SEC Network Launches: Millions of Southerners Won't Leave Home Til January

As many of you know to us who live in the Southeastern U.S, College Football is a fairly big deal. It's truly a year around sport and anywhere from Texas to South Carolina, you'll find a ton of people who don't now how to converse about anything other that football.

And Thursday evening with great fanfare in some places and zero fanfare in others, ESPN launched their SEC TV Network.

The "Network" will deliver non-stop SEC sports to hungry masses clamoring for all things gymnastics.

Here's your opening segment:



And yes, they'll have a few football games.

Heck, they even have their own "Gameday" crew. And it will be really interesting to see what happens on the day the big "College Gameday" crew shows up at the same place the "SEC" crew does.

Admittedly we got some laughs based on the Social Media posts of some of our friends lauding the launch quite possibly without knowing they'll have an endless run of Paul Finebaum quotes and smiling Tim Tebow as the faces of their so-called network. And perhaps not realizing that the better SEC games will still appear on CBS or on ESPN the Mothership. But that's another story for another day.

And for the rest of you who are not quite so enthused or don't talk SEC football 24/7, 365 days a year just remember when your cable or satellite bill goes up at the end of the year, you can thank your friends on "The Network". And never forget our friends at the 4-letter also are the creators of the incredibly popular Longhorn Network.

If you are wondering about the stellar-ific programming, look no further than this SEC feature on stadium renovations:

Reports: ESPN Mass Layoffs: "To Meet Profit Margins"

ESPN Should Fire This Guy Instead

((ht: deadspin.com))

God bless corporate america. The only place in the world where it's not enough to make money, you have to increase your profit margin each year...or you are considered a failure.

And we wonder why the rich get richer...

Anyway.....

Deadspin and other outlets report ESPN, your Entertainment and Sports Programming leader is taking a  deep ax to personnel today. And while not confirming numbers, it's believed to be in the 100's for a company of 7,000.

This on the heels of signing Paul Finebaum, beginning and laying out cash for the SEC Network and securing the rights to the U.S Tennis Open for 50% more than previous rights holder CBS was paying for it.

Oh, and did we add they aer about to debut a new $125 million new set?

ESPN did confirm layoffs to Deadspin, the report RIGHT HERE

And no, right wing friends, it's not about the number of layoffs being minimal. Companies aren't obligated to keep what they consider a bloated staff, no, we get that and yeah, it is their right.

The issue we have with this is good people being sent to the unemployment line while the CEO's and Executive's line their pockets with BONUS money for meeting a "Profit Margin".

We are often critical of the 4-Letter and we believe its with good reason. They've managed to swallow up the rights to almost every major sport and have convinced a uniformed majority of the public that they are IT when it comes to Sports Journalism.

They aren't. This is a Network that sold their souls to people like Skip Bayless and endless alienated many viewers with non-stop coverage of Tim Tebow. This is a network that values what they call debate and what the rest of us in the TV business calls trolling.

And they still roll on. And the executives will still get their bonuses for meeting budget.

Paul Finebaum Resurfaces at ESPN

((ht: onlinewsj.com))

So, the voice of the common Alabamian in football has a new home.

And no, it's lot on the local airways in Birmingham.

The guy who a few years ago, we didn't know who he was, is now going big time. Yes, that's right, Paul Finebaum will now be an ESPN personality.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Finebaum will take his show to Charlotte, North Carolina where he'll host a show on ESPN radio.

In addition, his deal provides him 100 TV appearances on the network and his radio show appearing as a Video Simulcast on the SEC Network.

Guess that answers one question about the SEC Network's programming.

Read more from the Wall Street Journal RIGHT HERE

Yes, we confess, some 3-years ago, we had no earthly idea who Finebaum was after stumbling upon a story where he claimed Georgia coach Mark Richt would be imminently fired. By the way, it never happened.

For those unfamiliar, Finebaum plays very hard and well to the SEC and in particular Alabama football fans sometimes irrational and aggravating, non-stop obsession with everything football.

And that is who ESPN is trying to target.

We can't say we'll tune into Finebaum's show, we still consider him a bit of a blowhard who randomly floats rumors, but then again, that's what plays these days.paul f

The SEC Network Becomes Official: Mo Money, Mo Money, Mo Money

Mo money, mo money, mo money.

Yes, the new SEC Network from your friends at ESPN has been made official. The Network will being in August of 2014 of course, since that would be in time for the 2014 season.

And yes, while it's going to be an expensive undertaking, it's going to make the already rich football schools of the SEC even richer. Though apparently neither ESPN or the SEC want to say HOW rich they'll become from this.

So, now some of the details. At least the ones they've released:

--Yes, we already mentioned the Network starts in August of 2014. Duh! Just in time for the football season.
--The SEC Network and ESPN have a media rights agreement that runs through 2034. ESPN will run all SEC programming on all platforms through that time. Each school will apparently produce their own content as well.
--No comment was given when asked about the ownership split. This will be interesting to find out.
--Your 1st Cable/Satellite company to sign on: ATT U-Verse. So there is distribution. No word on anyone else signing on. 
--As of right now, the plan is for the Network to run 45 football games in the 2014 season. Which is apparently 3 games a week for 13 weeks. 
--In addition, the plan is for 160 basketball games, 75 baseball games and other minor sports to all be televised or broadcast on the SEC's digital network
--They are shooting for clearance 1st in the states with SEC schools (11 of them) and then will work for national clearance 
--Studio HQ--Charlotte, where ESPN already has some facilities. 

