it would hurt us (The MAC). More competition for a TV viewers. IMHO!!
Actually I just got a contrary opinion from someone whose opinion I greatly respect.
He thinks the MAC could be a beneficiary for some of those open slots.
emu steve Wrote:HuskiesRule73 Wrote:I tend to beleive it would hurt us (The MAC). More competition for a TV viewers. IMHO!!
Actually I just got a contrary opinion from someone whose opinion I greatly respect.
He thinks the MAC could be a beneficiary for some of those open slots.
For MAC games to be on ESPN Plus and ESPN GamePlan? I would think the number of people who have ESPN/ESPN2 would trumph the number of people who have ESPN Plus and ESPN GamePlan.
epasnoopy Wrote:[quote="emu steveFor MAC games to be on ESPN Plus and ESPN GamePlan? I would think the number of people who have ESPN/ESPN2 would trumph the number of people who have ESPN Plus and ESPN GamePlan.
My point is that some of the Saturday afternoon ESPN GamePlan slots which were filled with say 2 or 3 Big Ten games will now be available for other conferences which have an affiliation with ESPN, such as the MAC.
I'm getting foggy on this, but I believe some of our games which are produced by FSN regionals in the midwest for ESPN might be candidates to be ALSO added to ESPN GamePlan.
Sure this isn't the same as ESPN/ESPN2 but it is still a +.
I'm reminded of a famous quote, "A rising tide raises all boats." (hope I got the quote correct.
As we see more and more sports networks (e.g., ESPN-U, CSTV, Big Ten, etc.) it means there are more and more slots to fill and we'll get some.
Do remember that the launch of Comcast-Local in Michigan led to a lot more games featuring C/E/WMU.
I think you just may see ESPN Game Plan change if more conferences follow suit. The only way the MAC gets more games is if a television provider believes it is profitable to do the game. MAC games have been on under the ESPN Plus name before in the past. Marshall did several of their own games, and I know Miami did one at Kent that was televised by a station in Cincinnati that could have been picked up. Disney likely does not need those games as the Big Ten will just broadcast those not picked up on one of the main national stations ABC/ESPN/ESPN2.
For example, I don't know what money is gained through Game Plan that they might be losing if they had 12 games instead of 14 on a particular Saturday.
The MAC already has a contract with ESPN Regional TV. They are the ones who coordinate and produce the MAC Game of the Week that airs on FSN Ohio, CSN Chicago, Comcast Local and Adelphia-Buffalo.
There are no time slots, per se, for ESPN+ games. The Big Ten always did their games at 12pm but because those are gone it doesn't mean those games will open up for another conference.
There were two losers in the Big Ten Network's formation:
1) Local stations who aired the Big Ten Game of the Week. They'll lose out on revenue that they otherwise would televise
2) ESPNU. They typically simulcasted the Big Ten Game of the Week to the entire country. That time slot could get filled with a combination of Army home games (as it was last year at times) plus the Big East's Game of the Week, which happens to air at 12pm EST.
After the Big Ten leaves only the MAC, Sun Belt and Big East will have football deals with ESPN+. The Big 12 has a deal with ESPN+ for basketball, not football.
Other conference's regional syndicators:
Big 12: FSN (games air at 12pm or 12:30pm, available to all FSN regions)
ACC: Raycom/LF Sports
SEC: Lincoln Financial Sports
MWC: The mtn.
C-USA: C-USA All Access
The PAC-10 and WAC do not have syndication deals signed at this time. Both conferences allow schools to make deals with local broadcasters. Oregon also has a deal with ESPN+ local broadcasts.
very, very good analysis.
I understand your point about ESPN+ but what I'm getting at is that ESPN has some many slots for ESPN GamePlan at noon. Big Ten usually grabbed a couple of them.
Now, as you indicate, Big Ten will not be using them.
Some of the games ESPN Regional does for ESPN could end up on ESPN GamePlan as well as the FSN-Ohio, Chicago, Comcast-Local, etc.
