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The Pac-12 Networks on Thursday announced a long-awaited (by some) distribution deal that will change the options for viewing its content. It’s not DirecTV, but it will mitigate the frustration felt from that ongoing stalemate.
All six Pac-12 Networks regional feeds will be available through Sling TV starting today.
For those unfamiliar, Sling is an over-the-top service, which means its content comes over the internet. You don’t have to subscribe to a traditional cable or satellite distributor (Comcast, U-verse, DirecTV).
Pac-12 fans frustrated by the lack of a deal with DirecTV but unwilling to leave the satellite provider — how many fit into that category at this point, I don’t know — can have both.
Sling can be viewed on any screen, and yes, that includes the 60-inch, wall-mounted version.
This is the Pac12Nets’ first partnership with an over-the-top distributor. It’s a big deal for the conference from an exposure standpoint and could help on the revenue side, as well.
I’m not going to pretend to know the details of the deal … is it structured like the contracts with traditional carriers? … what is the sub fee? … but we know this:
Sling costs $20 per month for basic service. The tiers/packages that will feature the Pac12Nets cost an additional $5 or $10. (The SEC Network is on Sling.)
If the deal is structured like the standing agreements with Comcast and Dish — Dish owns Sling, by the way — then it’s approximately $0.80 per sub per month within the footprint.
How many fans will subscribe: 50? … 500? … 5,000?
The Pac12Nets sent approximately $2 million to each campus in FY16. My guess is Sling will provide a small bump.
(Again, the Pac12Nets are in Year Five. How many fans want them but don’t subscribe to one of the carriers? It’s probably not a large number.)
But in this case, the money isn’t as important as the exposure, the accessibility for fans, the ability to offer DTV customers an option that won’t force them to dump DTV, and the general Pac12Nets vibe.
Will it add pressure on DirecTV/AT&T to negotiate seriously?
We’ll find out in the next few days, I would imagine. To this point, there is no reason to believe serious, brink-of-a-deal negotiations are taking place.
But if you piece together a series of recent developments, it’s clear the Pac12Nets have generated a morsel of momentum on the distribution front:
*** They were able to negotiate with partners like Comcast and Cox to have the Pac-12 Network (the national feed) placed on a basic tier and the regional feeds moved to a sports tier.
(This was essential, given that all the football and men’s basketball games are on the national feed but not all partners carried the national feed on a sports tier.)
*** Frontier agreed to show the national feed in HD in Southern California, adding several hundred thousand homes — and several million dollars to the Pac12Nets’ top line.
*** Now comes the deal with Sling, and a more palatable option for Pac-12 fans who didn’t want to switch from DTV or Charter.
It’s not the Big One, but it’s at least the Medium-Sized One.
* Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline
The post Pac-12 Networks partner with Sling TV for over-the-top service appeared first on College Hotline.
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by Jon Wilner
