Slive: SEC Network to be Announced May 2nd

[BarristerCat]

Per ESPN's Brett McMurphy:

@McMurphyESPN
SEC commish Mike Slive said SEC/ESPN press conference to announce SEC Network will be May 2 in Atlanta

That sound you heard was every other conference choking on the SEC's dust. This will mean a sizable increase in the league's already huge per-member payout.

[dtalbersjr]

Yep, I can't wait to see what the per team payout is going to be once this all shakes out.

[uklandrn]

Is this just for football - or is it for every sport? And can I get it in Washington State?

[CitizenBBN]

Is this just for football - or is it for every sport? And can I get it in Washington State?

Every sport.

It's a question how it will be distributed. I have concerns. It will be good for some, not as much for others depending on location and provider. After all a big chunk of the money comes from providers paying the SEC to have the channels on their systems. Some will pony up, some won't.

I'm curious to see how the overall coverage is done. We'll still have a bunch of games broadcast on non-SEC network stations, and I expect this to pick up what is now the BBSN type broadcasts of each school. So in football the A game is on CBS, the B game on ESPN, the C game on ESPN2 and the D game on the SEC network, with some mixing it up I imagine.

I'm mostly concerned about how our tune up type games will be broadcast. Will they still be available to our fans, or more available? I'm going to take a wait and see till the details come out about which of each school's games are included, how many physical channels will be available (how many simultaneous games can be shown), etc.

[BarristerCat]

Is this just for football - or is it for every sport? And can I get it in Washington State?

Every sport, as CBBN said.

As for whether you can get it, the answer is no one knows yet for sure. Being in the Northwest it will depend entirely on your carrier. If you have DirecTV or Dish, the channel will all-but-certainly be available to you (it is highly unlikely that they'd announce a network like this without carriage agreements with those two providers, especially DirecTV). The only question is which of their programming tiers they'll put the channel on. You might have to purchase a package you don't currently subscribe to in order to get the channel.

If you use a local cable provider, then it is anybody's guess. It will be totally up to that provider. They'll have to make the decision as to whether the SECN will be worth the fees they'll have to pay for it. A good bellwether for you in that instance is probably the B1G Network. If your provider carries that, they are likely to carry the SECN as well (because carrying the B1G Network indicates that out-of-market college sports programming is valuable to your provider).

[BarristerCat]

CBBN, as to what games the Network will carry, I think the most reasonable guess (for the short term anyway) is that the SEC Network will take over:

1) The syndicated games (what used to be JP, and most recently the so-branded "SEC Network"); and

2) Most/all of the BBSN games (and their equivalent from other schools).

This new network will be backed by ESPN, so I don't see them cannibalizing programming from their major networks to show it on what is going to be a less widely available network (for at least a while, anyway).

I think for the vast majority of our fanbase this deal is going to be a net positive. The folks in Washington State, for example, will at least have a chance now to see what would have been local-only BBSN games before. Increased distribution is one of the major drivers in this for the SEC. I don't think carriage within the SEC footprint will be an issue at all. So, everyone who can see the games now should still see them.

Also, if they base it on the B1G model, the number of channels will be a non-issue. B1G has one main channel and 3 alts. I've never seen them use more than one of the alts at a time, but they might have used more at some point. Take a few alt channels and stagger start times (which they more or less already do) and there shouldn't be many conflicts at all. Certainly no more conflicts that your typical Cat fan in Alabama or South Carolina might endure under the current setup. DirecTV and Dish subscribers will have an advantage because those providers will carry the main channel and all of the alts at the same time, letting the viewer choose which one to watch.

[CitizenBBN]

Barrister - I agree pretty much across the board. I'm curious about the bandwidth to see if things run the risk of being bumped, but I expect it to include the SEC Network and BBSN and similar.

It may also include non-SEC programming. UT tried to use theirs to cover high school sports. The SEC also has a non profit wing that will no doubt have original programming, things like that.

Regardless the SEC is heading to a ridiculous amount of money. The ACC writer is drooling over $20 mil per, the SEC has its sights set on $40 mil per year payouts.

[BarristerCat]

I agree on all counts. I think this ends up being a net positive for cable subscribers, and a strong net positive for out-of-market cable subscribers.

The only group that gets screwed here is non-cable subscribers who watch on over-the-air antennas. Those people were already missing all the ESPN games, anyway, but now they likely won't see more than one conference game per week.

[Bakert]

FWIW, I believe this was scheduled to be announced the day of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Great points by CBBN and BarristerCat. I've seen all but maybe 5 or 6 UK games live since the 2006 season and would hate to lose that ability. But given that the games that are most difficult to get are the BBSN games, I'm assuming this will not significantly impact that. Fortunately I'm moving from the periphery of the SEC (upstate SC) to the heart of it (Tuscaloosa).

[BarristerCat]

Bakert, the bottom line is that the whole goal here is to increase distribution. That should only mean more access for you and me and everybody else.

[uklandrn]

I have Dish Network - and I do not mind if I have to up my monthly package to get to see EVERY game. I already have a the sports package and was planning on getting Full Court in October when it becomes available again. If this works the way you guys think - I may not have to do that and that would be WONDERFUL!! Hate missing my Cats - Football and Basketball. This way I will ALWAYS get to watch!! (At least I hope so )

[BarristerCat]

I have Dish Network - and I do not mind if I have to up my monthly package to get to see EVERY game. I already have a the sports package and was planning on getting Full Court in October when it becomes available again. If this works the way you guys think - I may not have to do that and that would be WONDERFUL!! Hate missing my Cats - Football and Basketball. This way I will ALWAYS get to watch!! (At least I hope so )

There is some possibility with Dish that you won't have the network on launch day. Their recent tendency has been to fight network carriage fees much harder than DirecTV. That has sometimes caused delays in new channels making it to Dish (or caused current channels to disappear for a while). I started to put a qualifier in my earlier post about that, but I figured it would be going too far off the rails when I didn't know your carrier.

Either way, I expect you will get the channel sooner rather than later even if you don't have it on launch day.

[Philly Cat]

Best part will be the "Classic Games" aspect of any such channel. On any random day, there's a chance we'll be able to catch some of the great games of the past-- the Herschel Walker years at UGA, the Charles Barkley years at Auburn, anything involving UK is always good, etc.