SEC in good position for TV as new deals loom

[Madison Hawk]

Sometime soon, maybe next week, maybe next month and at least by the time August gives way to September, the SEC will announce its new football television deals.


The current contracts (with CBS, ESPN and Raycom), which run out at the end of the 2008-09 academic year, were worth $50 million to the conference in fiscal year 2007 alone. The new ones, rest assured, will be worth more. . .

SEC in good position for TV as new deals loom

 

[SamCdbs]

The SEC is in a great position, with loyal teams followed by the majority of the population (as opposed to just alumni, as in some other parts of the country) , including several states with no pro teams, and it is the superior conference in the nation.

It can resign with CBS for a nationwide "A-game" deal and then look to ESPN or FSN or a wild card channel for the "B-game" deal and then play Raycom off against a proposed SECTV for the "C-game" deal.

I don't really look for an SECTV. The relative poverty of several SEC states makes that problematic.

 

[mpar1]

I also don't see a SEC channel happening. Not so long as they have so many others vying for their packages.

 

[SideshowBob]

I also don't see a SEC channel happening. Not so long as they have so many others vying for their packages.

The Big Ten Network generates some $5 million per school last year (despite not having a fulla rray of distribution deals), which would be $55 million in total. If the SEC can generate similar revenues, then they'd almost certainly opt for creating such a network -- the third tier games in football and basketball don't get sold for that much.