(03-01-2018 02:10 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 02:06 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Unless of course ESPN3 is being phased out.

That may be the case but they are going to have to deal with a number of carriage agreements and content agreements regarding ESPN3 before they can do it or buy those out.

I don't think any of the partners is going to miss ESPN3. The only players in the TV game that ESPN3 matters to are the cash-poor college conferences, and they can be compensated with small amounts of cash, or ESPN TV slots, or just wait out their contracts.

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:02 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  [
Don't expect to see Sun Belt have any fewer ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU appearances than it is already getting, may add a few. This just a matter of shifting ESPN3 content to ESPN+

Sun Belt was logical to renegotiate now because of the championship game coming this year.

For me ESPN+ is a no brainer. It replaces MLS Live which I already subscribed to and will cost less and with that discount I get Sun Belt games thrown in.

If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Well...I suspect we will find money was at least part of the carrot.

(03-01-2018 02:19 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 02:10 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 02:06 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:34 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 01:31 PM)solohawks Wrote:  If ESPN is willing to pay to make the shift from 3 to Plus, its kind of a no brainer. I bet they throw in some extra national coverage as an incentive to be the first FBS conference to do so.

Exactly. There likely had to be a carrot to offset moving off free(ish) ESPN3 to ESPN+

Unless of course ESPN3 is being phased out.

That may be the case but they are going to have to deal with a number of carriage agreements and content agreements regarding ESPN3 before they can do it or buy those out.

I don't think any of the partners is going to miss ESPN3. The only players in the TV game that ESPN3 matters to are the cash-poor college conferences, and they can be compensated with small amounts of cash, or ESPN TV slots, or just wait out their contracts.

You might see cable/satellite kick a bit because they are paying a carriage fee.
Now if ESPN is willing to give a commission to cable/satellite/isps for selling ESPN+ access they probably don't care much anymore because they can make some extra money.

I doubt ESPN3 goes away. It's an easy way to distribute content online that's already on one of the ESPN networks. What I mean is that you're still going to have fans that might not necessarily be close to a TV when that game they want to watch is on. Or perhaps you'll have fans that simply prefer watching it on a mobile device. WatchESPN was created for those fans. It's an easy way to get ads to more people.

Remember that ESPN Plus content won't include what's being broadcast on the networks so what you'll find on ESPN3 will be greatly reduced in scope, but there's no reason to get rid of the platform.

I agree with whoever said the linear broadcasts for Sun Belt or AAC games won't be going away because ESPN still needs content for those time slots. G5 leagues weren't going to get top billing anyway so they're not losing exposure by shifting games off of ESPN3. They'll probably get more money and exposure off of it.

And I wouldn't be shocked if ESPN dedicates more time on SportsCenter or the website or whatever to cover those leagues. They'll want to use their available space to push the new OTT service.

This deal will probably be good for the Sun Belt and any other league that takes advantage of it.

CUSA has their own online platform some games are "broadcast quality" some games are not.
Just for comparison.
CUSA TV
It is $6.95 for 24 hours
$10.95 for a month
$99.95 for a year

You get ONLY CUSA content.

(03-01-2018 02:41 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  CUSA has their own online platform some games are "broadcast quality" some games are not.
Just for comparison.
CUSA TV
It is $6.95 for 24 hours
$10.95 for a month
$99.95 for a year

You get ONLY CUSA content.

And dont forget, for $10.95 a month you get that rock solid ultra-dependable CUSA quality HD streaming everyone raves about.

http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2018/3/1/g...-espn.aspx

Not much in details of $$ but this the MAC deal in total by signing over everything to ESPN. ESPN gets another sucker...first the MAC and now the SunBelt. CUSA will make the same deal I'm sure.

I actually thought Stadium would be involved with the SunBelt....guess Benson just wanted ESPN in total instead.

So by agreeing to go on ESPN Plus, the Sunbelt gets a couple more national TV slots for football. I doubt the money even at MAC level or else that would have leaked.

The only losers are those who get the ESPN 3 content now and don't want to pay $5 for that content once it moves to ESPN Plus

(03-01-2018 03:40 PM)solohawks Wrote:  So by agreeing to go on ESPN Plus, the Sunbelt gets a couple more national TV slots for football. I doubt the money even at MAC level or else that would have leaked.

The only losers are those who get the ESPN 3 content now and don't want to pay $5 for that content once it moves to ESPN Plus

That's not a trivial audience. I pay for cable and get all the ESPN channels, and yet one of the things I've really grown to love the last couple years is all the content on WATCH ESPN that i can view on my phones and tablets when I'm mobile, including stuff that is only showing their and not being simulcast on a cable channel.

If ESPN is going to take content away from WATCH and put it exclusively behind a $5 paywall even for those of us who pay for the ESPN cable channels, that will make a lot of ESPN subscribers irate.

