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Pac-12 Network Business Model

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Looks like the Pac-12 network will not be available in online only format. In short, this means you'll have to order 3000 channels you never watch and don't want in order to watch a dozen Beaver games.

The interview with Reynolds basically nixes any short-term hopes at an online-only subscription are pretty much dashed here.

Jeff Taylor: If you live outside of the Pac-12 footprint (say in New Jersey), will there be the possibility to get one of the regional networks or an al a carte package with cable or online to allow you to view only the games of university you graduated from?

Kirk Reynolds: In order to get the Pac-12 Networks you do need to be a subscriber to one of our distribution partners. We do not have a la carte options. Subscribers outside of the footprint would likely get the national network through a sports tier and would have access to all of the regionals on your computer, tablet, smartphone through your provider’s TV Everywhere service.

Jeff Taylor: Has the Pac-12 Network considered the possibility of having a stand-alone subscriber service where fans could pay a subscription fee and get an individual login to watch games online?

Kirk Reynolds: This question has come up quite a bit, but a la carte is simply not an option. You do have to subscribe to one of the distribution partners to get the networks.

Online only would have been great for fans (especially those far away from Oregon/the West Coast and those without the means to purchase full cable), so it's no surprise it didn't happen. We live in a "the corporation is always right" world and this is about Comcast et al gutting fans for $70 a month to watch Jersey Shore and other trash when they'd only be able to charge 1/10th of that for online-only network content. I'm not against Capitalism, but I am against monopolies and cartels.

So much for innovation and putting the fans and universities first, Larry Scott.

By the way, this is the same Kirk Reynolds who used to be in charge of public affairs and wrote this canned response when I complained about the officials in 2010: http://angrybeavs.com/athletics/3637

Looks like he got a promotion.

Source: http://www.pacifictakes.com/2012/7/18/3166671/pac-12-networks-online-tv-everywhere

123 COMMENTS

  1. Pretty much the entire state of Oregon, outside of Portland, is already upset because they don’t have access to Blazer games because Comcast has sole ownership of all games that are not broadcast on the local NBC affiliate or ESPN/TNT. (so basically 72 of the 82 games are played on Comcast only)

    Putting the Pac-12 network on Comcast only will have the same effect. I’m ok with it since I’m a Comcast subscriber, but this would really piss me off if I couldn’t access any of the Pac 12 games that aren’t on ESPN. I’m assuming this means Root sports will no longer be carrying games? It’s going to piss off customers more than anything. Sports bars will be happy though.

    • Dish and Direct TV customers will be cancelling their subscriptions en mass once football season starts. This will catch a ton of people off guard and they’ll make a knee jerk reaction just to get their football fix.

      • Not really. My disdain for Comcast is deeper than my wont to view a football or even… bite my tongue… a hoops game.

        Think about it. I can spend a ridiculous amount cow towing to Comcast for some games. Or… I can just buy season tickets and spend the gas associated to just go to the games. One costs more. One is worth more.

        • No offense Jack, but you’re probably not an “average” customer. Nothing wrong with that of course. Plus, you live quite a bit closer to Corvallis than alot of us. It’s not just the gas involved. Seeing a game live takes up a full day or more for many. It’s worth it to me to pay a little extra for the convenience of watching on TV and still having time to enjoy my weekends after watching a quality loss.

          • sorry, couldn’t help myself

            by the way, I’m a season ticket holder for Oregon State football, but I really don’t enjoy wasting a full day to see a crappy product, especially when spending a few hours watching said product is an option. Streaming these games online would have been not only a huge plus for the fans, but it would have also been groundbreaking. It surely going to happen down the road, just hopefully sooner rather than later.

          • That, in my mind, is why OSU needs to evolve in their game-day experience. You should be able to tailgate and enjoy the day. Then you should be able to hand your tickets off to “nameless” relative or friend so they can go inside the stadium while you stay in your RV/whatever and watch the game on your big screen. I know I would do this. I don’t know many who would balk at a similar model.

          • Agreed, I was at the Wisconsin game last year.. and man do they have a game day experience. Hopefully the AD staff took notes(doubtful).

          • I enjoyed their 5th quarter. It was entertaining and helped traffic by people slowly leaving the stadium.
            Also, notice how their band played our fight song? Classy.

            I actually emailed this to Bob D. back when he was asking for ideas from fans.

