CSS To Shut Down Because SEC Network Will Take Critical Inventory

Comcast Sports Southeast is "shutting down June 1" after a 15-year run. Station GM Mark Fuhrman on Friday "informed the 20 full-time employees who will be losing their jobs," according to a source. The "primary reason" the net is shutting down is ESPN's SEC Network. Without SEC conference games, CSS "will lose a major source of programming, revenue and viewership." CSS also "runs Sun Belt Conference games that will have to find a new home" (AJC.com, 3/14).

Meanwhile, Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Karl Benson expects that the Sun Belt Network "will continue" despite CSS shuttering operations. CSS "carried some of the Sun Belt Conference's games." It is "unclear" what CSS' shuttering "could mean for broadcasting Sun Belt football games this Fall" (AJC.com, 3/14).