Key tweets, and it's all gone to Hell.

[ninety-nine]

I live in NJ and have the ACC network. How is that possible with no ACC teams? I don't even have a damn choice as it is part of the sports regional package.

I pretty much get the opposite of what actually interests me, save for my pricey NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. Everything is such a joke when it comes to sports broadcast rights and policies. I hope it all comes crashing down, because the current landscape truly sucks. Tons of blackouts for local teams, but constant access to the ACC/Big 10/SEC networks so that I'm reminded how excluded UConn is.

 

[CL82]

This is honestly hilarious. I can’t even be mad anymore it’s just getting so absurd.

It's like watching a remake. It may be well done but since you know what's going to happen, there is no suspense.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Yep, still a thing today.....a lesser thing...but a thing.

And grabbing more markets is still a thing.

We don't add markets to the ACC and that is a huge problem.

With regards to the ACC, ESPN is generally driven by rivalries (as opposed to Fox which is generally driven by markets).

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Most P5 schools with a breadth of programs indeed have facilities for their non-revenue programs

Yeah, again, let me know when Hockey East and our 817 person "barn" gets us into the Big Ten or ACC.

 

[yuckformak]

Right, but they charge pennies. Some of these channels charge less than 5 cents a month.

I prefer to keep my pennies, lol

 

[champs99and04]

???
Iowa St, Kansas St, Kansas football, WV a state w/ 1.5m people? Not to mention the 3 AAC adds.

You think Oregon State and Washington State are more valuable than those schools?

 

[CTBballfan243]

Yeah, again, let me know when Hockey East and our 817 person "barn" gets us into the Big Ten or ACC.

UConn’s arena is state of the art.

 

[uconnyankee]

Simple. ACC Network and carriage fees in a large metro area and state. If the ACC takes SMU it’s a ST solution, but LT mistake.

Is CT not additive to the ACCN? Is it already in the fold because of BC?

 

[TGW93]

Right, but they charge pennies. Some of these channels charge less than 5 cents a month.

Earlier this year, I called Optimum (Altice) to cancel a bunch of movie channels I do not watch.

I was transferred to sales - ended up paying $40 less per month for the movie channels - and they threw in the SEC/ACC/B10 networks (I think BeIn too).

I think the ACCN has been available to me for years - but it's a separate subscription (as part of a sports block).

It's nothing like SNY/YES/NESN (or ESPN) - which are included in the base subscription.

 

[CoastAtlantic]

 

[uchusky32]

Those additions don't bring intriguing match ups. Especially when 4 teams leave.

 

[aburks41]

I just can't believe that carriers would pay for the ACCN because of SMU. The 8th most popular program in their own city. It just doesn't make any sense. Dallas has a population of 1.2M. CT has a population of 3.6M. What are we doing here?

 

[UConnJim]

I just can't believe that carriers would pay for the ACCN because of SMU. The 8th most popular program in their own city. It just doesn't make any sense. Dallas has a population of 1.2M. CT has a population of 3.6M. What are we doing here?

Dallas-Fort Worth is the #5 TV market in US. That is ~3 million.

 

[aburks41]

Dallas-Fort Worth is the #5 TV market in US. That is ~3 million.

And a whopping 10 of them care about SMU. Meanwhile half of CT's population lives in the NYC TV market which is #1 in the US.

 

[CL82]

Dallas-Fort Worth is the #5 TV market in US. That is ~3 million.

His point still stands. Even if those 3 million people were divided equally among the eight programs in the region, which they are not, it still is a far smaller share than Connecticut which is the only college show available for the states 3,000,000+ people.

 

[Waquoit]

Had to Google it…. Says they came out in 1998. Nothing to do with BC.

Pretty sure it started when he had that brief success in Buffalo.

 

[Dizzy21]

I just can't believe that carriers would pay for the ACCN because of SMU. The 8th most popular program in their own city. It just doesn't make any sense. Dallas has a population of 1.2M. CT has a population of 3.6M. What are we doing here?

The Dallas Metro area has almost 8 million people and is one of the fastest growing in the world and SMU is actually in that area. UConn is not even in a metro area and the closest one is 1.2 million and shrinking.

 

[Dizzy21]

And a whopping 10 of them care about SMU. Meanwhile half of CT's population lives in the NYC TV market which is #1 in the US.

So UConn's reach is half the state of Connecticut because half the state's population is New York centric, not Connecticut. Is that suppose to be a selling point?

 

[UConnJim]

His point still stands. Even if those 3 million people were divided equally among the eight programs in the region, which they are not, it still is a far smaller share than Connecticut which is the only college show available for the states 3,000,000+ people.

