Here’s what we have learned in the past 24 hours …

— The Pac-12 will hire a replacement for CFO Brent Willman but not a successor to Pac-12 Networks president Mark Shuken, according to a source with knowledge of the plans.

In combination with the decision to move production facilities to an office in the East Bay, the decision to not replace Shuken provides insight into the future of the networks. Commissioner George Kliavkoff has stated publicly that the Pac-12 will remain in the content production business during the next media contract cycle, which begins in the summer of 2024.

The decision to lease 42,000 square feet in the East Bay city of San Ramon is evidence of the strategy. That said, there is no indication the Pac-12 Networks will exist in their current form — as a media distribution company.

In fact, the news release issued two weeks ago about the move to San Ramon was framed this way: The Pac-12 “announced the relocation of its San Francisco production studio …” It said nothing about the Pac-12 Networks, the linear media company with a national feed and six regional feeds.

If the media company is going away — if it’s being downscaled to a production unit — there’s no need for a network president.

In other words, the model is changing. Into what? There are at least two options:

1. An entity that produces streaming-only content about Pac-12 Olympic sports. (Football and basketball have far too much value to be sequestered on a conference-owned platform.)

2. A production facility that provides Pac-12 Olympic sports content and produces sporting events for a major digital media company like Amazon or Apple.




Link
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/01/26/p...framework/