Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott and the “growing staff of Pac-12 Enterprises -- which will encompass the TV networks, a conference digital network and a sponsorship department -- have just over six months left to pull off what can certainly be considered the most ambitious sports start-up venture to date,” according to Stewart Mandel of SI. The Pac-12 begins with “one notable advantage that most recent sports start-ups lacked: It's already secured distribution deals with the four biggest cable companies -- Comcast, Time Warner, Cox Communications and Bright House -- in its geographic footprint.” The national network “will be available on those companies' digital sports tiers in other parts of the country.” Whereas the five-year-old Big Ten Network “spent its first year in contentious negotiations with cable networks, and the first-year Longhorn Network is still only available to a scant few, the Pac-12 can already claim its networks will be available in 40 million homes.” Scott said, "There won't be the same narrative around, is it going to be distributed or not distributed in a certain territory. ... We want to be distributed on every platform, but there won't be the same kind of tension or angst in those negotiations." Scott added that “prepayments from the new ESPN/FOX deal and expected subscriber fees helped offset start-up costs, and that the networks will be ‘a net-positive revenue wise from day one.’" Scott: "If we're successful it will look different from any sports channel people are used to watching. It will feel 'West Coast,' modern. It will have some technology bells and whistles that people haven't been able to embrace before, because those are all important things to our brand." Mandel noted the Pac-12's concept “draws logical comparisons” to BTN and LHN, but former CBS Sports President and sports media consultant Neal Pilson said that it “more closely resembles various regional channels -- SNY in New York, NESN in New England, Comcast Sports Net in the Bay Area and elsewhere -- that anchor themselves around a local pro team, then fill additional hours with national programming” (SI.com, 2/15).
PLEADING FOR PATIENT WITH LHN: The AP’s Jim Vertuno reported ESPN “is still struggling to find wide distribution" for LHN, and Univ. of Texas officials “are pleading with Longhorns fans to be patient.” UT men's AD DeLoss Dodds and women’s AD Chris Plonsky in a joint statement last week said since launching the network last August, delays "in distribution have overshadowed the network's many positive aspects and impact.” They continued, “We ask our fans for patience and understanding. Distribution will happen, but the business negotiations process is painfully slow.” The largest carrier “to date is Verizon, which includes the LHN on its FiOS TV sports package with a potential reach of about 4 million subscribers in about a dozen states.” The nation's “biggest distributors, such as Time Warner Cable Inc., Comcast Corp. and DirecTV Inc. have stayed away” (AP, 2/14).
