Texas AD can't get Longhorn Network at home

This is so funny on so many levels....

In other words, the overwhelming majority of cable subscribers in the state won???t get the network whose two marquee events of the year are scheduled for the next two Saturday nights. The Texas-Wyoming football season opener and the Texas-New Mexico follow-up belong to LHN.

Wyoming and New Mexico are "marquee events of the year"?

Did Bohls move to the DMN?

Actually, I think my SiL has the LHN in Grapevine...

And to think this is what forced TAMU and Mizz over to the SEC.

(well, not really, but let's just leave it at that...)

Hey, JRM. To muse on the possibility of LHN & the future BSN(?) morphing into regional partitions of a B12-2 greater network is too ephemeral for this guy's noggin at this time. I will say that I'm glad you'll be able to watch in the DC area what the UTx AD cannot get at his Texas home. BTW, you're programming suggestions make too much sense not to be explored.

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 09:38 AM ET  08.25 by JRM74

Verizon carries LHN; I will watch the games.Is Verizon the only major carrier E$PN has been able to peddle the network to? How much are they asking for the damn thing? Who's in charge of programming? Maybe they should consider more live coverage of stuff, not replays of games from back when we used to be good? Basketball, baseball and softball, but in addition maybe more coverage of tennis, volleyball, rowing, etc.? Also, maybe more coverage of games from other schools in the UT system? UTSA, UTEP, et.al. have plenty of football games available. UT Arlington has a basketball team that's competitive from time to time. Attract more eyeballs more often, maybe that will help attract more carriers?.................. Pac has a better model, I think (hey, when is it s'posed to launch?). Hard to program a station 24/7 with stuff from one school. One station split between two schools sounds more reasonable. Of course, Pac's model was conceived and driven by its commissioner. Bebe was too much of an idiot, and no other Big XII schools wanted to join in. Wish to hell we hadn't made the Faustian deal with E$PN, and now Zero U's about to do the same; not sure how you'd ever get to a Pac type system at this point.

Yep....hard for a network to just focus on one school...not sure OU will do any better with theirs, unless it is structured better, tho I don't know how.

How the the 12PAC structured for payout, games televised, etc? Will they show all games each Saturday? If not (only show the top 1-3 games) is the payout still evenly distributed among the schools or a sliding fee where the teams being viewed get more?

QUOTE(#8):

Originally posted 09:45 AM ET  08.25 by JRM74

Who's Barry Horn? I'm not familiar with that name. Maybe it's a pseudonym Bohls uses when he's moonlighting?

LOL...but a good guess...

Barry Horn
E-mail: bhorn@dallasnews.com
Barry Horn has been blogging all his life. Only now he is using a computer rather than his mouth. He was born in New York, went to college in Chicago and worked in Miami before arriving at The Dallas Morning News is 1981. He's covered just about every sports beat before picking up sports media in 1991. Some day in the not-too-distant future, he will have lived in Texas for more than half of his life.
Hometown: New York
Education: Chicago

Got this from Google

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 09:52 AM ET  08.25 by BackRoads

LOL...but a good guess...Barry HornE-mail: bhorn@dallasnews.comBarry Horn has been blogging all his life. Only now he is using a computer rather than his mouth. He was born in New York, went to college in Chicago and worked in Miami before arriving at The Dallas Morning News is 1981. He's covered just about every sports beat before picking up sports media in 1991. Some day in the not-too-distant future, he will have lived in Texas for more than half of his life.Hometown: New YorkEducation: ChicagoGot this from Google

I left the DFW area in 1990...probably why I've never heard of him since he didn't start covering sports until 91...

Wyoming and New Mexico not on big-time networks list of must see games? Really? Are they not aware that Wyoming has almost 570,000 people of all ages? 50th ranked in population, sure, but they get really good reception there.

"... As for the upcoming Wyoming and New Mexico games, Dodds said they likely would not have made the cut when big-time network partners ABC, ESPN and Fox Sports Net divvied up the schedule...."

And that right there folks is the problem. ABC owns the over-the-air broadcast rights and Fox owns the cable rights. Fox and ABC are entertainment networks first and foremost. They look for ways to NOT show games if the they can prove that sitcom reruns might garner more overall viewership in a particular market in a Saturday time slot.

