Monday, November 25, 2013

A look back at 2013 CFB TV by conference

ACC
  • 14 regular season games on ABC.  Last year the conference had nine games on ABC.
    • Four of the 14 were in primetime, up one from 2012.
  • 33 games on ESPN (12), ESPN2 (3) and ESPNU (18)
    • Two additional games were shown on ESPNEWS
  • Nearly all FOX Sports Net affiliates became the de facto home of the ACC's RSN package.  RSNs in Ohio, the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest saw the games on a somewhat regular basis for the first time, along with the addition of YES, MSG Networks and ROOT Sports Pittsburgh who became affiliates as part of being in the conference's new extended footprint.
  • Every intraconference game was carried on television.  Previous years would have 1-2 of these games air on ESPN3 exclusively.
  • 24 games were carried on ABC (2), ESPN (11), ESPN2 (6) and ESPNU (5)
    • An additional seven games were aired on ESPNEWS
    • Two games aired on ABC, down from six in 2012 for the Big East
  • The conference's syndication package, which goes back through the history of the Big East as a football conference, ended with the 11/23 game.  The package was started by Creative Sports Marketing, which was then purchased by ESPN.
  • Eight intraconference games aired on ESPN3 in 2013, up from 1 in 2012.  Note that changes in membership size and schools don't necessarily provide an apples-to-apples comparison
  • 2014 will see a subset of games sublicensed from ESPN to CBS Sports Network.  One game was sublicensed to them in 2013 which allowed ESPN to have CBS Sports Network's 22nd game selection from the Mountain West.
  • Sixteen games on over-the-air network television in 2013.  Down from 21 in 2012.  
    • FOX: 10 in 2013, up one from 2012 (all national).
    • ABC: 6 in 2013 with three of those as full national, either completely on ABC or via reverse mirror.  2012 had 12 games with seven full national on ABC or reverse mirror.
  • Thirty one national cable games in 2013, up from 14 in 2012.
    • FOX Sports 1 carried 22 of the thirty national cable games.  In 2012, F/X carried nine.
    • ESPN Networks carried nine games.  In 2012 they carried five.
      • ESPNU carried Big 12 football games (three) for the 1st time. 
  • Remember that any Longhorn Network games after the "3rd tier" game count towards the ESPN contract.  By my count, that is 17 games.
    • Should the Mississippi St.-Oklahoma St. and LSU-TCU games count as well?  Great question that I haven't been able to get clarified.  I have flip-flopped as to whether these games should count.  Right now I don't think they should.
  • ABC/ESPN is supposed to carry at least 13-15 games to a national audience. I counted 12 games.  Again, if either of the two neutral site games count, ABC/ESPN hit their target.
  • FOX Sports Net syndication carried seven games that were not considered "3rd tier" Big 12 games.  This decreased from eighteen in 2012.  In short, FOX Sports 1 picked up roughly eleven games from FSN.
    • Of the 3rd tier games, FOX Sports Net distributed four of them to regions outside of the Big 12 footprint.
  • FOX College Sports did not carry any Big 12 football exclusively in 2013.  The suite of networks carried four games last year, two of which would have been considered "3rd tier" games.
  • Thursday night games increased from one in '12 to four in '13.  Expect the latter to be the standard in upcoming years, particularly now that FOX is willing to show Thursday night games on FOX Sports 1.
  • 41 games selected by ESPN Networks 
    • Yes, I did count Syracuse at Penn St.  As I understand it, the Big Ten was granted the TV rights for this game.
    • 20 on ABC with ESPN reverse mirroring (+1 from 2012)
    • 21 on ESPN Networks
      • 9 on ESPN, matching 2012
      • 9 on ESPN2, down one from 2012
      • 3 on ESPNU, also matching 2012
  • With the addition of FOX Sports 1 to split the 20 selections that FOX had between the new sports network and FSN, C-USA had 12 games on the national network with eight on FSN.  In 2012, F/X carried one C-USA game with the remaining games left for FSN syndication
  • FOX College Sports carried ten C-USA games, up from eight in 2012
    • There was some minor alterations during the season as to which C-USA games would air on FSN vs. FCS.
  • CBS Sports Network's coverage of the conference decreased from 15 games in 2012 to 12 games in 2013.
  • Thursday night games increased in 2013.  FOX Sports 1 showed seven C-USA games on Thursday nights in 2013.  In 2012, CBS Sports Network showed a pair as did FSN.
  • Coverage on ESPNU and ESPN2 was relatively equal from 2012 to 2013.  One more game on ESPN2 compared to 2012
  • Three games were carried on ESPNEWS early in the season
  • All conference games not carried on television were carried on ESPN3
  • The new Time Warner Cable package, which I did rail against, was indeed available to in-market through the MAC-branded ESPN3 player on the MAC's website.
