DIRECTV subscribers in the Pac-12 Conference's footprint will have to keep up on how the majority of the conference's men's basketball tournament unfolds via ESPN.com, online message boards or a friend's TV, as the satellite provider and conference network have yet to sign a carriage agreement. The conference's four-day tournament tips off in Las Vegas on March 12, and the Pac-12 Network will be the sole broadcaster of eight of the tournament's 11 games, including the entire first round, three of the four quarterfinals games, and one of the semifinals games. FOX Sports 1 will broadcast one quarterfinal, one semifinal and the championship game nationally.
According to Nielsen, as of third quarter 2013, DIRECTV had roughly 3.9 million subscribers in the Pac-12 Network's six-state footprint. The lack of an agreement with the nation's largest satellite cable provider has the biggest impact on the Pac-12 Los Angeles network, with roughly 1.55 million subs. Next is Pac-12 Bay Area with about 799,000 subs, followed by Pac-12 Mountain with an estimated 533,000 subs. The Pac-12 RSN that is the least impacted by the lack of a DIRECTV agreement is Pac-12 Oregon, where the satellite provider has about 221,500 subs.
From January through February, the Pac-12 Network aired live sports events for the conference's winter sports, highlighted by the men's basketball third-tier games that the national networks passed over. FOX, ESPN and CBSbroadcast most of the conference's high profile matchups, such as FS1's Nov. 25, 2013, airing of then No. 25 ranked Marquette at Arizona State (which ASU won 79-77), and FS1's Jan. 5 broadcast of two then-top-20 ranked teams — Oregon at Colorado, a 100-91 win for the Buffaloes.
The Pac-12 Network, on the other hand, gets its choice of the remaining and less competitive games, like UCLA vs. Colorado (a 69-56 UCLA win) on Jan. 16 and Washington State at Stanford (an 80-48 trouncing by the Cardinal) on Jan. 15. Even the most dedicated Pac-12 followers wouldn't have minded missing the latter two games.
However, now that March Madness is here, and the Pac-12 begins its men's tournament, the conference's own network will be the only place to catch a vast majority of the tournament's games. Most of the action leading up to this year's championship will have played out exclusively on the Pac-12 Network, something Pac-12 fans will not want to miss out on, again.
If DIRECTV subscribers that consider themselves Pac-12 fans have not felt the pain of missing the Pac-12 Network yet this year, they might now. Similar to last year's Pac-12 tournament, DIRECTV subscribers will be left out of the first round and the majority of the quarterfinal round. We forecast that by this time next year, DIRECTV and the Pac-12 Network will have a carriage agreement in place, or the network will be sold to a large sports player. Rumors have surfaced that FOX may purchase the Pac-12 Networks and fold them into one channel. As for now, the Pac-12's followers that subscribe to DIRECTV will have to seek out other options to catch this year's games.
Last year, DIRECTV and AT&T Inc. U-verse subscribers missed out on the Pac-12 men's basketball tournament, as AT&T and the Pac-12 Network did not reach an agreement until September 2013. When the network and the telco finally did reach an agreement, it only impacted Pac-12 Bay Area, Pac-12 LA and the national Pac 12 Network, since AT&T only offers U-verse services in those areas.
Despite attempts by the Pac-12 and its fans to get an agreement in place with DIRECTV, the satellite provider has remained firm on its position that it will not pay the network's current asking price. That said, the Pac-12 Network's football and men's basketball games are becoming more competitive, increasing the perceived value of its third-tier games. For example, the 2013 NCAA men's basketball tournament placed five Pac-12 teams in the bracket including conference champion Oregon, UCLA, Arizona, California and Colorado.
This year, some bracketologists have the Pac-12 pegged to land six or even up to seven teams, including Arizona (currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, as of March 3), UCLA, Arizona State, Oregon, Stanford and Colorado, with California sitting on the outside of the bubble looking in. As time marches on and more and more DIRECTV subscribers feel they are missing out on the Pac-12 Network, the pressure for DIRECTV to compromise intensifies. The Pac-12 Network has said that it would like to come to an agreement with DIRECTV, but it is not a make-or-break issue at this point.
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