I have no problem with all these additional sports networks... As long as they go in the Sports Pack. Isn't that the whole point of the Sports Pack? If you want all the sports, you buy the sports pack... Just like if you want movies you buy a movie package...
The problem is all the networks that demand carriage in the basic package.
All the providers complain about increasing costs of sports, but the problem is that one or two of them always cave.
If the cable companies and Dish had just told the Pac12 (and every other conference who wants their own betwork) to pound sand and that the network was going in their Sports Pack or nothing, the networks would either rethink their pricing--or run a season with the only people being able to see their broadcasts of a few thousand people with C Band... After that, the fan backlash would go on the network--as long as ALL the providers stick up for their customers and ALL take the D* party line of 'they want to charge everyone for the games even if they don't care about it'.
Instead someone always caves and creates a 'but THEY carry it why don't you?' situation.
At what point will prices get so high that the providers just say screw it and deal with whatever pain (loss of other channels etc) the networks try to throw out? There will become a point when the loss of carriage hurts more than just packing it correctly--and there will also be a point when subscribers actually get it and don't freak out so much... I'd predict a couple years of turmoil until the networks realize their demands are becoming unrealistic and cave... Or the schools just go back to cutting a deal with existing RSNs and give up on trying to all have their own national networks.
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