TV contracts highlight Annual SEC meeting

DESTIN, Fla. -- At this time last year, the Southeastern Conference was still pondering whether to start its own TV network.

Television again will be the primary topic as the league opens a four-day run of its annual spring business meetings here today at the Sandestin Beach Hilton. But this time, the talk will be how the conference will implement the extensive and lucrative new TV contracts it has signed with CBS and ESPN that take effect starting in the upcoming football season.

While those 15-year contracts were signed last August -- CBS for $800 million and ESPN for a mind-blowing $2.25 billion -- the best news came late last week when it was announced Comcast and DirectTV were picking up ESPNU and ESPN360.

That was huge for SEC viewers. ESPN wants to use every one of its outlets, even ESPN Mobile TV (live games shown on mobile phones), to telecast conference football, men's basketball and women's basketball, as well as increased exposure for Olympic sports.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive has said every football game involving an SEC team, whether it's league play or non-conference, will be televised, starting with the 11:30 CT game previously telecast to nine states by Raycom. Now, the 11:30 game will be done by ESPN Regional and will have the capability to be shown nationwide.

Also, each SEC school can reserve one game a year for a pay-per-view showing.

"We are about to become the most widely distributed conference in the country," Slive said.
Not to mention the richest. It is expected this year, the SEC will distribute a record $130 million or more in revenue to its members. Next year at this time, with the new TV contracts starting in the fall, that total should increase by $100 million.

Because of the TV and the SEC's reputation as the nation's most powerful athletic conference, Slive reportedly will have pointed discussions with the league football and basketball coaches during these meetings.

Though he realizes the SEC is extremely competitive, he hasn't been fond of coaches trash-talking at booster clubs and in the media.[full story]

Comcast to offer ESPNU this Fall

Not only does ESPN's new billion dollar contract with the SEC benefit conference atheletic departments, Comcast subscribers will also have something to gain. The ESPNU network will now be available to Comcast subscribers as well as more games on ESPNU and ESPN2.

Through a deal with cable operator Comcast as well as satellite TV provider DirecTV, the college sports channel ESPNU will nearly double the households it reaches, from 25 million households to about 46 million.

The SEC’s new contract with ESPN calls for the network to show at least 20 football games on ESPN and/or ESPN2 this fall. Another 13 games are also going to be carried on ESPNU.

Other changes....
Through a new deal with Comcast, the ESPN360.com broadband service gains about 15 million housholds and will now reach 43 households getting broadband.

A new daily one-hour studio show called SportsNation will debut on ESPN2 on July 6. Hosted by ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle, who had been with ESPN's New York radio station, the show is to encourage fan interaction and is a TV spinoff of espn.com's online SportsNation. [more...]