In Raleigh, Andrew Carter notes given the success of the SEC Network and Big Ten Network, the ACC "could stand to generate more revenue with a TV channel of its own." The fact that the ACC paid Wasserman more than $600,000 during FY '14-15 is a "pretty good indicator that whatever the ACC and ESPN have been cooking up is nearing a release date" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 6/14).
ROUGH FORECAST: BROADCASTING & CABLE's Jon Lafayette noted the second half of this year "might be a tough one for the publicly owned TV companies." Sanford C. Bernstein Senior Analyst Todd Juenger cited the Rio Games as a factor that "will help NBCUniversal while it sucks away audiences and ad dollars from everyone else -- especially sports networks." The Olympic effect on non-NBC networks’ ad growth "will range 2-3 percentage points." He also pointed out that networks "can’t count on cash rolling in from the daily fantasy sports business." A year ago, FanDuel and DraftKings spent about $134M on TV ads in Q3. That "represented 44% of the ad growth in the quarter. " Juender: "Those dollars aren’t coming back this year," (BROADCASTINGCABLE.com, 6/13).
TUNNEL VISION: In N.Y., Sam Borden noted for high-level soccer, the broadcast of "seemingly every game begins with several minutes of live images of the players lining up in the tunnel, the cameras -- and often microphones -- trained squarely upon them." Part of what makes the tunnel footage "so compelling is the scenery." While some stadiums have a "clean, nearly antiseptic runway to the stadium, many tunnels have distinctive characteristics." As a result, many clubs and federations, "sensing a demand, now record and post their own tunnel videos on YouTube" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/11).
