Putting UNC-Duke games on ACC Network would put pressure on providers to pick up the channelGETTY IMAGES
ESPN and the ACC are "leaving open the possibility of swinging the biggest hammer they have" -- the two annual North Carolina-Duke basketball games -- when it comes to landing more carriage deals for ACC Network, according to Luke DeCock of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. The conference released its basketball schedule on Thursday night, when it was revealed both UNC-Duke games are "on Saturday for the first time in almost three decades, and they both had an unusual broadcast listed: ESPN/2/U/ACCN." Disney "continues to negotiate carriage deals with the last few holdouts" to air ACC Network, including Comcast and AT&T U-verse, and nothing would "apply more pressure on [distributors] that don't carry the nascent ACC Network than putting the biggest game in college basketball on that network." The ACC in '94 "agreed to move the first Duke-Carolina game to ESPN2, which at the time was struggling to gain carriage with cable providers." That game "single-handedly made ESPN2 a viable property." There currently are some big ACC markets "that still lack the network." Putting UNC-Duke on ESPN "won't move the needle" in any of the carriage negotiations, but "putting it on ACC Network would be a game-changer" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 9/13).
