Big East TV Deal with FOX, TNT, and NBC

[shizzle787]

Hoping its 8 million +. This deal is not bad. We could potentially play games on big CBS, NBC, and FOX as well as TNT. I could see TNT have a show with Barkley, Kellogg, etc. tied to it. It would be good for TNT to keep a little college basketball momentum going into the NCAA tournament.

 

[Hoophound]

The Big East contract may be good, but that will be entirely because of UConn. While that’s nice, I hate when we are more valuable outside the P4 than when in it. It doesn’t help us to be had for pennies on the dollar.

 

[UConnJim]

You have no idea what is going to be on what.

For that matter, I don't either so as I said before, I will refrain until we see more details

ESPN was on everybody's cable system since 1979 and grew the Big East so not a good comparison

ESPN was not on everyone's cable system back in 1979. The first broadcast in 1979 was to 1.4 million homes. At the end of 1980, they had 7.3 million subscribers, 1981 had 13.6 million subscribers at the end of the year. Peacock has 31 million subscribers today.

 

[AntG168]

So basically youre telling me i will miss some Uconn mens games unless i get a sub to the shiddy Peacock streaming channel?

I mean there’s ways to watch if you really want to

 

[king conn]

ESPN was not on everyone's cable system back in 1979. The first broadcast in 1979 was to 1.4 million homes. At the end of 1980, they had 7.3 million subscribers, 1981 had 13.6 million subscribers at the end of the year. Peacock has 31 million subscribers today.

Are you aware of how many of those subscriptions are free for peacock? I have it free, you join Comcast rewards and there it is. I wouldn't pay for it otherwise as I'm sure millions of others wouldn't either.

Now, how many total TV households were there in 1980-81 compared to today?

And you can go to any history book about the Big East to know ESPN gets the biggest credit for making the league the giant it quickly became. You are looking foolish here.

 

[huskyjawz]

The article refers to TNT Sports; what does that mean, that games can/will be shown on TBS and TNT?

 

[nickp91]

If it gives us "Inside the Big East" with Ernie Johnson Charles Barkley Kenny Smith and Clark Kellogg

 

[auror]

The article refers to TNT Sports; what does that mean, that games can/will be shown on TBS and TNT?

Seems like "can be", but they also as mentioned likely will put games on Max streaming service. They will have a lot of winter/spring programming open with the NBA gone, though.

Are you aware of how many of those subscriptions are free for peacock? I have it free, you join Comcast rewards and there it is. I wouldn't pay for it otherwise as I'm sure millions of others wouldn't either.

Well earlier your argument was that we're in a death spiral because nobody will see our stuff. But now you're saying that Peacock is jammed down everyone's throat. I would withhold your judgment on who looks foolish.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I mean there’s ways to watch if you really want to

Like?

 

[UConnJim]

Are you aware of how many of those subscriptions are free for peacock? I have it free, you join Comcast rewards and there it is. I wouldn't pay for it otherwise as I'm sure millions of others wouldn't either.

Now, how many total TV households were there in 1980-81 compared to today?

And you can go to any history book about the Big East to know ESPN gets the biggest credit for making the league the giant it quickly became. You are looking foolish here.

That's funny. When did I ever say signing with ESPN didn't benefit the Big East? One of my buddies was an early employee at ESPN and it was an uphill climb gaining subscribers as they had to go cable company by cable company (they weren't consolidated back then) and there were only 16 million cable subscribers in the US in 1980 and about 80 million TV households. The Big East signing with ESPN was a big risk, but it paid off as there weren't enough OTA channels to carry that many college basketball games. Unfortunately, ESPN subscribers are in a LT decline and people are moving to streaming. Netflix has about 270 million paid subscribers and growing which is over 3x ESPN's current declining sub base.

 

[Jimdish255]

UConn knows the value of the contract which is why they were comfortable offering Hurley a big raise.

You're always more comfortable with your back against the wall.

