ACC Network info

 Great insight.

I still say Swofford forcing Raycom in on the TV contract stinks on ice and the fact the ACC, and what little media it has, didn't seem to give a damn shows how far behind it is the other P5 conferences (which are loaded with fans who would be screaming bloody murder).

That said, this is worth noting...


Re: Comcast gives the SEC $1.40 per Subscriber .... Reply



tdclemsontiger
7/21/2014

 "Your analysis about the rights is inaccurate. I good bit inaccurate actually.

Problem #1. Raycom (formerly Jefferson Pilot) does not own any of the original rights to the ACC's content. All of the original rights were signed to ESPN from the original TV contract of 2010. Raycom syndicates its games from ESPN. This is no different that what ESPN does with its other content. For example, ESPN also syndicated SEC content to Fox and I believe Comcast. (Maybe others, but those are the only two I can name right off hand.)

Problem #2. Signing the Tier 3 to ESPN was/is not specifically a hindrance to starting a network. It would be, if the ACC intended to start an up an independent network with another partner, a la Fox and the Big Ten. However, if the ACC follows the SEC model, partnering with ESPN for a spinoff channel, then it's not a problem, because the Tier 3 content would have to be signed over to ESPN anyway.

Selling the Tier 3 rights in and of itself is also not a specific problem, unless you want to follow the Big 12 method of retaining the rights for each school. That method hasn't proved to be particularly fruitful, except in the case of Texas.

Problem #3. The rights do not have to be reacquired from ESPN to start a network. Clearly, if the ACC gets a network, it's going to be through ESPN. This means, ESPN will need all the rights (i.e. Tiers 2 & 3) to start the network. Well, as soon as the rights are reacquired from Raycom/Fox, they will be with ESPN. Here's how it works:

The ACC originally sold the rights to ESPN. ESPN syndicated content with Raycom, and Raycom syndicated with Fox, so you have this sequence:

ACC ---> ESPN ---> Raycom ---> Fox.

To reacquire the rights, they have to flow back in the same way they went out. That means is goes from Fox, back to Raycom, back to ESPN.

ESPN <--- Raycom <--- Fox.

Well, once the rights get back to ESPN, that's it. ESPN would then have all the rights back, so they could then start the network. What you are suggesting is an extra step. You are suggesting that once ESPN reacquires the rights, the ACC has to buy back the rights from ESPN......and then turn right around and sell them back to ESPN:

ACC <--- ESPN <--- Raycom <--- Fox
|-------------^

That's a redundant step. It would make no logical sense for the ACC to buy back the rights from ESPN, then turn around and sell them back to ESPN a second time. What will actually happen is Raycom would buy back from Fox, and the ESPN would by back from Raycom. On paper, the ACC would never actually touch the rights. Now, the ACC will obviously have to compensate ESPN for the expense of repurchasing from Raycom, but that's it. In other words, ESPN won't actually spend any money on reacquiring the rights.

The key to all of this is reacquiring the rights from Raycom. However, that's not dissimilar to what the SEC had to do. As I said, ESPN had syndication deals with Fox and Comcast to syndicate SEC games. ESPN had to buy back those rights (at the SEC's expense). The difference is that those deals only had about 2-3 years remaining, whereas the Raycom deal has about 9-10. The length of the Raycom contract is the biggest issue. "