Here's the ESPN Press Release if you'd like to read it. The link is RIGHT HERE

Your SEC Coaches/No Fighting reported

The football programming will not be top shelf, despite their arguments that it will
. You won't get the Alabama/LSU football game on the SEC Network. You might see the Tuesday rerun, but you won't get the game. All you are getting is the former Raycom Saturday Noon game. Best we can tell, CBS won't be losing the main Saturday game and ESPN isn't gonna fork over their prime time Saturday night games either.

But--you will get more basketball, more baseball, gymnastics, tennis and other sports along with coaches shows.

So there's that.

This of course the SEC fan is great news. In most SEC states, they'll eat this shit up. But financially, it will be hard for anyone to compete with them for a long time because as we all know, that money could never be used for anything other than facilities and uniforms...right.

But the Network has a shelf life.

The Sports TV Network model of revenue is eventually going to change and the question is: How long will that money be around.

To explain: If, say, Comcast decides to add the network at $1.50 per subscriber. Guess what? If it's on the "Primary Tier" of channels, you are paying for it. Even if you don't like SEC Football. Or if you aren't a Sports Fan. Your cable bill goes up.

Imagine living in Chicago and finding out on your latest bill that yes, you are funding the SEC. Well, guess what, that's exactly what you are doing. You may have no interest whatsoever in This Week in Alabama football, but congratulations, you're help footing the bill for the show.

At some point, the model is not going to be sustainable anymore. We don't know when. Heck, we have ATT U-Verse at home, featuring the Longhorn Network, a network we'll NEVER watch.

But in the meantime, congratulations SEC Fan, you've got your network. And your network will be worth $25-$28 million per team. No, none of your students will see any of it, the football program will, but that's okay. And yes, it will be available in most of the southeast. But just remember where that money is coming from. Not from ESPN, not from the League, no, most of it is coming from YOU.

SEC Network To Come On Line In 2014

Send your resumes and demo tapes, kids...

The Ess-E-Cee and the four letter are about to announce their network collaboration next week... and it will be the most valuable network in the history of college conference sports networks...

((Insert evil laugh here))

Smith and Ourand from Sports Business Journal sayeth quote:

The SEC and ESPN plan to formally announce the creation of an SEC channel on Tuesday. The two parties have begun to reach out to key constituents to let them know about the 12:00pm ET announcement at the Atlanta Hyatt. University presidents, ADs, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, ESPN execs and the conference's corporate sponsors are among those being invited to the news conference. The SEC and ESPN have been working on plans to form a channel since the fall of '11, and the new channel is expected to launch in August '14.

The channel is expected to have its studio headquarters in Charlotte at the ESPN Regional Television offices, while the primary sales outlet will be based in Atlanta.

This means that those of you who are used to seeing all that ancillary programming on other non-ESPN networks will have one more year of it. The contracts will then expire and the programming will roll over appropriately to SEC Network.

So, every press conference... every practice... every event past, present, or future... during football season will roll over to SECN...

You'll get baseball, gymnastics, basketball (men's and women's), track, all of that stuff... rolled over to the control of the monolith out of Birmingham...

Enjoy the next-to-last ever conference football title game that won't have an ESPN fingerprint all over it in some way...
((HT: ESPN America/SEC/youtube))

The New SEC Network: All They Need is More Money

((ht: sports.yahoo.com))

Like they needed another money printing license.

According to a report by Yahoo Sports reporter Pat Forde, commissioner Mike Slive told him the SEC will debut their own, self-encomapssing TV Network in about a month.

Yes, those who follow the Southeastern Conference say, "They already have a network".

Well, no actually they don't, they have a digital network, lots of programming that they have to contract out to run.

They want something akin to the "Big Ten Network" or the "PAC-12 Network". Those networks, available to cable and satellite subscribers make their respective conference's a lot of money.

Read more from Mr. Forde's report on Yahoo Sports RIGHT HERE

No, this quite honestly isn't a game changer, it's been expected for a long time.

The reasons Conference do this are rather simple. They net money based on TV homes. Well, okay, actually subscribers.

They convince carriers, (ie: Comcast Cable, DirecTV, U-Verse etc) to pay for clearing the network, the carrier in turn adds that fee to your overall bill. So even if you aren't an SEC fan, if the network is on your top tier of channels, congratulations, you just made the SEC even richer. And, if the hundreds of millions the Big 10 gets for their network is any indication, the SEC is sitting on a pot of gold.

This also comes about as the conference begins renegotiating their TV deal next year. Forde's article and general speculation assumes that ESPN will buddy up with the league for this and will pay handsomely to be a part of college TV's most popular and lucrative conference.

So enjoy what you've got, expect your cable or satellite bill to go up, but in return, you'll get the leagues 3rd level games and a whole bevy of baseball, women's basketball and other less revenue generating sports.