Pac-12 Puts Cable Game Plan in Motion

In Demand, CMC Recruited to Help Launch Seven College-Sports Networks

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 6/11/2012 12:01:00 AM

With the kickoff of its ambitious seven-channel launch just a little more than two months away, Pac-12 Enterprises has firmed up its technological support roster and opened up its marketing strategy rooted in multiplatform content. 

The group said last week that In Demand will team with Comcast Media Center to provide Pac-12 networks with an array of technical support services, including expansive TV Everywhere and video-on-demand plans coming out of the gate. 

The Pac-12 Conference, in an unprecedented push, will launch seven channels — a national feed, as well six regional networks mapping the conference footprint. Content includes football, basketball and myriad Olympic sports that member schools are renowned for in the U.S. 

Pac-12 Enterprises is the new content and multiplatform media company for the Pac-12 Conference representing 12 universities that have captured 450 NCAA titles across 27 sports. It is the parent of the Pac-12 Networks (TV) and Pac-12 Digital (online, social media). 

Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Cox Communications, co-owners of In Demand, have all made distribution commitments to the TV services that together will total 40 million homes. An enhanced, authenticated broadband off ering is also being put into play. 

Gary Stevenson, president of Pac-12 Enterprises, said conversations with distributors have yet to yield any agreements, but replied “absolutely” when asked if other carriers would be on board when the networks debut in mid-August. 

The Pac-12 Networks’ distribution game plan calls for expanded basic carriage within the home markets for the six RSNs and digitalbasic positioning for those networks and the national service within the conference’s six-state footprint. 

Beyond the conference territory, the Pac-12 will be looking for carriage for all seven services, perhaps on sports tiers. Sources familiar with the talks indicate that Pac-12 Networks is seeking a monthly license fee of between 90 cents and $1 within conference markets, and as much as 50 cents in other areas. Stevenson declined to discuss rate-card specifics. 

Stevenson said that while Pac-12 Networks “over the next two months will be working on producing classic games and preview shows,” its freshman- year focus is “eventcentric.” 

“We’re going to have 850 live events, plus we have re-air rights to the games that air nationally on Fox and ESPN,” Stevenson said. “So there is going to be a lot of event focus.” 

He said that during the upcoming football season, Pac-12 Networks would have the top or second choice of games in seven of 13 weeks. The initial wave of football contests, Stevenson said last Thursday, is expected to be announced over the next seven to 10 days, while details of the schedule for fall sports may be divulged on June 15. 

Consumer marketing will begin to manifest at that time, “before ramping up as we approach August 15,” he said. 

In Demand president Bob Benya said Pac-12 Networks, working with online video management firm Ooyala, would be “all in” from the outset on computers, tablets, connected TVs and smartphones, whether on Apple or Android-based operating systems. Subscribers to Pac-12 Networks will be able to watch live content on connected devices via TV Everywhere authentication when the services begin on Aug. 15. 

Viewers can customize apps to create a personalized content experience specific to their favorite Pac-12 teams, sports and related content — including statistics, press conferences and documentaries — that extends beyond the telecasts. 

As for video-on-demand, Benya said he expects the product to be “one package, mostly the best of the national feed. We’ll do the encoding and the 20 hours of free-ondemand will be refreshed every month,” he said. 

In addition to VOD and TV Everywhere, In Demand and the CMC, a subsidiary of Comcast Cable, will provide network- distribution services. The infrastructure of their linear networks will be grounded through fiber connectivity between the Pac-12 studio in San Francisco, which will be completed on July 9, plus all 12 of its member universities and the CMC in Denver. 

“This fiber connectivity between the 12 schools, the state-of-the-art Pac-12 studio in San Francisco and the CMC is a technical structure that I believe is unique to the industry,” Benya said. 

Benya added, “Working with the Pac-12 Networks is a natural extension of what we can do. We have a massive infrastructure that can provide reliable and quality services, more efficiently, for new and existing networks.”

7-PACK 

The Pac-12 will launch a national network and six regional channels: 

LOCATION / SCHOOL 

Northern California (Stanford, California) 

Southern California (USC, UCLA) 

Oregon (Oregon State, Oregon) 

Washington (Washington State, Washington) 

Arizona (Arizona State, Arizona) 

Mountain (Utah, Colorado)