DIRECTV & PAC 12 Network: What's Taking So Long? By Swanni

[mistercoke]

DIRECTV & PAC 12 Network: What's Taking So Long?
By Swanni Washington, D.C. (August 27, 2012) -- The PAC-12 Network will begin airing live college football games this Thursday night, but will DIRECTV subscribers be able to watch them?

That's the question that's been on the minds of industry officials and DIRECTV football fans for several weeks now. The satcaster is arguably the undisputed king of sports programming, but it has yet to sign a deal to carry the new network which will air dozens of live PAC 12 college football and basketball games this season.

Bill Riley, a sports talk show host on ESPN 700 in Salt Lake City, and the radio play-by-play man for the University of Utah football and basketball teams, has tweeted several times on Twitter that "sources" tell him that DIRECTV will sign the agreement, possibly as early as today.

Asked last night on Twitter if the deal is still coming by Thursday, Riley said: "Based on the conversations I've had over the last 2 weeks, yes."

A handful of other online news sources have also reported they expect the agreement to be signed soon. However, The Seattle Times reports today that PAC 12 officials say a deal is not imminent.

"I wouldn't characterize it as close or imminent," one official told the newspaper.

It appears that the deal is being held up because the two sides can not agree on how the channel would be packaged.

The PAC 12 Network is actually seven different channels -- one national feed and six regional channels. The national feed will show the best game of the week while the regional channels will air games of interest to their local market.

PAC 12 Network officials would like DIRECTV to carry all seven channels for no extra charge as part of the satcaster's overall sports programming package. This would ensure that the largest number of viewers would watch the channel.

However, DIRECTV CEO Mike White has publicly questioned the wisdom of adding so many channels for one network. It's believed that he would prefer offering the regional feeds, combined with the national channel, for a monthly fee separate from the sports programming package. News reports have speculated the fee could be as much as $14.99 a month. For DIRECTV, this would generate more revenue and justify carrying all seven channels.

Considering that DIRECTV has a strong concentration of subscribers in PAC 12 markets, there is some pressure on DIRECTV to act before Thursday. However, one thing is easing the pressure on the satcaster.

By all accounts, satellite rival Dish Network is not likely to pick up the PAC 12 Network this season.

[joed32]

Quoting Swanni is not cool. He's a Directv hater from way back who pretends to get inside information when all of his info comes from boards like this one.

[iceturkee]

at least, he is attributing his sources. for many years, he didn't and that isn't cool!!

[lsilvest]

I don't think the $14.99 would fly at all - I know I'd pass on it. The sports package at $12.99 IMHO is already very overpriced. Looking for the day when we can get a sports only package and pass on the other 8,000 channels most of us don't watch.

[john262]

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News reports have speculated the fee could be as much as $14.99 a month. For DIRECTV, this would generate more revenue and justify carrying all seven channels.

So on top of everything else I pay for I will have to pay $14.99 more for the Pac12 Network? That's just crazy. When is this madness ever going to stop? I got most of those same games last year without having to pay extra and now they want me to pay $14.99 more? And who is going to pocket all of that money? Certainly not the athletes themselves. If this report is true it's a total ripoff and I urge everyone to boycott it, Pac12 fan or not.

And if Swanni is a Directv hater, I certainly wouldn't blame him if Directv is going to pull a stunt like this and try to rip us off for $14.99 per month just to watch the Pac12 Network.

[lsilvest]

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The $14.99 doesn't make sense. I wouldn't think they would be paying more for the Pac-12 Network than for the Fox FSNs and they are all part of the Sports Package at $12.99. For those of us in the west, adding the pac-12 to the sports package would actually make it more attractive as it is very slanted to the eastern fans right now and has little value to me personally.