 

[king conn]

Seems like "can be", but they also as mentioned likely will put games on Max streaming service. They will have a lot of winter/spring programming open with the NBA gone, though.

Well earlier your argument was that we're in a death spiral because nobody will see our stuff. But now you're saying that Peacock is jammed down everyone's throat. I would withhold your judgment on who looks foolish.

Stop making stuff up

You keep saying I said UConn is in a death spiral. Here's some advice. If you have to make things up to try and win a discussion, take the L and move on.

I said the Big East would hardly be watched on those particular streamers and used the word oblivion..That's the hard truth. If you don't want to accept that, it's your problem. This isn't opinion it's fact. No sports fan is going to subscribe to these to watch the Big East except a certain percentage of hardcore fans of those teams. The subscribers that are there now are for movies, particular TV programming, soccer and the NFL. Big 10 fans may go for their content, but they do not need to grow their exposure like the Big East does. This isn't complicated.

And WTH is your last statement. I look foolish because I said peacock was jammed down everyone's throat? You are getting nonsensical. I guess you haven't noticed that this whole thread is about Peacock getting jammed down everyone's throat.

Give it a rest

 

[zls44]

Feels kinda like we should wait for, oh, any details on the actual deal before deciding on how good or bad it really is, but what do I know!

 

[auror]

Stop making stuff up

You keep saying I said UConn is in a death spiral. Here's some advice. If you have to make things up to try and win a discussion, take the L and move on.

I said the Big East would hardly be watched on those particular streamers and used the word oblivion

I apologize for editorializing and using the term "death spiral" instead of just repeating "ticket to oblivion" word for word. Vastly distinct concepts and your point was entirely misrepresented to anyone reading my prose.

And WTH is your last statement. I look foolish because I said peacock was jammed down everyone's throat? You are getting nonsensical. I guess you haven't noticed that this whole thread is about Peacock getting jammed down everyone's throat.

You said someone else looked foolish for their comments. I said I wouldn't judge someone else for looking foolish when you are the one arguing essentially opposite points in the same thread. Saying "No sports fan is going to subscribe to these to watch the Big East" which is a problem because (we all agree) the Big East needs to grow its popularity. And at the same time also arguing "I guess you haven't noticed that this whole thread is about Peacock getting jammed down everyone's throat." How can the ability to grow the league's popularity be a problem if (as you argue in this thread) a ton of people have access to Peacock for free and it's in a TON of homes?

If the argument is that those casual/free subs won't watch Big East basketball, well I have news for you about how many cable subscribers channel surf to Fox Sports 2. At any rate, it's the job of the league to convert them and that's not really hindered by being on a popular streaming platform (considering there weren't really any options to get any bigger of a platform for the league).

 

[king conn]

That's funny. When did I ever say signing with ESPN didn't benefit the Big East? One of my buddies was an early employee at ESPN and it was an uphill climb gaining subscribers as they had to go cable company by cable company (they weren't consolidated back then) and there were only 16 million cable subscribers in the US in 1980 and about 80 million TV households. The Big East signing with ESPN was a big risk, but it paid off as there weren't enough OTA channels to carry that many college basketball games. Unfortunately, ESPN subscribers are in a LT decline and people are moving to streaming. Netflix has about 270 million paid subscribers and growing which is over 3x ESPN's current declining sub base.

Well even as of now, ESPN is still the go to for sports in general and CBB in particular. And yes the total subscribers are down and will continue to be with the fracturing of cable. But what they are losing are the people who never watched anyway and were just subscribers because of their cable system.
What we are seeing now is getting closer to who actually watched the channel.

So the thing is, you just can't group the streamers together as if it's all the same.ESPN is on many streamers, as well as now setting up their own direct to consumer, while still available on cable.
People with any interest in sports will more than likely have it in some form. We belong in the spotlight and this is the best way to find it. Honestly if we have to stream, plus would be the way to go, at least then you would have games on the main network and the industry would be talking about you during the season on their CBB programming.

