Cal AD Sandy Barbour Pressures DirecTV To Add Pac-12 Networks

Cal AD Sandy Barbour is "leading a campaign on Twitter to encourage DirecTV to add the Pac-12 Networks to its lineup," according to John Crumpacker of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Barbour, who resides in Oakland, is "threatening to cancel her DTV subscription and is encouraging her fellow Cal fans with the service to do the same." Barbour said, "I've been a DirecTV customer since 1996. I'd hate to lose it, but I want to get the Pac-12 Networks. DirecTV has been phenomenal in their customer service up until now. This is a nonstarter for me. If DirecTV can't figure out how to carry the Pac-12 Networks by the first football game (on Thursday), I'm done." Crumpacker notes the Pac-12 and DirecTV "are in negotiations but no agreement has been reached." DirecTV "is not alone, however, as neither Dish Network nor AT&T carries the Pac-12 Networks." Barbour said Pac-12 Commissoner Larry Scott "called last Tuesday and asked what I thought. I had to say, 'Well, Larry, I haven't been able to watch it.' Now you understand why I'm leading the charge on Twitter" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/29).

LIFE IMITATING ART: DAILY VARIETY's Andrew Wallenstein notes DirecTV is "teaming with 20th Century Fox's digital studio to produce 'Suit Up,' a scripted comedy in which the satcaster, via a brand integration deal, is inserted into the narrative as coming to the rescue of a scandal-ridden athletic department that loses its valuable TV deal with a fictional cable company." The eight-episode "shortform series will get an exclusive two-week run on Yahoo beginning Sept. 12 before moving on to DirecTV's Audience Network next January." While the show "recalls the high-profile negotiations currently playing out between DirecTV and a certain real-life collegiate conference, DirecTV greenlit the project roughly 18 months ago" (VARIETY.com, 8/28).