          • I envision an opulent RV set-up wrapped around the south and east sides when those are built out. Imagine the primo prices OSU could garner with a double-deck RV tailgate spot connected to the stadium itself! The Beaver Walk could happen across the face of it with die-hard fans in a two story formation and campers across the way backing up on Oak Creek.

            How awesome would that be?

            I know… I need about a billion bucks to make this a reality.

    • It’s not on Comcast only. You need a TV subscription with any major provider (Dish, Direct TV, etc). There was a real opportunity here to decouple from those companies and provide the content on the web so fans could watch (and pay) for what they like, but the cartel made sure that didn’t happen, and Larry Scott went along with it. Pathetic.

      • I was actually basing that part off this tweet from Brandon Sprague earlier today:

        Brandon Sprague ?@BrandonSprague

        The Pac-12 website says the Pac-12 Network is only going to be available through Comcast. Not on DirecTV or Dish. http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Pac12Ne …
        (here’s a live link: http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Pac12Networks/ChannelFinder.aspx)

        He later wrote:
        Brandon Sprague ?@BrandonSprague

        RT @cfbTheToe @BrandonSprague Going to rile up folks w/that. They don’t CURRENTLY have a deal w/DISH/DirecTV but likely will w/1 by season

        So basically, as of now it’s Comcast only. Fans with other providers better hope a deal can be made quickly. The Blazer situation has shown little to no progress for a few years now. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Dish and Direct TV users have been screwed before.

        Either way, I was really looking forward to watching games on my android tablet and phone when I’m on the road. Sounds like they aren’t going to deliver on the promises Larry Scott brought up a few years ago. Shocking….

      • how come i’m not surprised you’re being a contrarian?

        Perhaps you have Comcast in Bend? Jesus, I don’t know every town in Oregon that does or does not have Comcast, but that doesn’t change the point. The Blazer/Comcast issues has been going on for several years now in Oregon. There are a ton of people left without access to the games because they can only get Dish or DirectTV in areas Comcast doesn’t provide service.

          • It’s not on DirectTV
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast_SportsNet_Northwest

            “Availability

            As of December 2011, Comcast Cable (Oregon and Washington), Ashland TV, BendBroadband[4], Canby Telcom[5], Country Cablevision, MINET (Monmouth, Oregon)[6], Monroe Telephone, Reliance Connects, Scio Cablevision, Verizon FiOS (Portland and Seattle), and Wave Broadband are carrying the channel.[7] Canby Telcom has announced plans to discontinue the channel as Comcast has offered a non-negotiable fee increase that will bring the annual per subscriber charge to over $32.[8] Canby Telcom has accused Comcast of raising rates way beyond the rate of inflation and industry-wide increases.[8]
            Carriage controversy

            As of December 2011, the channel is unavailable on DirecTV, Dish Network and Charter Communications. DirecTV and Dish Network maintain that Comcast is negotiating in bad faith. For example, on one hand Comcast argues that the channel must be on a low tier with the most customers.[9] At the same time, Comcast argues that non-Comcast-owned sports channels should be shown only on a sports tier.[10] The Trail Blazers are said to be frustrated and disappointed by the conduct of Comcast over their contract with CSN.[11]

            The Consumer Protection Committee of the Oregon House of Representatives held a hearing on February 24, 2010 to help get the channel on DirecTV, Dish Network and Charter Cable. No one from DirecTV, Dish Network, or the Trail Blazers attended.[12]

            On June 21, 2010, the Trail Blazers asked the Federal Communications Commission to require Comcast Corp. to make Trail Blazers games available to competing multichannel programming distributors such as DirecTV and Dish Network.[13]

            One Oregon cable company, Canby Telcom, has objected to the additional annual charge in excess of $32 being required to be charged per customer in 2012 and has announced plans to stop carrying the channel.[8] Canby Telcom President Keith Galitz is quoted as saying “That’s just too steep an increase for us, and it’s not in line with inflation or normal escalation of prices in the industry.”[8] Clear Creek Television, which carried the Trail Blazers for 15 years, was rebuffed when even attempting to negotiate the above-market rate Comcast pushed at Clear Creek.[8]

            “Comcast clearly sees the public perception of its treatment of sports fans as a potential Achilles heel in efforts to acquire NBCU”, said Sports Fan Coalition Executive Director Brian Frederick, discussing how Comcast sent senior staff members to Oregon when a member of the Sports Fan Coalition testified before the Oregon Legislature on Comcast’s denial of access to hundreds of thousands of customers of DirecTV, Dish, and other cable operators.[14]

            In a November 7, 2010 article, Blazers CEO Larry Miller continued to express frustration about the lack of availability.[15]”

      • I haven’t seen a Blazer game in two (or is it three?) years. I’ve almost forgotten about them… as it seems their management has also done.