Peacock and Max are niche. I'm just going to hope it's for DePaul and Georgetown and we received boatloads of money for the deal, but we're just going to have to see.

 

[Kembafan]

Will UConn get more money?!?!!

That’s what matters. This is not good news until we see the $$$.

 

[Kembafan]

I'm optimistic about the team, often. But Fanta works for the conference. His job is to hype it up and potentially soften the blow.

Fanta works for fox, not the conference. It’s literally in his interest to say the deal is good.

 

[auror]

Fanta works for fox, not the conference. It’s literally in his interest to say the deal is good.

He also works for the Big East Digital Network. His "big break" was hosting Big East Shootaround for the conference, then parlayed that job into a job covering the league for Fox. He still does streaming events directly for the Big East like Media Day and postgame at the BET which are not through Fox. 2 weeks ago he interviewed Karaban for the Big East YouTube page. Etc.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Peacock gets a bad rap but it has some decent content. Old shows, originals, and sports. Use the app more than some of the other "bigger" named apps.

Peacock has a much better list of movies than Netflix. Sure they don’t pump out crap the same way but for a strong suit of films, they are very solid. Better than Paramount+.

 

[king conn]

I apologize for editorializing and using the term "death spiral" instead of just repeating "ticket to oblivion" word for word. Vastly distinct concepts and your point was entirely misrepresented to anyone reading my prose.

You said someone else looked foolish for their comments. I said I wouldn't judge someone else for looking foolish when you are the one arguing essentially opposite points in the same thread. Saying "No sports fan is going to subscribe to these to watch the Big East" which is a problem because (we all agree) the Big East needs to grow its popularity. And at the same time also arguing "I guess you haven't noticed that this whole thread is about Peacock getting jammed down everyone's throat." How can the ability to grow the league's popularity be a problem if (as you argue in this thread) a ton of people have access to Peacock for free and it's in a TON of homes?

If the argument is that those casual/free subs won't watch Big East basketball, well I have news for you about how many cable subscribers channel surf to Fox Sports 2. At any rate, it's the job of the league to convert them and that's not really hindered by being on a popular streaming platform (considering there weren't really any options to get any bigger of a platform for the league).

Well I still think you are stretching things here. In this post you omitted the part where I said who the peacock subscribers are, why and what they are there for, which is pretty darn central for what I'm saying. It doesn't matter how many subscribers there are if they don't even have an awareness for CBB. So no they are not opposite points at all.
Their paid subscriber base was ridiculed until they added the soccer and NFL, and that's what they are there for. And they can and do leave when their sports or teams are finished. Even with that they are one of the lower sized streamers.

And yes, I am aware of the fs1 problem, for which I was hoping for something on the ESPN side to happen

Really I keep stating I want to see what actually goes down at this point. It's done it seems. I had no confidence in this commissioner and this announcement only seems fitting to me. I hope it provides a ton of money and our games in particular are on the big networks. We deserve to have the biggest showcase for our teams. I think that is something we can agree on.

 

[UCHuskies08]

Like?

pirated streams

 

[MJ1]

That’s what matters. This is not good news until we see the $$$.

And what would be deemed a good deal ? Would $6 Million a team, $8 Million a team or $10 Million a team per year be considered a good deal ?

 

[TheChamps990411]

pirated streams

Nah, im good. Im an adult.

 

[The Viking]

We didnt want ESPN to add the Big East. If they want UConn they gotta add them to the ACC and not just get them at a discount via taking the whole conference

 

[Forte]

Hoping its 8 million +. This deal is not bad. We could potentially play games on big CBS, NBC, and FOX as well as TNT. I could see TNT have a show with Barkley, Kellogg, etc. tied to it. It would be good for TNT to keep a little college basketball momentum going into the NCAA tournament.

It's telling how we are crossing our fingers for a bit over 8 mil when a program like BC is getting 30 mil+, Vandy 50 mil +, Northwestern and Rutgers 50 Mil +, Cinci 35 mil + etc etc etc.