Learn more about the new Pac-12 Network

Jon, I did not see direct tv or dish network mentioned. Any way to find out if this will be available for the spread out market of Denver. Just having the lowly Buffs added to the conference was awesome for fans in the mountain west, a pac 12 network would be the icing.

Nov 19, kick some buffalo ass, I will be flying out for this one.

Umm... Can I get lecture notes for that article at Ackerman?

tl;dr: Womens' sports on tv now. Satellite deals probably otw. Probably need to pay for extra sports package unless you live in Northern California.

Side effect: Pac-12 has 100% media rights, and so many "premium" conference games are reserved for the Pac-12 network. They will therefore NOT be shown on Fox/ESPN. You may be forced to buy an extra sports package you might not have bought otherwise in order to view games you would have seen for free before this deal.

Does anybody remember Tom Hansen? Good Lord talk about a night and day difference.

@Bob - There has been no agreement made with any sattelite providers yet but it is part of the plan and will likely be in place before the network is launched.

@mindshed - Yes we may have to pay extra for the Pac-12 network, but if I had to guess, I would say that it will probably mirror the current FSN setup. Meaning that in your region, you will get your local P12N channel with any standard sports package, but if you want to get all the regional channels, you will have to pay for the upgraded package. For instance, I live in Denver and will have to pay for the upgraded package to get the SoCal version of the P12N. Likewise for people spread through the nation, they will have to pay for an upgrade if they want the regional channels, but an national P12N channel will exist much like the national FSN channel. Further, I suspect that signing up for the expanded package will also grant you access to the online network, or vice-versa.

After taking a look at other posts by Bob Condotta and Jon Wilner, I think this is how it boils down:

The PAC 12 will produce 350 top line events and syndicate that to each channel. That includes all the football, basketball, and anything that draws any number of eyeballs. Independent of that, the regional networks will produce other content that is aimed at your particular region. (Women's volleyball...Skiing. Scott would also like to broadcast high school football, but currently there's an open question with the NCAA about recruiting.

In any event: the regional channel you get will have all the top line events and if its on the digital band it's a decision of your local cable monopoly not so much because of money but because the conference wants to broadcast in HD and that chews up a ton of bandwith on the regular basic frequencies. But as to what you are missing out on if only have the regional network...mainly Olympic sports from some far flung school...maybe news conference or high school football from out of state. You can be sure though, that people will offer them on some digital tier.

Also, I think the contour of this deal is that the PAC 12 Network ends up on expanded basic, it sours their relationship with ESPN and the like. Also because digital is where the cable companies make their money, it helps the company too. In addition, the fan gets to see only what would have been left on the cutting room floor so there's no issues there either.