USC Versus An Invisible Channel

Vs. is 608 on DirecTV. Don't knock it too bad. Vs. does do high definition and DTV will likely broadcast it on channel 95.

Versus is also channel 267 on TimeWarnerCable in the Valley, and recently covered most of the NHL playoff games.

Scot-

Don't disparage Versus too much. Were you a Tour de France or (better yet) America's Cup fan you would relish their stuff. DTV 608.

I have vs it's not that bad...I mean its not high school cable access tv or something....

Just because you can find the channel doesn't mean it is not a bad deal. We could probably buy our own 30 second spot for peanuts. This is one step away from the radio only days.

Does Dish Network offer this channel? If so, what channel #?

ne14usc

I agree with Troyblood. Who knows what the future is for Versus. Let's not forget one station use to be referred to as Channel 11, now its FOX.

Isn't Coach Carroll a little peeved with Harbaugh about starting rumors about him leaving?

I thought this country liked watching a serious beatdown.

I was gonna say the same thing about Versus who knows. I remember the same words years ago about ESPN.

People were saying what is ESPN? Versus may be the start of something big. They may dwarf ESPN one day. Lets give them a chance. They are making some bold moves in picking up some good clients.

Scott raises a good point and for anyone who has worked in broadcasting as I have can tell you, the Pac-10 does a really terrible job negotiating TV packages. The SEC has two primary deals, CBS and ESPN. CBS is exclusive and not shared with anyone else, all the revenue generating coming to each school. The ESPN deal covers both the Thursday and Saturday night game packages and features the top tier of the conference.

The Pac-10 meanwhile SHARES it's top tier package of ABC with the Big-10 and Big-12. That really limits what you can bring in since the only way to get all those games on air is to do regional broadcasts. This means smaller ratings numbers and smaller payouts to conferences. Even though USC gets on ESPN and the national ABC game more often than not, the rest of the Pac-10 doesn't and this draws down on the payout. Payouts are done by CONFERENCE, not by school. So on a per school basis, the Pac-10 gets less from its top tier TV package (ABC) than the SEC (CBS). The only exception to this rule is the Notre Dame/NBC deal which is exclusive to them and they don't share the revenue.

Now the second tier package for the Pac-10 is regional Fox Sports coverage, which has then been sold partly to Versus. The ad revenue generated will be even less, no matter if USC is playing or not since you sell the majority of your ads for the entire schedule for bulk advertising, not specific games.

What this all ends up meaning is that the Pac-10 does not use it's marquee team, USC, to leverage a better TV contract. With us being in the LA market, you would think the Pac-10 could demand more prime games from ABC (i.e. national vs. regional) and also demand a bigger ad payout. At the very least we need to make sure top teams like USC, Cal and Oregon don't play at 7 pm because it kills East Coast pollster viewing and hurts the Pac-10's standing in polls nationally. But instead, we're letting Fox Sports sub us out to Versus.

The revenue coming in from TV contracts goes a long way to bolstering a school's sports program. this is why the SEC is traditionally stronger in so many areas because they dedicate their TV revenue for infrastructure upgrades like weight rooms, locker rooms, video equipment, recruiting expenses and such, while schools like USC are forced to use TV revenue to pay ongoing expenses like scholarships and salaries and use costly fundraising drives to raise money for new infrastructure like the Heritage Hall expansion.

It's not about whether or not Versus will grow into another ESPN, it's about how much money you get, how much national exposure you get, and how you are able to grow the reputations of your conference overall. In each of these cases, the Pac-10 does a piss poor job.

Here are the current broadcast line ups for the conferences. As you can see, the Pac-10 gets killed by not being on ESPN more which is basically the crown jewel in college football broadcasting now.

* ABC: ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East and Pac 10
* CBS: SEC, Army-Navy Game, and Notre Dame-Navy (for games hosted by Navy)
* NBC: Notre Dame home games and the Grambling-Southern game
* ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, and ESPN Gameplan: ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Conference USA, MAC, SEC, Sun Belt, WAC, and Army. Some Pac 10 and Big 12 games starting in 2007.
* FSN: Big 12 and Pac 10
* CSTV: Mountain West Conference, Conference USA and Navy
* Versus: Mountain West Conference

Understand also that position on the cable dial greatly affects ratings. For example, ESPN is channel 8 on most TimeWarner while Fox Sports sits in the 20s and Versus in the 200s. Getting that real estate up front really helps your ratings.

To GlobeHop, those of us using the HD channels, ESPN is like 424 and 425, while versus is 267(Not HD).
I don't watch any single digit stations as all HD stations are in the 400 level.

Hey, at least its actually showing on TV.

This past spring Cal men's basketball was playing in the first round of the Pac10 Tourny. The game was not shown in the Bay Area.

Earlier in the season we had a rematch of USC-Oregon. USC handed Oregon their first loss of the season in a close game and the Ducks are seeking revenge. Oh and both teams are top 25 at this point in the season. FSN does not air this game in the Bay Area.

