From The News and Observer:

Quote:Last September, ESPN took the somewhat unusual step of hosting its College GameDay preview show not on the campus of the day's biggest game but in New York's Times Square, hours from any major Div. I game that day and not exactly the heart of what would normally be considered college football country.

It was not a coincidence that Disney. which owns ESPN, was engaged in a pivotal programming negotiation with Altice, the cable provider that serves 2.4 million customers in the New York metropolitan area. Among Disney's demands, which included price hikes for several channels: Carry ESPN's new ACC Network, which will launch next summer.

That the ACC Network was among Disney's top priorities underlined how important that new network is to ESPN. To see how important the network continues to be to the ACC, look no further than the league's fiscal year 2017 tax return, which was released last month.

Quote:So it's easy to see why the network is so important to the ACC, but what about ESPN, which has issues of its own?

The money ESPN makes on the network, a profit-sharing venture with the league, can be used to pay the rights fees ESPN already owes the ACC – $236 million in 2017. The better the network does, the more ESPN's deal with the ACC essentially pays for itself.

Disney is in the midst of a two-year cycle in which it will renegotiate almost all of its carriage contracts with cable and satellite providers as well as the new wave of online content providers. In all of those negotiations, the ACC Network has been a priority, both inside and outside the conference's geographical footprint.

(06-18-2018 02:41 PM)AllTideUp Wrote:  From The News and Observer:

Quote:Last September, ESPN took the somewhat unusual step of hosting its College GameDay preview show not on the campus of the day's biggest game but in New York's Times Square, hours from any major Div. I game that day and not exactly the heart of what would normally be considered college football country.

It was not a coincidence that Disney. which owns ESPN, was engaged in a pivotal programming negotiation with Altice, the cable provider that serves 2.4 million customers in the New York metropolitan area. Among Disney's demands, which included price hikes for several channels: Carry ESPN's new ACC Network, which will launch next summer.

That the ACC Network was among Disney's top priorities underlined how important that new network is to ESPN. To see how important the network continues to be to the ACC, look no further than the league's fiscal year 2017 tax return, which was released last month.

Quote:So it's easy to see why the network is so important to the ACC, but what about ESPN, which has issues of its own?

The money ESPN makes on the network, a profit-sharing venture with the league, can be used to pay the rights fees ESPN already owes the ACC – $236 million in 2017. The better the network does, the more ESPN's deal with the ACC essentially pays for itself.

Disney is in the midst of a two-year cycle in which it will renegotiate almost all of its carriage contracts with cable and satellite providers as well as the new wave of online content providers. In all of those negotiations, the ACC Network has been a priority, both inside and outside the conference's geographical footprint.

I stand by what I've said earlier, in spite of some pie in the sky predictions on the ACC board. The ACCN will be doing well if in its third year it pays out 7 million per school. It has the potential to do 10 million per school if the schools really push their alums hard to subscribe. The SEC should maintain it's current advantage when in 2023 we renew our T1 which has projections of 7 to 10 million more per school when it is either renewed or sold to a new bidder (ABC, NBC, or other).