ESPN & the SEC
Here's what Tony Barnhart commented about it just in advance of its signing:
ESPN, SEC may be hatching another big deal: Last week the SEC made a 15-year deal with CBS to televise that league’s national game of the week. I’m hearing that ESPN is thinking seriously about also signing a 15-year deal with the SEC as well. But this deal may have an interesting twist. Under this deal ESPN would purchase all of the remaining television rights that CBS does not own.
Why would ESPN do this? Simple. If ESPN owned the remaining rights, it could put several SEC games on its various platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360) and then, whatever rights it had left and did not want, it could sell back to a group like Raycom or even Comcast. Distribution, however, could be an issue because a lot of cable systems do not carry ESPNU or 360 on their basic package. And those distribution issues could ultimately complicate the deal. Some of those distribution issues could be addressed by video streaming on the Internet, which is going to be a big part of these future TV deals.
Now to do all this ESPN would have to pony up some pretty big bucks over a long period of time. But the network has shown it is willing to pay handsomely for college football.
Stay tuned. As big as the CBS deal was for the SEC, this one will not be far behind if it happens.
And consider this: Last year the SEC made $50.6 million from its TV rights for regular season football. If this deal gets done, I’m hearing that that figure could almost double.
ESPN, SEC may be hatching another big deal: Last week the SEC made a 15-year deal with CBS to televise that league’s national game of the week. I’m hearing that ESPN is thinking seriously about also signing a 15-year deal with the SEC as well. But this deal may have an interesting twist. Under this deal ESPN would purchase all of the remaining television rights that CBS does not own.
Why would ESPN do this? Simple. If ESPN owned the remaining rights, it could put several SEC games on its various platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360) and then, whatever rights it had left and did not want, it could sell back to a group like Raycom or even Comcast. Distribution, however, could be an issue because a lot of cable systems do not carry ESPNU or 360 on their basic package. And those distribution issues could ultimately complicate the deal. Some of those distribution issues could be addressed by video streaming on the Internet, which is going to be a big part of these future TV deals.
Now to do all this ESPN would have to pony up some pretty big bucks over a long period of time. But the network has shown it is willing to pay handsomely for college football.
Stay tuned. As big as the CBS deal was for the SEC, this one will not be far behind if it happens.
And consider this: Last year the SEC made $50.6 million from its TV rights for regular season football. If this deal gets done, I’m hearing that that figure could almost double.