https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/john_c...ssion=true

PAC12 Network somehow looks better than HD and has quite a few reruns. Hope it stays.

The Pac-12 networks were making their schools 1-2 million each a year when they had football on it. I would imagine they'll squeak by this year without football, lose money this year, and go back to making 1-2 million each next season. That seems to be about the best that they can hope for.

No compelling on-air content. Few staff. Expensive overhead. In desperate need of a media partner and funding. A leader who is still extracting salary and bonuses.

Larry Scott has lost support in Oregon.

From the article:

"One high-ranking conference official told me: "No media company wanted to partner with the Pac-12. ESPN declined. FOX, CBS, even the Discovery Channel declined. Nobody knows this.

“We weren’t wanted.”

The only option the Pac-12 had was to launch a network itself. It’s since been re-cast as some forward-thinking, ambitious endeavor led by Scott. Truth is, the Pac-12 misread the market then tried to shift the narrative."

OUCHHH!

It is amazing that the PAC12 Network won't be carrying many (if any) football games this year:

Quote:...
Because at the time [2018] Scott had 170 employees on the payroll of the Pac-12 Network...Now, the Pac-12 has laid off or furloughed the staff amid a pandemic.
...
The first six weeks of the season will be televised by a combination of ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox and FS1. Fox will televise the Dec. 18 title game. A conference source told me that the Pac-12 hasn’t determined which networks might carry the rest of the Dec 18-19 weekend games.

It’s likely that ABC, ESPN and FS1 take at least three of them. Maybe a fourth. That would leave the Pac-12 Network with a game or two, maybe, if it still wants to be in the football-broadcast business.

(10-10-2020 08:06 AM)cuseroc Wrote:  From the article:

"One high-ranking conference official told me: "No media company wanted to partner with the Pac-12. ESPN declined. FOX, CBS, even the Discovery Channel declined. Nobody knows this.

“We weren’t wanted.”

The only option the Pac-12 had was to launch a network itself. It’s since been re-cast as some forward-thinking, ambitious endeavor led by Scott. Truth is, the Pac-12 misread the market then tried to shift the narrative."

OUCHHH!

ESPN offered to bail out the Pac12 Network but the Pac declined

(10-10-2020 12:43 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(10-10-2020 08:06 AM)cuseroc Wrote:  From the article:

"One high-ranking conference official told me: "No media company wanted to partner with the Pac-12. ESPN declined. FOX, CBS, even the Discovery Channel declined. Nobody knows this.

“We weren’t wanted.”

The only option the Pac-12 had was to launch a network itself. It’s since been re-cast as some forward-thinking, ambitious endeavor led by Scott. Truth is, the Pac-12 misread the market then tried to shift the narrative."

OUCHHH!

ESPN offered to bail out the Pac12 Network but the Pac declined

For the sake of accuracy, when the Pac-12 made the decision to run their own network, they had just signed a $3 billion, 12-year deal with the two ESPN and Fox, the most lucrative college TV deal in history at the time (2011). So it wasn't like ESPN and Fox were running away from them. We don't know why the networks wanted no part of the Pac-12 Network. Maybe Larry Scott was making demands that they thought were ridiculous. I never remembered reading or hearing about a Pac-12 network deal with ESPN or Fox at that point in time. Scott acted like it was his idea to launch their own network with regional channels.

In late 2018, the the Pac-12 "rejected an offer from ESPN to partner on the Pac-12 Networks, a deal that substantially would have boosted the distribution outlook for the underperforming channels." ESPN also "would have extended its rights fee agreement with the conference well into" the '30s.
https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Dail...ac-12.aspx

(10-10-2020 08:06 AM)cuseroc Wrote:  From the article:
"One high-ranking conference official told me: "No media company wanted to partner with the Pac-12. ESPN declined. FOX, CBS, even the Discovery Channel declined. Nobody knows this.
“We weren’t wanted.”
The only option the Pac-12 had was to launch a network itself. It’s since been re-cast as some forward-thinking, ambitious endeavor led by Scott. Truth is, the Pac-12 misread the market then tried to shift the narrative."

Yknow, I'm pretty skeptical of the high-ranking conference official. When the PAC-12 networks were developing and launching, ESPN and Fox and Comcast NBC were all trying to collect more subscriber fees. Yes, conference networks (BTN, SEC Network) but also launching new RSNs (CSN Houston, Fox Sports San Diego, TWC Sportsnet (LA Lakers), TWC Sportsnet (LA Dodgers)).

I really doubt that there was "no interest" from Fox, Disney, or Comcast (or maybe Time Warner) in partnering to get the PAC 12 networks on basic cable in the PAcific time zone.

I'm guessing that there was no interest *on Larry Scott's terms*. The PAC-12 did misread the market, but the narrative shifting was happening in real time, not looking backwards.

Conzano really didn't add much which he and Jon Wilner already have written about the failures of the network since they failed to ever get on DirecTV and they system of four "regional" networks plus a full national one was not great financially. Plus,. Conzano has targeted Larry Scott since his arrival.