greggcowan
VIP Member
I just read this online.... I can't get a link to work...so I pasted it...Sorry....
BATON ROUGE — Imagine ESPN not over-covering the NFL, not focusing on the NBA and the NHL and focusing on what many believe is the No. 1 college football conference in the nation minus all those self-serving commercials and anchors.
And you might have the "SEC-PN" network, or the Southeastern Conference Entertainment Network.
"No question, there would be football and basketball on it," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said recently at the SEC spring meetings. "I think there's something like 8,720 hours of programming available. Obviously, part of that would have to be significant football and basketball. The other piece that our presidents and chancellors are very interested in is it would create an outlet for non-athletic content from our universities, which have good communication schools. There are a lot of events on our respective campuses that might find their way onto an SEC network."
The SEC has been talking to various national networks and cable distribution companies in recent months about possibly launching an SEC network in two to three years devoted to all or almost all league sports.
The Big Ten plans to launch exactly that this August, while the Mountain West Conference has had its own network — the Mtn. (Mountain West Sports Network) — for nearly a year.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: NHL | CBS | ESPN | Fox | SEC | Big Ten | Ten | Mike Slive | Sports Network
"The conference has had discussions with numerous distribution entities of various kinds, all of whom have expressed considerable interest about the channel," Slive said. "We will be devoting a lot of our time and energy to exploring the possibility of doing it. At first blush, it has certain advantages. By early 2008, we'll be into the actual periods of contract negotiation. There is even more interest now than there was in March."
The SEC's extremely lucrative contract with CBS goes into its 12th year of afternoon football next season and ends in the spring of 2009. The contracts with ESPN and ESPN2, which usually carry SEC Saturday night football games, expire in the spring of 2009 as well. The SEC's contracts with Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Southwest end after the 2008 spring seasons. The deal with Lincoln Financial Network, formerly Jefferson Pilot that carries the game of the week, also finishes in spring of 2009.
The SEC announced last week it would distribute $43 million of football television money to its 12 member schools from the 2006 season.
"CBS has been a terrific partner," Slive said. "We're the only league in the country that has a national network partner, and so every one of our games on CBS goes everywhere whether you have cable or don't. If you look at the ABC distribution of so-called national games, they are primarily regional. CBS does our game — it goes everywhere. And I think that speaks to the strength of the SEC and its football when a major network can have its full football inventory be one conference."
Slive foresees CBS being a part of the equation with an SEC network.
"When you think about it, it's really part of a matrix," he said. "So the question ultimately is how do you integrate all of those various distribution outlets with the potential of an SEC channel? And what does the SEC channel then take away from the more traditional distribution outlets? It's a very interesting discussion. We'll see how the negotiations (with CBS and the other networks) go. When I think about a channel, I think about it in conjunction with a national network and a national cable network. I don't think about an SEC network as the exclusive outlet."
The Big Ten Network has signed a 20-year agreement with Fox Cable Networks and has contracts with DirecTV satellite television, Comcast cable television and the Time Warner media conglomerate. Based in Chicago, the network plans to broadcast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year beginning at an undetermined date in August. There will be 35 football games televised, including at least two for each of the 11 schools, 105 men's basketball games, 55 women's basketball games, 170 Olympic, or minor, sports events and 60 hours of athletic and/or non-athletic programming per school.
There will also be a sports news show in the tradition of SportsCenter with former ESPN announcer Dave Revsine as the lead anchor, classic games like those shown on ESPN Classic and coaches shows.
"We're aiming at local and regional fans and displaced fans around the country," said Robin Jentes, the associate director of communications at the Big Ten Network. "The goal is to have the network available on basic cable and not on a sports tier."
Slive said he planned to observe how the Big Ten Network operates.
"Since the Big Ten keeps their eye on us all the time, I think we'll keep an eye on the Big Ten," he said with a laugh as the two conferences have developed quite a rivalry, particularly on the football field.
"There is interest in our national cable relationship," Slive said. "We have the most successful syndicated network of any conference in the country — the Lincoln Financial Network. We have a significant Olympic sports distribution program through Fox. I think it could work."
The pioneer of the conference-only network model is the Mountain West Conference, which includes Brigham Young, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Air Force, San Diego State, Colorado State and UNLV for football.
Conference commissioner Craig Thompson, formerly the commissioner of the Sun Belt, helped launch the Mountain West sports network in August of 2006 in Denver. The Mtn. has agreements with Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, CSTV, which is owned by CBS, and various local cable outlets and is more regional in scope at the moment than what the Big Ten plans. The Mtn. broadcasts all 19 league sports, 17 hours a day. It did 30 football games last season, 75 men's basketball games and 23 women's basketball games. Mountain View on Friday nights during football season previews the next day's games, and Mountain Cap reviews them on Saturday night. Around the Mountain is a media talk show.
The idea for the network came about when the Mountain West's contract with ESPN came up for renewal, and the league decided to explore other options.
"We had games kicking off at 10 p.m. local time," said Kim Melcher, director of communications for the Mountain West Conference. "We have preferred kickoff times now. We know when all our teams will be playing their conference games months in advance now."
The Mtn. is in 1.2 million homes, according to Mtn. general manager Kim Carver.
"I was extremely pleased with the first year in terms of ad sales," she said. "The network appeals to a lot of people — young fans, alumni and the people in the region of each school. It's an excellent model. I don't see why it wouldn't work in bigger conferences."