        Did I just see that Derrick Williams and two first round draft choices for Batum was nixed by the Blazers? That can’t be true. It’s too good to be true, therefore, I would nix the trade as well. It had to be a con by Minnesota. If it were real, then who (on the Blazers’ side) in their right mind would turn down a trade like that?

        • I’ve read conflicting reports on what was offered for Batum, but it sounds like Derrick Williams and 2 first round picks wasn’t a package offered, just examples of pieces that were included in other packages. The packages Minnesota was offering included some good pieces like those mentioned above, but also included taking back bad contracts and/or bad players in return also. (Darko Milicic, JJ Barrea) ( i like Barea actually)

      • go to the pac12 network site and punch in 97701, says not available. Only comcast channel I’m aware of in Bend is the Duck Propaganda Network.

  2. Thanks for dredging that call btw….

    I think a la carte for online subscriptions is obviously the way to go. That means there’s huge value in that model, and part of the contract prohibits such an act.

    Is Jersey Shore a CW teen soap? Why do I have to pay for crap I don’t want? I’m watching Directv right now, and Viacom thought my kids would react like heroin addicts without Spongebob or Dora. They aren’t acting that way at all. In fact, they’re now enamored with Disney channels. Go figure. four and six year olds just want something different than their parents watch.

    DUH!

    Full disclosure… their grandparents have bought them so much crap that I just box stuff up and put it in the shed. Every couple months, I box up stuff they don’t play with and take some forgotten box out of the shed. They think it’s Christmas. Between that and a rote “NO” every time a commercial comes on, they’re happy kids.

    I’ll tell you what Pac officials. I can find something else to do with my time if all you give me is time. My impulses would have me subscribe to a mobile platform first. But if you have to tie me to a land source, then go fuck yourselves.

  3. This is pretty typical. Its the way to get more money from the providers by saying its not available online. Look at the current Viacom/DTV spat, Directv was using “they give away the content for free on the web” argument. Providers are getting much more savvy on protecting their turf. I doubt PAC-12 could do that much even if it wanted to. Besides, if your a sports fan you already have a subscription anyway.

  4. Maybe we can figure out a way to group together and pay for this. One guy gets a membership, we all give him a cut of the monthly bill, he gives us the online access password (because if you have a provider, online access is free). Everyone would win and we could f*ck over the cartel.

    • They can police access. Hell, they can police broadband use in a single household. You can’t split a feed without them knowing. It’s the way private monopolies are run. You get a so-called a la carte, but you also have to pay for the 40 pay-com channels you never watch. I’m quite happy with Directv dropping Viacom for now. My wife was fully sucked into the CMT Channel on Sundays. Now? We are happy. Like I said above, the kids don’t yet have brand recognition. They don’t care if Viacom is demanding $30 more from Directv. Viacom… if you’re reading this… which you probably are not… you can go fuck yourselves also. I shouldn’t have to spend my time worrying about what my TV providers are doing. So I don’t.

  5. Comcast came by trying to get me to switch from Dish ( which I may do ), but I won’t pay to watch 3 & 9. But he said you could watch the online content from anywhere, any house / location. So it seems possible to “share”. Might just want to keep it on quiet as Comcast might be looking for an example to crucify. I think it is possible that Larry Scott had a different vision for access early on as opposed to the vision of access the Comcast attorneys have given him.

    • FTR… I did not create this video. If I did, it would have been about 1.5 minutes long and not redundant. Although, there is some good irony in watching this video for its full length expecting something new to happen.

  6. I have Frontier Fios, mainly because I got a better deal than Comcast, and I still continue as each time Comcast comes at me with a promotion that is better deal than what I currently get, I take it to Frontier and they give a discount to stay with them. I am happy with what I currently get, which includes the most common Mother ship programing, but with the Sports package I get three Big Ten Network stations (HD), three Fox regional (Atlanta, Pacific, and Arizona) non-HD, I get the CBS sports station, and Versus- now NBC sports, then I get the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB network channels which I watch all the time as I have grown tired of the ESPAM. Having said that I am extremely disappointed that I won’t get the Pac12 network. However, I am not going to buy a more expensive Comcast just to get it. It will be a tough year, but I will probably just hope I can go to a buddies house and watch the Beavs games. Hopefully, there will be some kind of free internet feed somewhere I couold watch. The Pac12 sounded like it would copy the Big Ten Network model, so I was anticipating having it since I get the Big Ten. I think they are dropping the ball on this or will not see the anticipated excitement for the launch of the Network. I can wait a year or two for them to strike another deal.

