(10-18-2012 12:46 AM)TOGC Wrote:  The Big East needs to get a deal that does two things:

1) Makes the most money for its member schools. Anything less than $15M per all-sports teams would be a disappointment.
2) Maximizes exposure. We don't need to get stuck on hard-to-find cable channels.

Then cross NBC Sports or whatever that is called off the list.

(10-18-2012 12:37 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  There is only one entity that Disney, Fox and Time Warner hate more than each other: Comcast. Why? Because Comcast is the biggest player on the other side of the negotiating table against Disney, Fox and Time Warner for cable subscriber fees, so they don't want anything to do with NBCSN being strong enough to get any leverage against them.

Just to note for anyone that does not know, Time Warner the owner of the Cable networks and Time Warner the Cable provider are no longer the same entity. Just adding for perspective.

The Big East Contract will be split over 3 or 4 television partners...

At least two networks will split each sport... one of the advantages of NBC that people forget, when they pan NBC-SN is that NBC has no other conference, just 6 Notre Dame games a year, meaning most weeks, the conference's best match-ups won't be relegated to weeknights or even lost cable stations, but the NBC broadcast network and no offense but Broadcast Television offers more viewers than cable channels every day... they're available in 19% more households right off the top! Fox need content for all these sports channels they're talking about, but the conference doesn't want to be pushed to regional by conflicts with PAC or XII games. In regards to football, its not often ESPN pushes a Big East game over to ABC; so that needs to be taken into consideration too.

Basketball, CBS is going to fight for its share, if not more of a share of basketball... ESPN will not go down without a fight for the bball no matter how badly they pan the Big East. NBC has shown interest in college basketball to compliment hockey on the network and NBC-SN...

Olympic Sports... NBC-SN has already invested in some smaller conferences on an all-sport basis; I could see them vying for a share of olympic-sports with ESPN and potentially Fox...

So I think ideally getting partners who will provide the best mix of cash, timeslots, and access... but who will also carry the conference on its broadcast channel is key too!

(10-18-2012 12:58 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  The Big East Contract will be split over 3 or 4 television partners...

At least two networks will split each sport... one of the advantages of NBC that people forget, when they pan NBC-SN is that NBC has no other conference, just 6 Notre Dame games a year,

That is just as much of a disadvantage as an advantage at best. Probably worse. It also means no one will tune into that station who are not already Big East fans. Big East fans will find their games anywhere. But you cut off access to casual fans being on a relatively obscure channel by yourself. IF you are on Fox, whcih at the moment is equally as obscure as of today, the precense fo Pac 12 and Big XII sports will get more people in the habit of tuning to those games.

(10-18-2012 12:51 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 12:37 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  There is only one entity that Disney, Fox and Time Warner hate more than each other: Comcast. Why? Because Comcast is the biggest player on the other side of the negotiating table against Disney, Fox and Time Warner for cable subscriber fees, so they don't want anything to do with NBCSN being strong enough to get any leverage against them.

Just to note for anyone that does not know, Time Warner the owner of the Cable networks and Time Warner the Cable provider are no longer the same entity. Just adding for perspective.

Correct. Time Warner no longer owns Time Warner Cable (and similarly, Fox no longer has an ownership interest in DirecTV).

Anything that gets The Big East off of ESPN is good for the conference. ESPN's constant bashing of the conference is the reason we are presently fighting for our athletic lives. I say screw ESPN, take less money and give NBC a shot at growing to compete against ESPN. We couldn't possibly be any worse off.
CJ

(10-18-2012 01:18 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 12:58 PM)IceJus10 Wrote:  The Big East Contract will be split over 3 or 4 television partners...

At least two networks will split each sport... one of the advantages of NBC that people forget, when they pan NBC-SN is that NBC has no other conference, just 6 Notre Dame games a year,

That is just as much of a disadvantage as an advantage at best. Probably worse. It also means no one will tune into that station who are not already Big East fans. Big East fans will find their games anywhere. But you cut off access to casual fans being on a relatively obscure channel by yourself. IF you are on Fox, whcih at the moment is equally as obscure as of today, the precense fo Pac 12 and Big XII sports will get more people in the habit of tuning to those games.

Since when did NBC become an obscure channel? I wouldnt be surprised if we ended up with a couple of games on Fox, one on NBC over the air, one or two on the ESPN family, with the rest on NBC-Sports or regional carriers. I think the Big East football media package will be chopped up in a way that makes sense for the networks that have programming holes to fill.

Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

(10-18-2012 12:50 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 12:46 AM)TOGC Wrote:  The Big East needs to get a deal that does two things:

1) Makes the most money for its member schools. Anything less than $15M per all-sports teams would be a disappointment.
2) Maximizes exposure. We don't need to get stuck on hard-to-find cable channels.

Then cross NBC Sports or whatever that is called off the list.

It is my understanding that NBC Sports will soon (before the end of the year) have a channel number near those of ESPN.

(10-18-2012 12:46 AM)TOGC Wrote:  The Big East needs to get a deal that does two things:

1) Makes the most money for its member schools. Anything less than $15M per all-sports teams would be a disappointment.
2) Maximizes exposure. We don't need to get stuck on hard-to-find cable channels.

You really think so? I mean you don't think the Big East should take the lowest offer and purposely broadcast its games on hard to find cable channels?

Obscure in the sense that people do not flip to the channel to see of something is on that they watch. Tru tv, sister channel of tbs, is in more homes than any sports hannel. But it would be "obscure" as far as having football or basketball games. When is the last time any of you flipped to NBC sports when sitting at home on a Saturday looking for a football or basketball game? Not a specific game, but just flipping channels? Doesn't happen often. If you go to a bar, when did you last look up and see NBC Sports on one of the TV's? How about espnu? Both are in the
same number of homes. Fox has enough name brand content that it will start to be on in those bars. Big east as nbas primary conference will not likely change that anytime soon.