BATON ROUGE — Imagine ESPN not over-covering the NFL, not focusing on the NBA and the NHL and focusing on what many believe is the No. 1 college football conference in the nation minus all those self-serving commercials and anchors.
And you might have the "SEC-PN" network, or the Southeastern Conference Entertainment Network.
"No question, there would be football and basketball on it," SEC commissioner Mike Slive said recently at the SEC spring meetings. "I think there's something like 8,720 hours of programming available. Obviously, part of that would have to be significant football and basketball. The other piece that our presidents and chancellors are very interested in is it would create an outlet for non-athletic content from our universities, which have good communication schools. There are a lot of events on our respective campuses that might find their way onto an SEC network."
The SEC has been talking to various national networks and cable distribution companies in recent months about possibly launching an SEC network in two to three years devoted to all or almost all league sports.
The Big Ten plans to launch exactly that this August, while the Mountain West Conference has had its own network — the Mtn. (Mountain West Sports Network) — for nearly a year.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: NHL | CBS | ESPN | Fox | SEC | Big Ten | Ten | Mike Slive | Sports Network
"The conference has had discussions with numerous distribution entities of various kinds, all of whom have expressed considerable interest about the channel," Slive said. "We will be devoting a lot of our time and energy to exploring the possibility of doing it. At first blush, it has certain advantages. By early 2008, we'll be into the actual periods of contract negotiation. There is even more interest now than there was in March."
The SEC's extremely lucrative contract with CBS goes into its 12th year of afternoon football next season and ends in the spring of 2009. The contracts with ESPN and ESPN2, which usually carry SEC Saturday night football games, expire in the spring of 2009 as well. The SEC's contracts with Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports Southwest end after the 2008 spring seasons. The deal with Lincoln Financial Network, formerly Jefferson Pilot that carries the game of the week, also finishes in spring of 2009.
The SEC announced last week it would distribute $43 million of football television money to its 12 member schools from the 2006 season.
"CBS has been a terrific partner," Slive said. "We're the only league in the country that has a national network partner, and so every one of our games on CBS goes everywhere whether you have cable or don't. If you look at the ABC distribution of so-called national games, they are primarily regional. CBS does our game — it goes everywhere. And I think that speaks to the strength of the SEC and its football when a major network can have its full football inventory be one conference."
Slive foresees CBS being a part of the equation with an SEC network.
"When you think about it, it's really part of a matrix," he said. "So the question ultimately is how do you integrate all of those various distribution outlets with the potential of an SEC channel? And what does the SEC channel then take away from the more traditional distribution outlets? It's a very interesting discussion. We'll see how the negotiations (with CBS and the other networks) go. When I think about a channel, I think about it in conjunction with a national network and a national cable network. I don't think about an SEC network as the exclusive outlet."
The Big Ten Network has signed a 20-year agreement with Fox Cable Networks and has contracts with DirecTV satellite television, Comcast cable television and the Time Warner media conglomerate. Based in Chicago, the network plans to broadcast 24 hours a day, 365 days a year beginning at an undetermined date in August. There will be 35 football games televised, including at least two for each of the 11 schools, 105 men's basketball games, 55 women's basketball games, 170 Olympic, or minor, sports events and 60 hours of athletic and/or non-athletic programming per school.
There will also be a sports news show in the tradition of SportsCenter with former ESPN announcer Dave Revsine as the lead anchor, classic games like those shown on ESPN Classic and coaches shows.
"We're aiming at local and regional fans and displaced fans around the country," said Robin Jentes, the associate director of communications at the Big Ten Network. "The goal is to have the network available on basic cable and not on a sports tier."
Slive said he planned to observe how the Big Ten Network operates.
"Since the Big Ten keeps their eye on us all the time, I think we'll keep an eye on the Big Ten," he said with a laugh as the two conferences have developed quite a rivalry, particularly on the football field.
"There is interest in our national cable relationship," Slive said. "We have the most successful syndicated network of any conference in the country — the Lincoln Financial Network. We have a significant Olympic sports distribution program through Fox. I think it could work."
The pioneer of the conference-only network model is the Mountain West Conference, which includes Brigham Young, Texas Christian, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Air Force, San Diego State, Colorado State and UNLV for football.
Conference commissioner Craig Thompson, formerly the commissioner of the Sun Belt, helped launch the Mountain West sports network in August of 2006 in Denver. The Mtn. has agreements with Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, CSTV, which is owned by CBS, and various local cable outlets and is more regional in scope at the moment than what the Big Ten plans. The Mtn. broadcasts all 19 league sports, 17 hours a day. It did 30 football games last season, 75 men's basketball games and 23 women's basketball games. Mountain View on Friday nights during football season previews the next day's games, and Mountain Cap reviews them on Saturday night. Around the Mountain is a media talk show.
The idea for the network came about when the Mountain West's contract with ESPN came up for renewal, and the league decided to explore other options.
"We had games kicking off at 10 p.m. local time," said Kim Melcher, director of communications for the Mountain West Conference. "We have preferred kickoff times now. We know when all our teams will be playing their conference games months in advance now."
The Mtn. is in 1.2 million homes, according to Mtn. general manager Kim Carver.
"I was extremely pleased with the first year in terms of ad sales," she said. "The network appeals to a lot of people — young fans, alumni and the people in the region of each school. It's an excellent model. I don't see why it wouldn't work in bigger conferences."
