I hope we create one. I saw Stanford vs. SJSU today on PAC-12 network. I was impressed with their presentation. They had bunch of PAC-12 alums during commercials pimping the network. They had those tickers on the bottom for all the Olympic sports.

I found out UCONN men's soccer is ranked #5 in the country, UCONN women's soccer is #5 in the country and UCONN field hockey is ranked #6 in the country. It was on PAC-12 Network's scrolling ticker on the bottom of the screen.

I really hope BE can create a network like this. It would be awesome tool to promote the conference.

Presentation I'm told is good. Distribution, at least early, is having struggles. While they signed the deals early w/Comcast, COX, TWC and Bright House, apparently they didn't mandate out of market coverage for the network on all their systems. I'm told TWC has been good about placing the national feed on their sports tier outside the Pac-12 markets. Comcast and COX have not been. Both have been picking and choosing markets to place the national feed. Comcast, for example, placed the network in Boston, Philly, Atlanta, but left several markets (Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, DC, Houston) without it. With the exception of Omaha and 1-2 other areas, COX isn't putting it on any of their non-Pac-12 area systems.

In some ways Comcast and COX messed it up for the Pac-12 with those who don't have a deal (DirecTV, Dish, AT&T, Verizon). If the cable cos would have placed it everywhere out of market, it might have put more pressure on those four to strike a deal before Thursday.

(09-01-2012 06:09 AM)mattsarz Wrote:  In some ways Comcast and COX messed it up for the Pac-12 with those who don't have a deal (DirecTV, Dish, AT&T, Verizon). If the cable cos would have placed it everywhere out of market, it might have put more pressure on those four to strike a deal before Thursday.

Is that really in Comcast and COX's best interests? Pac-12 messed it up for themselves by not demanding that the channel be carried on all systems and the HD feed available on all systems.

I don't think a conference network is even the best option. Instead whichever network ends up with the package, would be better off utilizing one of their under performing, currently widely distributed networks (G4 for Comcast, Tru TV for Turner, etc) and instead of having their own network, place tier 3 games on one of those networks, if feasible, share in the profits of improvements. I would do that and run the network similar to how Nickelodeon/Nick at Night and Cartoon Network/Adult Swim share space. Meanwhile, it means 3rd tier games are widely distributed, and its another fight (getting a network up) we don't have to deal with. Far fewer start up costs, easier access. Win/win.