(10-18-2012 02:16 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

No. Espn is on basic cable in 99% of cable lineups: NBC only on Comcast cable: everywhere else it is expanded basic or the equivalent. Espn and espn/ are in 33% more homes ( roughly 100 million to 75 million). The bigger issue high is how often people who have both watch NBC over espn.

(10-18-2012 02:25 PM)Gray Avenger Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 12:50 PM)Bearcat_Bounce Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 12:46 AM)TOGC Wrote:  The Big East needs to get a deal that does two things:

1) Makes the most money for its member schools. Anything less than $15M per all-sports teams would be a disappointment.
2) Maximizes exposure. We don't need to get stuck on hard-to-find cable channels.

Then cross NBC Sports or whatever that is called off the list.

It is my understanding that NBC Sports will soon (before the end of the year) have a channel number near those of ESPN.

I've got Dish Network and, if not for this board, I would never have heard of NBC's sports subsidiaries. Fox is the way to go, IMO.

(10-18-2012 02:53 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:16 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

No. Espn is on basic cable in 99% of cable lineups: NBC only on Comcast cable: everywhere else it is expanded basic or the equivalent. Espn and espn/ are in 33% more homes ( roughly 100 million to 75 million). The bigger issue high is how often people who have both watch NBC over espn.

Yep. I'm in Cincinnati with Time Warner. I don't currently get NBC Sports and would have to add some sort of sports package I assume.

(10-18-2012 03:06 PM)CollegeCard Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:53 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:16 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

No. Espn is on basic cable in 99% of cable lineups: NBC only on Comcast cable: everywhere else it is expanded basic or the equivalent. Espn and espn/ are in 33% more homes ( roughly 100 million to 75 million). The bigger issue high is how often people who have both watch NBC over espn.

Yep. I'm in Cincinnati with Time Warner. I don't currently get NBC Sports and would have to add some sort of sports package I assume.

Check again. I am in Time Warner Cincinnati. I don't have any sports package and I get NBC Sports. So long as you have a cable box, you should get it.

NBC Sports is on extended basic on every cable provider in most areas, including here in Atlanta, and basic on Comcast.

(10-18-2012 02:53 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:16 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

No. Espn is on basic cable in 99% of cable lineups: NBC only on Comcast cable: everywhere else it is expanded basic or the equivalent. Espn and espn/ are in 33% more homes ( roughly 100 million to 75 million). The bigger issue high is how often people who have both watch NBC over espn.

Latest numbers from Nielsen are:

99 Million for ESPN and ESPN2 (drop of almost a million lost customers over the last 12 months...as more and more people, especially young people, are ditching cable all together and instead just using Hulu Plus and/or Netflix etc...

82.1 Million for NBC Sports (up over 3 million during the last 12 months)

While ESPN/ESPN2 have strong distribution....those channels don't mean much if ESPN continues to put Big East games on just ESPN3 (internet only service) and/or on bad dates/times (i.e. 11 AM ESPNU).

(10-18-2012 03:08 PM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 03:06 PM)CollegeCard Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:53 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  

(10-18-2012 02:16 PM)Wooglin157 Wrote:  Yeah, isn't NBC Sports Network on the same tier as ESPN and accessible to a similar amount of homes? I thought I saw a chart breaking down the sports channels somewhere.

No. Espn is on basic cable in 99% of cable lineups: NBC only on Comcast cable: everywhere else it is expanded basic or the equivalent. Espn and espn/ are in 33% more homes ( roughly 100 million to 75 million). The bigger issue high is how often people who have both watch NBC over espn.

Yep. I'm in Cincinnati with Time Warner. I don't currently get NBC Sports and would have to add some sort of sports package I assume.

Check again. I am in Time Warner Cincinnati. I don't have any sports package and I get NBC Sports. So long as you have a cable box, you should get it.

After checking further, you are correct that it is not part of a Sports Tier in Cincinnati. I may be the last person in the country without a cable box, so I just have channels 1-75. From checking out the TW lineup at the link below and selecting Cincinnati Digital, it appears NBC Sports is Ch 323 and is part of the Digital Variety Package.

So they don't have it listed as part of the basic or standard (essentially extended basic) packages. However, if nearly everyone with a box receives that Digital Variety Package then it's almost semantics on TW's part.

TW Channel Lineup

I have Insight, owned by Time Warner. NBC sports is in the expanded basic package, the type you woudl add to get channels like Syfy, VH1, WGN, etc. That is where NBC Sports is jsut about everywhere, save for Comcast cable. The the penetration is not the issue. ESPN U has a slightly smaller distrubution, but is ten times more visible to sports fans. That was what I meant by obscure. Liek I said, I have often advocated a deal with Truner, which would likely mean games on Tru TV. True TV is in as many homes as ESPN, but would still be "obscure" for a sports fan, as it took two years for most peopel to find it during the NCAA tournament.

(10-18-2012 04:45 PM)adcorbett Wrote:  I have Insight, owned by Time Warner. NBC sports is in the expanded basic package, the type you woudl add to get channels like Syfy, VH1, WGN, etc. That is where NBC Sports is jsut about everywhere, save for Comcast cable. The the penetration is not the issue. ESPN U has a slightly smaller distrubution, but is ten times more visible to sports fans. That was what I meant by obscure. Liek I said, I have often advocated a deal with Truner, which would likely mean games on Tru TV. True TV is in as many homes as ESPN, but would still be "obscure" for a sports fan, as it took two years for most peopel to find it during the NCAA tournament.

Better to be on True TV then ESPN 3.
Personally I like the Big 12 and PAC games on FX. Their quality kicks the crap out of the trash broadcasts that ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU put together.
CJ