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]

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]

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.

 

[chrisd_az]

Opening night for my Sun Devils tomorrow night would love to watch them here in Oklahoma City on the PAC 12 channel!!!!! Any word if a deal would be in place tomorrow??

 

[rajmarie]

& then everybody says prices have gone up. If directv or any provider is putting sports channels in a separate pack.....then they are doing correct.

 

[lsilvest]

& then everybody says prices have gone up. If directv or any provider is putting sports channels in a separate pack.....then they are doing correct.

They couldn't put all sports in separate packs as sports is the primary reason for having either cable or satellite for a good portion of their subscribers. A lot of us would be glad just to have a complete sports package and not have to buy the rest of the garbage just to get the sports programming.

 

[Thelucky1]

Several Sources: No deal between the Pac-12 and DirecTV will be done this week.

 

[Mariah2014]

Here is a letter from the pac 12 to Directv customers.
http://pac-12.com/portals/0/content/enterprises/dearfan/index.html

[h=1]Dear Pac-12 Fan,[/h] We've heard from thousands of DirecTV subscribers who don't receive Pac-12 Networks and wonder whether they'll miss out on their teams' most important games of the football season. We have worked around the clock to make sure that doesn't happen, but with only a few hours remaining before the kickoff of the season, we're writing to inform our fans that we do not have a distribution agreement with DirecTV.
This means Pac-12 fans who subscribe to DirecTV are in jeopardy of missing all 35 football games scheduled for broadcast on Pac-12 Networks, beginning Thursday night.
As you may have read, DirecTV believes that all Pac-12 fans will be satisfied by the games they can watch through other networks. We know this is not true, based on the thousands of calls and emails we've received from you, particularly from fans of teams that other broadcasters don't typically feature. We also know that the other networks offered by DirecTV won't broadcast 20 of the Pac-12's conference games, starting with the Cal/USC matchup on September 22.
If you're one of the fans who won't be satisfied without Pac-12 football, or our more than 135 men's basketball games and hundreds of other live events, we recommend finding Pac-12 Networks with another television provider.
The good news is that most Pac-12 fans have options. These fans can switch their television service to one of the more than 30 distributors that offer Pac-12 Networks, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox. These providers offer Pac-12 Networks' full season lineup, including some of the most thrilling games of the season and TV Everywhere viewing online, on the iPad and on smartphones later in the season.
In just the first four weeks, Pac-12 Networks will feature all 12 schools, including appearances by #1 USC and two appearances by both #5 Oregon and #21 Stanford. Every weekend thereafter we will have at least two premiere conference matchups, all of which will have postseason implications.
To ensure you don't miss out, please contact one of the providers below to get Pac-12 Networks in time for the kickoff of football season.
Thank you for your continued support.

 

[Jimbo]

Interesting, had they not decided to suddenly make this PAC-12 network, all those games would have been on D* in previous years as D* would be showing them on the RSN channels, now that the New Network is here they don't want to come to an agreement.

D* should go for the same price that the RSN were last year.

 

[Mariah2014]

I think if this was the ACC or SEC trying this right now we would have the channel or channels as the case may be already.

Interesting, had they not decided to suddenly make this PAC-12 network, all those games would have been on D* in previous years as D* would be showing them on the RSN channels, now that the New Network is here they don't want to come to an agreement.

D* should go for the same price that the RSN were last year.

 

[NGeorge]

I could see the $14.99 making sense--IF the basic "national" channel is included in the sports pack (I hope it doesn't go to basic since it's just one more thing to jack the price up for everyone) and your "local" feed is included with the Sports Pack or included as an RSN. The $14.99 would get you all the "additional feeds". This is something that cable doesn't offer, and whatever price they hash out for it seems fair--as long as I can get the Cougs with my RSN or Sports Pack I'm happy--if I wanted another one of the "local feeds" I could see it as an extra charge.

 

[whitewolf8214]

Any word on Directv getting Pac-12 Network as Dish is getting but only in SD? Thank You for help

 

[lsilvest]

Any word on Directv getting Pac-12 Network as Dish is getting but only in SD? Thank You for help

Dish has a lot of their sports in SD which is unacceptable. Looks like crap on widescreens. That's the reason I'm with D*. Dish has always been poor with sports channels so it's kind of surprising they came to an agreement before D*.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Other than SC and the Ducks, Pac12 tv should pay me to watch their games LOL

$15, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze...

 

[JerryVolunteer]

Other than SC and the Ducks, Pac12 tv should pay me to watch their games LOL

$15, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze...

Haha, ill watch Ducks only

 

[mistercoke]

PAC 12 Network: Are DIRECTV, Getting Closer?
By Swanni Washington, D.C. (September 6, 2012) -- Rumors were flying last night on the Internet that DIRECTV and the PAC 12 Network have reached an agreement for the satcaster to carry the new sports channel. But according to PAC officials, there's no truth to the reports at all.

Greg Byrne, vice president and director of athletics for the University of Arizona, tweeted late last night that "rumor about deal with @Pac12Networks and @directv sadly not true. Deal not close at this point."

Byrne was responding to a report from a web site named PointGuardU.com which tweeted that "DIRECTV told them" that a deal had been reached. The web site covers University of Arizona sports and its Twitter page has nearly 3,000 followers. However, PointGuardU.com did not elaborate on the DIRECTV source, and following Byrne's comment, did not repeat the rumor on its site or on Twitter.

Meanwhile, SatelliteGuys.us reported last night that Dish Network has been testing the signal for the PAC 12 Network, a possible indicator that the satcaster will add the channel. However, there has been no confirmation of a Dish-PAC 12 deal and TV providers sometimes test signals for channels they never add.

 

[iceturkee]

why oh why do we still quote this guy?