The Pac-12 Networks will not use the usual number of experienced on-site broadcasters this springGETTY IMAGES
The Pac-12 Networks appear to be in "full-blown, cost-cutting mode" after the conference has been unsuccessful in "seeking a $500 million private-equity investment" in its media company, according to John Canzano of the Portland OREGONIAN. The net this spring will broadcast approximately the same number of live events as in years past, but it will not use the "usual number of experienced on-site broadcasters, producers, unit managers, technical directors, camera people, audio technicians and graphics editors." Oregon's spring football game is the only "traditionally produced, fully-staffed, on-site broadcast event on the schedule." That means the other 11 spring games will feature "remote broadcasts with limited on-site staff and a reduced number of camera operators at the stadium." The Pac-12 Networks last spring "sent full production and broadcast crews to 10 of the conference's 12 spring football games." Eight "full-time sales people left the Pac-12 Networks in the last year," and the net "reduced the number of traveling crews for the football broadcasts last season from three groups to two." Canzano noted the conference's objective could be to get the net's "balance sheet to look better on paper to a prospective private-equity investor," but the immediate end result "isn't likely to be a more professional and higher-quality broadcast product" (Portland OREGONIAN, 1/16).
