Fox Sports Says It Is Not Talking About Launching Pac-12 Network

Fox Sports released a statement last night saying that they are not talking with the Pac-12 about launching a conference cable channel. The statement read, "We're not in any discussion with the Conference about a Pac-12 network. We're happy with our new Pac-12 media rights agreement and we're looking forward to continuing our long-term partnership." Given its ownership interest in the Big Ten Network, Fox was considered a strong candidate to partner on the Pac-12 channel. Fox holds a 49% interest in BTN and its cable affiliate team helped launch the channel.

Fox and ESPN in May partnered on a $250M per year deal for the next 12 years to get Pac-12 media rights, separate from the planned conference channel. Other parties that have talked about partnering on such a channel include ESPN, Comcast and Time Warner Cable.