  • The new television split between ESPN and CBS Sports Network resulted in many more Mountain West games being shown on national television outlets
    • Nine games were shown on ESPN/ESPN2
    • Eleven games were shown on ESPNU/ESPNEWS (note: Rutgers-Fresno St. was sublicensed from CBS Sports Network)
    • 21 games were carried by CBS Sports Network
    • ESPN3 streamed five games
      • Three of the five were from the package of 22 games that ESPN pre-selected.  Two of the games were unclaimed by the television and streaming partners, allowing the schools to choose where they wanted those games to be shown
  • ROOT Sports televised eleven games
    • All ROOT Sports games were available out-of-market via the Mountain West website
  • Eight games were exclusively streamed through the Mountain West website
    • Five of those eight were produced by Campus Insiders.  Three were produced by the schools.
  • An apples-to-apples comparison to previous years is really not possible.  
    • One barometer is that, on average, Mountain West games were shown nationally around 17-20 times per season with a mix of Versus/NBCSN, CBS Sports Network, ABC, ESPN and CBS.  
    • In 2012, 15 games were shown on networks that are in at least 75 million plus households.  In 2013, that number jumped to 20 in homes with nearly 74.5 million
    • Typically CBSSN showed less than ten Mountain West games per year. In 2013, that number, as noted above jumped to 21.
  • Both ESPN and FOX hold the rights to 22 games. This excludes the conference championship game, which swaps between the two entities
  • FOX is supposed to air eight regular season games (four in east coast primetime) on their broadcast network but only aired seven. They did select five Pac-12 games to air in primetime.  ABC is only required to air two regular season games (one in primetime) and will end up airing six with two in primetime.
    • Overall, the number of broadcast network games for the Pac-12 decreased slightly from 16 to 13
    • Will FOX get in trouble?  Probably not.  To be honest, the Pac-12 brought ESPN and FOX together for this rights deal.  I don't think ESPN would be able to take on FOX's 22 games themselves and want to pay FOX's share of the rights fee.  I also don't think CBS or NBC have the interest going forward.  Too many legal entanglements that aren't worth fighting.
  • The number of games on pay television from ESPN and FOX increased from 28 to 32
    • FOX Sports 1 aired 15, up from 10 on F/X
    • ESPN's properties televised 16, down two from 2012
  • If we look at the games by time range for the games on Saturdays
    • Five broadcast network games (four on ABC, one on FOX) and five national pay TV games (all on FOX Sports 1) started between 12pm-1pm local time to the game (early afternoon).  Seven broadcast network games (two on ABC, five on FOX) and nine pay television (all on F/X) started between 11:30am-1pm local time in 2012
      • Local time was used to account for Mountain time and when Arizona is on standard time
    • Seven broadcast network games (five on FOX, two on ABC) and two pay television games (one each on ESPN and FOX Sports 1) started between 4pm-5pm local time in 2013.  Eight broadcast network games (six on FOX, two on ABC) started between 3:30pm-5pm local time in 2012.
    • Late evening games increased to account for the decrease in early afternoon games.  F/X did not televise any late evening Saturday games in 2012 while ESPN carried 12 that started at 7pm or later local time.  In 2013, ESPN aired 11 of these same games while FOX Sports 1 five of these games
  • Similar to the Big 12, FOX will now be a player for Thursday night games.  ESPN aired all four from the conference in 2012, excluding the Thursday before Labor Day.  In 2013, ESPN carried two and FOX Sports 1 carried two.  FS1 also televised one on the Thursday before Labor Day and the Pac-12 Network showed an Arizona St. Thursday night game post-Labor Day.
  • The main difference, that I'm aware of, between 2012 and 2013 is that CBS once again had the top choice for all Saturdays.  In 2012, ESPN had two Saturdays where they were able to leapfrog CBS due to CBS airing LSU-Alabama as a second primetime game in 2011.
  • ESPN Networks carried 44 games over ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU in 2013, two more than 2012
    • ESPN carried 21 games and ESPN2 aired eleven games
    • ESPNU carried eleven games in '13, down two from the prior year. 
      • The 7pm ESPNU slot was traditionally a slot for an SEC, but did not air any SEC games for a seven week stretch from 10/12-11/23
    • ESPN and ESPNU selected six games to air at 12pm ET as part of the in-season selection process (Saturday games starting with 9/21/13).  Eight were at 12pm on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU in 2012
      • Of the six games in '13, four were on Saturdays where CBS did not have their exclusive primetime window which locks ESPN out of carrying any SEC games after mid-afternoon.  In '12 this number was five.
  • CSS's sublicensed package of SEC games ends with the 2013 season.  These games will air on the SEC Network in 2014
    • FOX's RSN package ends after the 2014 season. 
  • A slight decrease in coverage with two games on ESPN2 (down one from 2012) and four on ESPNU (down one from 2012)
    • Late membership changes by FAU and Middle Tennessee as schedules were being drawn up could have affected the number of games chosen.
  • Two additional games were placed on ESPNEWS
  • A possible carryover from Texas St.'s time in the WAC was that the Longhorn Network carried three Texas St. football games.  The WAC allowed Longhorn Network to be considered a conference television platform into 2012.  
  • Much like the MAC, all games that were not picked up for some form of television broadcast ended up as ESPN3 exclusives.
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