(03-01-2018 03:51 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 03:40 PM)solohawks Wrote:  So by agreeing to go on ESPN Plus, the Sunbelt gets a couple more national TV slots for football. I doubt the money even at MAC level or else that would have leaked.

The only losers are those who get the ESPN 3 content now and don't want to pay $5 for that content once it moves to ESPN Plus

That's not a trivial audience. I pay for cable and get all the ESPN channels, and yet one of the things I've really grown to love the last couple years is all the content on WATCH ESPN that i can view on my phones and tablets when I'm mobile, including stuff that is only showing their and not being simulcast on a cable channel.

If ESPN is going to take content away from WATCH and put it exclusively behind a $5 paywall even for those of us who pay for the ESPN cable channels, that will make a lot of ESPN subscribers irate.

There are always some hidden gyms on ESPN 3 throughout the college football season. Its all going to come down to how many people say $5 no biggie v. $5 no way.

Looks like, when they roll out ESPN+, you'll have one ESPN mobile app on your device and it will have both ESPN/ESPN3 content that requires a cable/satellite subscription and ESPN+ content that requires an ESPN+ subscription.

Quote:Fans will access ESPN+ as an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App. Already the leading sports app, the new ESPN App will give sports fans an unmatched, one-stop digital sports platform that provides easy, dynamic access to everything ESPN offers, anytime, anywhere across mobile and OTT (over the top) platforms. With a richer, increasingly more personalized experience, the new ESPN App will curate all of ESPN’s incredible content into a content experience unique to each fan’s individual tastes.

(03-01-2018 03:51 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(03-01-2018 03:40 PM)solohawks Wrote:  So by agreeing to go on ESPN Plus, the Sunbelt gets a couple more national TV slots for football. I doubt the money even at MAC level or else that would have leaked.

The only losers are those who get the ESPN 3 content now and don't want to pay $5 for that content once it moves to ESPN Plus

That's not a trivial audience. I pay for cable and get all the ESPN channels, and yet one of the things I've really grown to love the last couple years is all the content on WATCH ESPN that i can view on my phones and tablets when I'm mobile, including stuff that is only showing their and not being simulcast on a cable channel.

If ESPN is going to take content away from WATCH and put it exclusively behind a $5 paywall even for those of us who pay for the ESPN cable channels, that will make a lot of ESPN subscribers irate.

I think the number of angry people will be very small considering that $5 will get you a lot more than what was previously on ESPN3 anyway.

But it almost doesn't matter. ESPN had a ton of content in its bank that wasn't being monetized and this was the most economical way to do it.

(03-01-2018 03:31 PM)MWC Tex Wrote:  http://sunbeltsports.org/news/2018/3/1/g...-espn.aspx

Not much in details of $$ but this the MAC deal in total by signing over everything to ESPN. ESPN gets another sucker...first the MAC and now the SunBelt. CUSA will make the same deal I'm sure.

I actually thought Stadium would be involved with the SunBelt....guess Benson just wanted ESPN in total instead.

I would say that the suckers have done well by signing over everything to ESPN. ACC has done it, SEC has but for one game a week, AAC, and MAC.

The AAC and MAC have gained games on linear TV thanks to ESPN subleasing some content to CBS Sports Net and they pay a piece of the action over to the conferences based on the sales price.

There is one and so far only one claim out there that ESPN+ is going to replace MLB.tv and NHL Game Center so it will include all out-of-market hockey and baseball.

If that is true, ESPN+ is going to be a hit.

Sun Belt is getting 10 home games on ESPN networks. Old deal guaranteed 6 I believe, there were 8 last season.

Wonder how big the increase was. I for one am glad they got more.. what ever that means. If it is 200k per school that would be pretty big, doubling the old deal. Having champ game should have been worth 1 to 2 mil per year for the conf

So espn3 you get free if you have the cable package, but espn+ you pay an additional fee regardless?

Crap. I hope the MAC never does that. Weeknight games are terror enough.

(03-01-2018 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  So espn3 you get free if you have the cable package, but espn+ you pay an additional fee regardless?

Crap. I hope the MAC never does that. Weeknight games are terror enough.

Yes. Just paying for espn alone does not give you espn plus. That’s extra.

(03-01-2018 04:43 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  So espn3 you get free if you have the cable package, but espn+ you pay an additional fee regardless?

Crap. I hope the MAC never does that. Weeknight games are terror enough.

But most of the content on espn3 is moving to espn+ along with some new content. I think espn3 will just become the basic version of espn+ and only offer the streaming version of the channels you get with your cable package like ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNnews, and the SECN.

To get ESPN plus you must pay to have ESPN, and then you must pay an additional cost to get the new ESPN plus. I won’t be eligible to purchase ESPN plus as I do not purchase ESPN. So to some that’s a double loss, to me it’s a double win.