SEC Network Expects $500 Million at Launch

[T Town Tommy]

That's just crazy. It's all about the money.


SEC Network Aims for $500 Million a Year Launch : Outkick The Coverage

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Yeah but that number presumes every cable carrier makes the network a basic cable program at the requested fee price. They will probably fall somewhere short of that but who knows what the end result will be. The Longhorn Network is still operating well behind projections, right?

If the SEC Network can't substantially beat LHN's market saturation their network will be losing money compared to the old broadcast agreement. Of course, that avenue will always be available to them.

What really annoys me about all this is that sports are the only thing keeping the current cable status quo afloat.

 

[Buster Bluth]

500/14 = 35.7mil per team.

Yikes.

 

[irishff1014]

500/14 = 35.7mil per team.

Yikes.

Wow that's crazy!

 

[IrishLax]

And now you understand why ESPN, etc. have such a financial interest in fluffing the SEC.

 

[wizards8507]

What really annoys me about all this is that sports are the only thing keeping the current cable status quo afloat.

To elaborate for folks who might not be sure what you're talking about, live sports are the only reason anyone needs to actually pay for cable anymore. Without them, the entire "bundled TV" system would fall apart and people would swicth to a combination of Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Premium channels like HBO could go a la carte and users would stream through smart TVs or set top boxes like AppleTV and Roku. Disney/ESPN, The NFL, and Major League Baseball probably hold the most cards here, and it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out. People can do without Law & Order reruns on USA, TNT, and similar networks, but if the only way to watch "your team" is through ESPN, you're forced to pay for all of that junk through the cable package. If you could get all your content from other providers and only pay for the content you want, you'd promptly kick Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Verizon, and AT&T to the curb.

Ready To Cut The Cable TV Cord? Here's How To Do It - Forbes

 

[ACamp1900]

I know this... the only reason we have cable is for sports.

 

[dales5050]

That's just crazy. It's all about the money.


SEC Network Aims for $500 Million a Year Launch : Outkick The Coverage

Live sports is really the only safe profit center for TV these days. It's the only programming that can sell commercial time. So this number really does not shock me.

What does shock me is that networks like Fox, CBS and NBC have not tried to get a bigger share of football. NBC should have gone after supplemental football coverage to work with the ND games years ago.

Imagine where they would stand now if when the ESPN arms race started they locked in the MAC and Pac.

They could of had a (using Pacific time) 9am MAC game, 12:30pm ND game and a 4:00pm PAC game. On the weekends that ND was away, you simply replace a PAC game for the ND game.

This would have given NBC close to 10hrs of revenue producing TV on Saturday and 10hrs to promote the NFL on Sunday. They could have made all of the money they needed on the weekend and reduced all of the pressure to produce better programming during the week.

 

[wizards8507]

Live sports is really the only safe profit center for TV these days. It's the only programming that can sell commercial time. So this number really does not shock me.

What does shock me is that networks like Fox, CBS and NBC have not tried to get a bigger share of football. NBC should have gone after supplemental football coverage to work with the ND games years ago.

Imagine where they would stand now if when the ESPN arms race started they locked in the MAC and Pac.

They could of had a (using Pacific time) 9am MAC game, 12:30pm ND game and a 4:00pm PAC game. On the weekends that ND was away, you simply replace a PAC game for the ND game.

This would have given NBC close to 10hrs of revenue producing TV on Saturday and 10hrs to promote the NFL on Sunday. They could have made all of the money they needed on the weekend and reduced all of the pressure to produce better programming during the week.

Notre Dame wouldn't have agreed to a 12:30 time slot.

EDIT: You said Pacific Time... nevermind.

 

[MNIrishman]

I really hope that the whole cable/ESPN sports model falls apart to really kick the conferences and Comcast in the nads. I am paying for so many channels I hate. Now I might have to pay for the Redneck Broadcasting Network? Ugh.