  7. I’ll be interested to see what firsrowsports.eu offers this fall. I watched Wimbledon, occasionally watch MLB 2012 through that website. You have to close out of a lot of crap but after 5 minutes or so it settles down.

    • Firstrow works ok in a pinch, but only as a last resort. The picture quality on those types of sites is pretty crappy. its like watching those bootleg ncaa streams during baseball season.

  8. I love watching college football period, I order all the regional channels and the ESPN package every fall. I say goodbye to my family on September 1st and see them again in December(when I overspend on Christmas presents and apoligize profusely). I will be pissed if the P-12 Network is not on Directv. I may have to order Comcast then, I must have visual, big screen access to as many college football games as possible every year.

    • I’m with you on this one. I get every regional sports package I can get during college football season. I watch every PAC12 game and a lot of the other conferences games too.

      If I could buy this shit online and stream it through my XBOX like netflix it would be so sweet.

  9. I have never had cable, dish, or anything other than an antenna. Money for the last 10 years has gone to tuition. The big bucks for the PAC 12 contract come with a price. You don’t think that they paid big bucks to get a few additional $7.98/month subscriptions? The Pac12 revenue stream was created by savy monopolists, not magicians.

  10. This has been a very telling thread. I can’t imagine giving up familh time for a system with so many obvious flaws and an empty conclusion (ncaa “championship”). No offsnse intended, but ncaa foktball is a game in a very flawed system.

    • The Penn State drama, and the PAC 12 Cable Cartel issues illustrate the problem with clarity. At the Division 1 level, the drive to create brands and market images for the purpose of creating a consistent and gowing revenue stream is an organism that is not easily controlled and which tends to hide problems that do not fit the portrayed images. This is an example of what Gonzalo Lira would call “Structural Pliancy” where you can have too much regulation and not enough rules at the same time.

      • The government is eroding our civil liberties in the name of security, and that makes the Pac 12 Network inaccessible to many fans?

        I think you have your bureaucracies confused. Big business, like big government, requires a bureaucracy in order to run it. You can call it what you want, but it’s just bureaucracy… only it wants to take 15% off the top instead of acting in your best interest first.

        So I guess if you make “security” pliable and call it “profit” you can make an argument for the same idea on a micro level.

        • Haven’t talked about civil liberties or big government nor have any interest in that stuff. I thought we were just talking college football and PAC 12 in particular. The point of my previous post is that with the massive of mount of money that Larry Scott et al have procured for the member schools, there is a price to be paid. The price includes a heavily regulated system, or PAC 12 brand, where the consumer has fewer access points to the live content. But as Angry pointed out, there is always radio. Is the big chunk of change that OS will get as part of the alliance worth it? Maybe and maybe not.

          • You brought up Lira’s Sructural Pliancy. That commentary has to do with national security policies forcing individual actors to comply with ubiquitous rules with no particular specifications or funding. This leads to actors making law on their own within the the vague guidelines set forth by overbearing laws. It can be ignored, like some states do. Or it can be implemented to a Nazi-like state, like stupid states do… namely Arizona… what a fucking stupid state that is.

            Know what you contribute. I like the parallel on a micro level if you transfer security to profit. That is a genius comparison in my book. And I hope that’s what you intended.

          • Not very knowledgeable about Gonzalo Lira. But back to topic. This does have a relationship with Beaver sports See Pat Forde article today about college sports. What he said ! No link here. Find it if interested.

  11. stick it to the man and run the streaming links. I hate comcast, freaking cable cartel. If direct TV can’t offer the network I’ll pirate. f em.

    • damn straight. i’m hoping that there is an increase in people using pirated streams this next season. maybe that’ll help the powers that be consider the potential benefits of offering games streamed online.