Nothing has changed even with LHN. Fox is still a sub-standard cable partner and their dedication to sports programming is a facade. Most Saturdays they look for ways to sell games instead of show games. And if ESPN and Versus aren't buying Fox is most times too cheap to spend the $50k in production costs to show it as a pay-per-view event, even when fans of schools petition with significant interest.

SEC fans are spoiled, in a good way, because ESPN goes the extra mile to show games. They don't let the corporate network "analysts" keep them from finding a way to show a game. They have partnered with ABC and can tap into their network of affiliates to show multiple games on a regional and national basis.

Fox sucks and LHN ain't no solution.

QUOTE(#5):

Originally posted 09:38 AM ET  08.25 by JRM74

Verizon carries LHN; I will watch the games.Is Verizon the only major carrier E$PN has been able to peddle the network to? How much are they asking for the damn thing? Who's in charge of programming? Maybe they should consider more live coverage of stuff, not replays of games from back when we used to be good? Basketball, baseball and softball, but in addition maybe more coverage of tennis, volleyball, rowing, etc.? Also, maybe more coverage of games from other schools in the UT system? UTSA, UTEP, et.al. have plenty of football games available. UT Arlington has a basketball team that's competitive from time to time. Attract more eyeballs more often, maybe that will help attract more carriers?.................. Pac has a better model, I think (hey, when is it s'posed to launch?). Hard to program a station 24/7 with stuff from one school. One station split between two schools sounds more reasonable. Of course, Pac's model was conceived and driven by its commissioner. Bebe was too much of an idiot, and no other Big XII schools wanted to join in. Wish to hell we hadn't made the Faustian deal with E$PN, and now Zero U's about to do the same; not sure how you'd ever get to a Pac type system at this point.

There are 9 carriers at this time. Cost to add for carriers is about 40 cents per month per subscriber.

It is a wholly owned channel by espn, they choose all programming. There will be several UTSA, Texas State games on this year.

Here's a good recap

http://t.co/zpJXjLtM

QUOTE(#11):

Originally posted 10:00 AM ET  08.25 by JRM74

From what I've heard, there will be one Pac conference network, plus a series of regional networks, each shared by two schools. I have no clue what the revenue sharing model will be. Bowlsby must know a lot of details about how they structured it. Maybe he can move us in that direction?As to revenue, I'd suggest equal share for all teams from the conference network, revenues from regional networks split evenly between the two schools operating it..............And I'd suggest everything be 100% controlled by the conference and/or schools; no selling our souls to E$PN, FOX $ports, whoever.

Don't be so high on pactv yet, they only have 1 carrier lined up.

It took btn, 2-3 years to get onto carriers. Dodds also can't get the NFL network either because TW won't pay for it.

All I know is I get it in Southlake and in my place in Austin. Luv it. As for live coverage, they had live games of volleyball and soccer last night

QUOTE(#12):

Originally posted 10:04 AM ET  08.25 by 50yearfan

Wyoming and New Mexico not on big-time networks list of must see games? Really? Are they not aware that Wyoming has almost 570,000 people of all ages? 50th ranked in population, sure, but they get really good reception there.

I think you missed the point. Lots of fans in TX want to watch these games and TX is a huge TV market.

ESPN will broadcast Florida State vs. Savannah State. Do you think Savannah State fans make this broadcast profitable? No, but Florida State fans do.

How about Maryland vs. William & Mary?
Florida State vs. Murray State?
Arizona vs. Toledo?
VaTech vs. Austin Pea?

ESPN will show those games ...plus many other games where D1 powerhouses play OOC creampuffs in tiny markets. These games won't garner national interest but they'll have significant interest in certain regional markets.

Big12 fans would love to have a cable partner that goes the extra mile for them like ESPN does for the SEC and ACC.

QUOTE(#15):

Originally posted 10:38 AM ET  08.25 by JRM74

... I still think the schools and the conferences need to work toward having more control themselves....

This would be very hard to do unless they were willing to accept a much smaller payout.

TV providers pay millions, even billions, for the "rights of exclusivity" meaning they, not the schools, choose which games are broadcast. If the schools want more control they get less money.