Several other USC basketball games were not shown on FSN despite the fact that USC was top 25 and showing hints of magic with the team gelling and a great coach.

Finally, at least here in the Bay Area, some Pac 10 men's games were not shown in favor for a pre-recorded season recap about Big 10 women's basketball.

BTW the Pac10 headquarters are just 20 miles up the road from here, yet FSN won't show games from the conference in this area when they can help it.

Is it just me or did GlobeHop just state his case as clearly and effectively as anyone in the history of this blog. I'm glad to see that this space has more thoughtful dialogue than earlier this year when it was Mustain vs. Sanchez 24/7.
I also think that the Pac-10 shows too much loyalty to PrimeTicket, er, Fox Sports. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to sign on with NBC (face it, the Irish aren't the Irish anymore) or the real FOX to get prime exposure during the late afternoons/early evenings in the East? Fox Sports is alright, but I'd rather have Gus Johnson calling games at 4pm Eastern than Petros & Barry Tompkins at 10pm Eastern.

GlobeHop,

Great info thanks man.

I want to share this info on one of the other USC sites.

Thanks guys. Something else to consider when talking about how the Pac-10 is screwing schools like USC when it comes to TV revenue and exposure is to look at the payouts individual schools and conferences get from bowl games, especially BCS bowl games.

Something that's often overlooked is because of the late starts to "premier" games in the Pac-10 because of Fox Sports putting them on at 7 pm Pacific, which means East Coast pollsters don't see us. That translates to lower poll standings and in turn we often lose out on a second team getting into a BCS game (see Cal the past two years).

That failure to get a second BCS team means an average of loss of $1.2 to $1.8 million PER conference school! When you consider Fox alone shelled out $83 million for broadcast rights to four out of the five, the Pac-10's management of TV rights has some far-reaching implications for our overall competitiveness.

For example in the Tostidos Fiesta Bowl, the payout was $34 million divided by both conferences minus team travel expenses. When a 12 team SEC splits just one BCS bowl game, over $1 million per school, but if a 10 team conference like us splits TWO BCS games, then its Christmas time for recruiting, upgraded facilities and staff travel.

Can you imagine what $2 million each year for two years would have done for Cal alone and its decrepit facilities, let alone our efforts to upgrade the weight room and lockers?

To give you an idea of how this really impacts us. Remember that USC is a private school and as such doesn't receive any tax subsidies like any of it's publicly funded Pac-10 compatriots. According to Forbes ranking of college football teams, USC doesn't even crack the top 15 in terms of their contributions to four important beneficiaries: the universities, athletic departments, conferences and communities with a vested interest in their financial success.

Forbes broke the measure down by calculating each football program's total revenues from tickets, sponsorships, premium seating and broadcasting. Then they subtracted expenses to derive the football program's profits. Next, it measured how much of each team's profits went for non-football scholarships and toward other sports, and was shared by other teams in its conference. They also looked at how much additional money the county generated when the team played a home game. In their scoring system the first two factors were given the most weight, while county revenue was given the least.

What school came out on top? Notre Dame! Largely because they get a big fat check for $9 million from NBC that they don't have to share with anyone!

The Pac-10 really sucks at this!

How Do You Do?

Thanks to Trojan Rick I looked and verified that Versus is also channel 267 here in the Marina del Rey area: see they have such biggies as World Combat League and a lot of fishing shows, not to mention bull riding. Great for them, as the USC football game will get them a ton of new viewers--and great that at least Time Warner cable "carrying" this cable station--which is at least a plug for them, too. You'd THINK that USC would point out to its fans how large a coverage Versus has to assuage any fears of lost viewing / taping of the football game against Stanford. But then again USC *never* seems to feature when various Trojan shows will be on what cable stations, either. Why is this, Wolfie? Inquiring minds want to know!

Fight On--and great answers to questions this week, not to mention your wonderful old photos picks. Keep 'em coming--any Mike Penner photos BEFORE Christine Daniels?? I don't think his, er..her, blog will threaten yours!!

How Do You Do?

Thanks to Trojan Rick I looked and verified that Versus is also channel 267 here in the Marina del Rey area: see they have such biggies as World Combat League and a lot of fishing shows, not to mention bull riding. Great for them, as the USC football game will get them a ton of new viewers--and great that at least Time Warner cable "carrying" this cable station--which is at least a plug for them, too. You'd THINK that USC would point out to its fans how large a coverage Versus has to assuage any fears of lost viewing / taping of the football game against Stanford. But then again USC *never* seems to feature when various Trojan shows will be on what cable stations, either. Why is this, Wolfie? Inquiring minds want to know!

Fight On--and great answers to questions this week, not to mention your wonderful old photos picks. Keep 'em coming--any Mike Penner photos BEFORE Christine Daniels?? I don't think his, er..her, blog will threaten yours!!