  12. what i don’t understand is why the NBA and MLB don’t seem to have any problem selling broadband subscriptions for all live out of market games (not that it’s perfect) but division 1 collegiate conferences can’t set up a similar deal. i’m a season ticket holder with comcast available to me, so this situation won’t affect me much this season, but down the road this could very easily become a big issue. i’m not sure they (being the pac 12) feel that they will lose any viewers, out of market or not, by not offering an internet only package, the way that the NBA or MLB would, and maybe they’re right, but fuck them.

    • I really enjoy MLB online, I get it as a gift every year and for $80 I have access to almost every damn game available on my computer. That’s as good as it gets for me. College sports seems stuck in the dark ages with on-line access.

  13. Hopefully we can get such a great pirate stream network established that it will effectively keep the cartel from selling online content. Change is difficult, look at the qwerty keyboard. If there is an established and effective pirate network, no one will pay to change to a legal stream. F em.

  14. Beavers missed out on Geoff Swaim to Texas…probably did not know he existed. He is a big mauling jc te/h back road grader with the key being that he is able to transfer in January.

    • With the personnel at OSU, TE seems to be more of a developmental/four year position. Caleb will likely take spot and run with it for his entire college career. So recruiting younger talent to fill in depth should be the way to go.

      • Check what Texas says about him. He will be used as a straight ahead te, a pulling h back and a hole blasting fullback. If you want a balanced attack, you have to find guys who will do the dirty work. This guy is plug and play. Oregon State running backs would have much better stats if there were a versatile specialist on the roster. If the average yards per carry went up by 2 yards, what does that do to the passing game? Why do you think Stanford/49ers got better immediately?
        Improved defense and creatively using offensive linemen in various alignments as lead blockers to increase the yard per carry and open up the passing game. I am very enthusiastic about this year’s Beaver team. But, in my opinion, and I easily could be wrong, the one thing they lack is a portable snot knocker, a guy that can hold the edge, lead around the corner or drive thru to knock the middle linebacker or strong safety on his butt. And with his grades and the recent problem with recruit defections/qualification issues, he could have been ready to go in 2 weeks.

        • “portable snot knocker”…..very well put! Less subtle than “road grader”.

          Doesn’t seem to me that Riley really thinks in this manner; your mention of bumping up the yds/carry by even 2 also makes sense. Clayton York is now a senior and hasn’t seen the field much, Michael Balfour from a good Sherwood program is a RS Frosh, sure would be nice to see one of these guys used in the snot knocker role.

    • Wonder if the current college football scandal environment will result in less tolerance for UO’s actions, and therefore harsher outcomes? Likely penalties were decided before the Freeh report was released, but….we – or I – can hope.

  15. Matt Boyd having a huge Summer!

    ?@beaverkman Congrats, MB! RT: @Beaver_Baseball Congrats to @mattboyd31 who was named a Cape Cod League All-Star today. #summerleague #gobeavs

  16. When do they release the 2013 conf. football schedule? Friend is relocating to Salt Lake and hope to go to Utah game.

  17. @beaverkman RT: ?@DanGreenspan
    Pac-12 North picks in FSN/Scout.com poll: 1. #Oregon, 2. #Stanford, 3. #Washington, 4. #Cal, 5. WSU, 6. Oregon State http://california.scout.com/2/1204240.html

    ?@beaverkman RT:@DanGreenspan
    Pac-12 South picks in FSN/Scout.com poll: 1. #USC, 2. #Utah, 3. #UCLA, 4. #Arizona, 5. Arizona State, 6. #Colorado http://california.scout.com/2/1204240.html

    Can’t really argue against these however I think we finish above Cal and WSU, but I can see why the skepticism.

  18. When Oregon expands Autzen in say 4 years how many seats will they end up with? My guess is 69-70K. Does OSU have much hope to not be predicted in the bottom spot or two in the North if we lock ourselves in with a half-finished stadium for decades longer? Seems like Reser Phase 3 is an ideal start. Add a few thousand seats, have it look great, pack it regularly and go from there. The final piece of completing the double-decker horseshoe can wait until say 2025 if we get Reser Phase 3 and nearly 49K seats in 2017. The key piece to have our stadium look great is the mirrored sides provided by Phase 3. Only that foundation will set us up nicely for the long haul.

    OSU’s need to Expand its Fanbase:
    http://beaverbyte.com

  19. @beaverkman RT:@BryanDFischer
    Elite 11 this year: Hackenberg, Del Rio, Browne, Greenlee, Woulard, Goff, Cockerille, Zaire, Stanton, Dobbs & Olsen.

    MVP Woulard U. South Fla

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