This would mean the games would be accessible to anyone with ESPN GamePlan. This would be helpful for those living outside of the midwest areas (e.g., Ohio, Chicago, Michigan, etc.) who now get the games only on the FSN or Comcast-Local channels.
What you present could happen because ESPN is running out of conferences to televise and not everyone has DirecTV or Dish Network to fork out extra cash to see the MAC games without buying GamePlan. I'm not sure that they will broadcast any more games from the Sun Belt or MAC. Maybe from the Big East, but that will depend on what games are available.
I'd like to see the ESPN360 games be made available to Game Plan. Those games are supposedly transmitted via satellite the same way all other football games are back to a master control center, so the feeds could get pulled down.
ESPN lost the MWC and C-USA and it cost them 2-3 games a week in Game Plan. Right now these are the games that usually appear in Game Plan
Big Ten GOTW and local broadcasts
Big East GOTW and local broadcasts
Sun Belt GOTW and local broadcasts
ACC GOTW from Raycom
SEC GOTW from LF Sports
Any ABC games (4-5 games a week)
WAC local broadcasts (when made available)
PPV telecasts from the SEC and ACC (when made available)
MAC local broadcasts (when made available)
There is supposed to be a negotiation currently going on to do a WAC GOTW through ESPN+ now that the MWC has left for CSTV and CSTV owns the previous WAC syndicator, SportsWest Productions.
Mattsarz mentions that local stations lose out, and that was my first reaction.
WBNS-TV, Columbus' CBS affiliate, has religiously aired the ESPN-plus Big Ten game of the week ever since I moved here.
The wet dream for the MAC would be to persuade afilliates in our key markets to air an ESPN-plus MAC game of the week.
This certainly isn't a forgeone conclusion nor is it necessarily easy. But I don't think we can say it can't be done.
What I don't have a sense of is what (if anything) CBS serves up from noon to three on Saturdays and whether the MAC can compete with that.
A MAC ESPN-plus game of the week could be a reasonable lead into to CBS' College Football Today (at 3 p.m.) and on into the SEC game on CBS affiliates.
So -- if Rick Chryst can sit down with John Wolfe (owner of WBNS/ONN/the Dispatch/etc.) and sweet talk him into giving this a try for a year or two, the MAC could build from there.
I would guess there are a few other similarly situated CBS affiliates in our footprints -- and, for those not interested, there are certainly independent/minor network stations that could be strung together (I'm thinking of channel 23 in Akron, channels 20 or 50 in Detroit) to make this work.
What do you guys think?
If I'm thinking with Mattsarz maybe the loss of some games from ESPN-RT (ESPN+) for GamePlan might cause ESPN to do some of their ESPN360 games on GamePlan.
Everyone is trying to get in on the webcasting - some college teams do it, CBS does it with March Madness, Major and Minor League Baseball, etc.
I have my doubts about ESPN360 surviving though.
RE: Chryst and TV (e.g., Columbus).
As some might know, Rick came to the MAC from the ACC where he handled TV for that conference.
Perhaps Chryst's biggest strength has been his ability to partner with ESPN in the area of television.
And that makes sense. Television is essentially a conference-wide endeavor.
This probably will have little effect on ESPN+ games. For years the Ohio Athletics Dept. has done 3-4 ESPN+ football games a year with our own announcers and the game is put on one of the regional TV stations (usually WSAZ in Charleston, WV) as well as ESPN game plan. The same thing is also done for basketball.
The point is that you can pretty much have an ESPN+ game whenever you want one--as long as the athletic dept. pays a little to get the ESPN+ "label" on it. These games can then get picked up by a local news channel regardless of whatever the Big Ten or any other conference is doing...
I would not expect a big change if anything at all. The Big Ten has tremendous marketing power and can do almost anything they want. The MAC has recently signed a very good agreement with ESPN and I don't see either party at all wanting to renegotiate those terms for a while. The MAC will always benefit a small amount when the Big Ten gets something like this since we have such strong regional, officiating and scheduling ties with them.