With new swagger, ACC moves ahead on network

[USNAVYCANE]

ACC executives kept close tabs on Atlanta last Thursday, when rival conference SEC and ESPN announced their new network, scheduled to launch next year.

Thanks, in part, to a new grant-of-rights agreement from its 15 member schools that gives it a new level of security, ACC executives negotiated a new media rights deal with ESPN that conference executives say will be among the richest for all college conferences.

Now, ACC officials are turning their attention to launching their own league-branded network, joining the ranks of the Big Ten, Pac-12 and, now, SEC as conferences that own channels.

“We’ve got the strongest collegiate TV market in the country,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said. “We’re now in a position to accelerate talks with ESPN, which were already ongoing, about a network.”

The ACC commissioned a study by Wasserman Media Group to determine whether the new conference footprint would support a network. Swofford said the ACC’s footprint along the Northeast and Southeast U.S. reaches 43 million TV households, more than other conferences.

“The grant of rights sets the table for us to have substantive conversations about a network,” said Clemson Athletic Director Dan Radakovich, who sits with Duke AD Kevin White and North Carolina’s Bubba Cunningham on the ACC’s TV subcommittee.

“With the expansion we’ve had, our demographics, our financials and our projections are much more palatable,” Radakovich said. “The only thing holding us up is time. The SEC Network was three years in the making. Distribution, programming, legal, it all takes time.”

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/05/06/Media/ACC-network.aspx

 

[PUNCICANE]

this is the big news Freet was tweeting about?

 

[arizonacane]

This is coming together nicely and the fact all schools signed over rights only strengthens the opportunity for each member to make more money. ND needs to be a full member or this isn't going to be as profitable as it should be.

 

[TriStarCane]

Adding Pitt, Cuse and Louisville helps considerably. Not even talking about what Notre Dame does for the conference. ACC has New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, all of North Carolina, Virginia and DC, South Carolina and Kentucky add value, plus North Florida and the South Florida/Miami market. Notre Dame gives the conference national appeal. We would be locking up TV sets from Boston to Miami and as far west as Chicago. It seems like it would be a smart and easy decision as far as the "footprint" goes.

 

[Shogungts]

Adding Pitt, Cuse and Louisville helps considerably. Not even talking about what Notre Dame does for the conference. ACC has New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, all of North Carolina, Virginia and DC, South Carolina and Kentucky add value, plus North Florida and the South Florida/Miami market. Notre Dame gives the conference national appeal. We would be locking up TV sets from Boston to Miami and as far west as Chicago. It seems like it would be a smart and easy decision as far as the "footprint" goes.

This is true for televised games that are on regional tv (whether that be local tv or cable), but when you are talking a subscription based network (which I assume the ACC network would be), your location/footprint would seem to be less important. A more important number would be the size of your fanbase and how many of them are willing to pay extra for a channel. ACC cities may in general have bigger populations than many SEC, BIG12, etc cities, but it wouldn't matter if the channel was offered to everyone in the country regardless of location.

 

[USNAVYCANE]

Adding Pitt, Cuse and Louisville helps considerably. Not even talking about what Notre Dame does for the conference. ACC has New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, all of North Carolina, Virginia and DC, South Carolina and Kentucky add value, plus North Florida and the South Florida/Miami market. Notre Dame gives the conference national appeal. We would be locking up TV sets from Boston to Miami and as far west as Chicago. It seems like it would be a smart and easy decision as far as the "footprint" goes.

This is true for televised games that are on regional tv (whether that be local tv or cable), but when you are talking a subscription based network (which I assume the ACC network would be), your location/footprint would seem to be less important. A more important number would be the size of your fanbase and how many of them are willing to pay extra for a channel. ACC cities may in general have bigger populations than many SEC, BIG12, etc cities, but it wouldn't matter if the channel was offered to everyone in the country regardless of location.

It would be more like the B1G and the SEC network where its picked up by a cable provider and not a channel someone has to subscribe

 

[CANE]

These ACC executives need to get the ncaa off MIAMI'S back so they can really get this thing cranked up.

 

[Canesfan1899]

These ACC executives need to get the ncaa off MIAMI'S back so they can really get this thing cranked up.

From the comments Swofford has made it seems he's trying and is becoming frustrated with the NCAA.