That is TV households. The Dallas-Fort Worth population is about 6.6 million. I don’t think SMU is a popular school, but if the ACC Network is on 3 million TVs at in market rate, that is a net positive for the ACC.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[aburks41]

That is TV households. The Dallas-Fort Worth population is about 6.6 million. I don’t think SMU is a popular school, but if the ACC Network is on 3 million TVs at in market rate, that is a net positive for the ACC.

If the ACC is still concerned with markets over brands, then they deserve everything that is about to happen to them in the next few years. People do not care about SMU vs any ACC team. People do care about UConn vs half of their old rivals. A UConn v Duke basketball game would deliver more viewers than the highest rated SMU football game lmao

 

[LBird33]

Oh Wow I’ll sleep some much easier tonight now that it’s been clarified

 

[huskymedic]

Assisted access <<

-> Beware, Boston College.

It has to be chilling for the folks at The Heights to see Stanford and California, two of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country, left for dead, along with Washington State and Oregon State, in the ruins formerly known as the Pac-12. The conference has been in existence in some form since 1915, but this will be in its final football season in a familiar form.

Like BC, the Bay Area elites are academically stringent schools in a major media market.

If estimable Stanford, which won the Pac-12 as recently as 2015 and went to 10 straight bowl games between 2009 and 2018, can be tossed aside like a candy wrapper, then the same fate could befall BC if the Atlantic Coast Conference fractured. The same goes for Duke and Wake Forest in a cruel new world ruled only by football marketability and viability.

Power Four footing is tenuous. <-

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Always a good omen when your hometown's biggest paper prints a column with the headline "Watch out, you suck."

 

[Sea Goat]

Dallas-Fort Worth is the #5 TV market in US. That is ~3 million.

Really? SMU? Guaranteed Dallas TV sets will be tuned to a TX or TAMU SEC game before watching SMU vs. BC, SU etc.

 

[AzHusky]

I have Direct TV here in Arizona and I have BTN, SEC, and ACCN. I needed to get a sports package to watch Bruins hockey and those 3 networks are part of the package.

 

[UConnJim]

Really? SMU? Guaranteed Dallas TV sets will be tuned to a TX or TAMU SEC game before watching SMU vs. BC, SU etc.

I agree that nobody will care about SMU playing ACC schools. But, that is not my point.

Historically, in the linear channel cable bundle model, the conference networks get 2 rates: in market and out of market. For example, Rutgers is in the NYC media market so NYC pays the in market rate for the Big 10 Network. It is assumed that SMU, since it is in the Dallas/Forth Worth market, would bring the ACCN the in-market rate. The difference between the 2 rates could be $1/month per subscriber. So, adding SMU could add up to $3 million per month. or $36 million per year to the ACC Network in subscriber fees.

 

[Forte]

His point still stands. Even if those 3 million people were divided equally among the eight programs in the region, which they are not, it still is a far smaller share than Connecticut which is the only college show available for the states 3,000,000+ people.

That is not how it works, though .... do we think the population of NYC is watching Rutgers football? The answer is no... but they are still paying for BIG10 network and that's what matters in conference realignment with traditional media contracts. SMU in that regard makes plenty of sense in a football heavy market. Same for SDSU when Big12 takes them.

 

[CL82]

That is not how it works, though .... do we think the population of NYC is watching Rutgers football? The answer is no... but they are still paying for BIG10 network and that's what matters in conference realignment with traditional media contracts. SMU in that regard makes plenty of sense in a football heavy market. Same for SDSU when Big12 takes them.

Yeah, I am not clear about the "ACC network" and how that delivers profits to ACC members. If it works identically to the big 10 network then your point is a good one.

 

[Forte]

Yeah, I am not clear about the "ACC network" and how that delivers profits to ACC members. If it works identically to the big 10 network then your point is a good one.

It's a double edge sword for the networks as it doesn't guarantee the best teams will be in, but it does guarantee the best markets will be there. Its how most cable companies work and why streaming will eventually be the future for the younger wiser (in context of TV) generation who doesn't want the Oxygen network's of the media world forced down their throats. My parents have been blown away by YoutubeTV after my trying to wean them off their 300$ satellite TV situation for years. Change is hard and most of the aging population isn't and may never be ready for the Apple TV model.... but it will be the future as the customer base for basic cable dissolves.

What that all means is that given the current model, it may not matter how we perform but rather if networks like ESPN continue to view Hartford as no man's land sandwiched between the Boston and NYC markets. CT residents get counted toward the Boston and NYC markets based on a state split but not vise versa of NYC Boston residents counted towards the Hartford/general CT/UConn market.