TV Updates on Football & Men's Basketball for 7/31/14

Football

* Nearly every FBS game for the first three weeks of the season has been accounted for with respect to a kickoff time and/or television arrangement.  There are a few items remaining at the FCS level:

• Ivy League - The conference allowed its deal with NBC to lapse.  No idea if they are talking to NBC once again for a new deal or have solicited bids from other networks.
• MEAC - I believe they are finalizing their TV schedule, especially for any Thursday night games being requested for airing on ESPNU
• Webcasts - Once conferences set up their main rights package, whether it is TV or streaming, schools then get to work on their own packages for self-produced webcasts or local TV

* Starting with the games on 9/20, FBS games have their kickoff time and, usually, their network assignment set twelve days in advance.  Usually two Mondays before the date of the game.  Each conference allows for a limited number of times where a network(s) can wait until the Sunday before a game to set the time & TV.

* Regional sports networks will also start releasing their schedules over the next few weeks.  I try to pick up as many of these as I can, but if you see one, please pass it along.  Same with any affiliate lists for the American Sports Network or Raycom's ACC Network.

Men's Basketball

* The Mountain West, via the schools themselves, began releasing their TV schedules.   In terms of the placement of the games on networks, the distribution is very similar to last year.  For regular season games, the breakdown is as follows:

• CBS Sports Network: 30
• ESPNU: 10
• ESPN2: 2
• ESPN3: 20

Not every schools released their non-conference schedule, so they should be additions to the list.  The games were also released without tip times, but I would expect most of the ESPN2 & ESPNU games to be late evening on the east coast and the CBSSN weeknight games to be at 9pm or 11pm ET.

I can't remember if CBS retained the top choices to Mountain West basketball like they do with the conference's football selections, but if you believe that San Diego St., New Mexico and UNLV are the best known schools in the conference, CBS did lock up the six round robin meetings between these three teams and it could be argued, so far, that they've selected the best available non-conference games too.

* The MGM Grand Showcase & Main Event events will be televised & webcast by ESPN.  Per the Main Event's website, their bracket will be announced on August 5th.  This might be the date that other ESPN owned/televised events will have their brackets released.

* West Virginia vs. NC State is the marquee game for the Gotham Classic on 12/20.  To be honest, the entire exempt event is centered around this game.  It should be on ESPN2 or ESPNU.  ESPN is booked with bowl games.

* A few CBS telecasts have come out.  Some are attached to other events on the network:

• Wisconsin at Marquette - Sublicensed game from FOX on 12/6.  Should lead into pregame coverage of the SEC Football Championship.
• North Carolina at Kentucky - With a noon ET tipoff on 12/13, it would be the lead-in for Army-Navy pregame.
• CBS Sports Classic on 12/20 - A doubleheader of North Carolina-Ohio St. & UCLA-Kentucky starting at 1pm ET.
• UNLV at Kansas - Wrote about this one earlier.  CBS has picked this one up and the start time is likely to be dependent on the NFL playoff schedule.

The American Sports Network

When I saw the name Doron Gorsheim attached to the American Sports Network, I had some doubts as to whether this entity would actually get off the ground before reading the entire press release.  Doron spearheaded the effort to create the America Channel around 2005, but had not been able to reach enough carriage agreements to go live.

But the American Sports Network is truly different in its composition from America Channel, so whether it is viewed as a success will be dependent on how Sinclair Broadcast Group executes providing the games to its local stations, along with local stations not owned & operated by Sinclair negotiating to pick up the games..

To clear up one item since I've been asked whether it is going to be on DirecTV, Dish, etc. - what is currently being put together is not a standalone channel that is fighting to be carried.  American Sports Network is essentially a syndication package that will air primarily on Sinclair's over the air broadcast stations and be offered to other local stations in markets where they do not own a local station.

Another question is whether Sinclair stations will be carrying these games either out of market or possibly overlaying games being offered by ABC, CBS, FOX or NBC.  Sinclair, at one point and this may continue to be true, owned the largest number of FOX affiliates outside of FOX Television Stations. The ASN press release states these games will end up on the company's CW or MyNetwork TV affiliates or on digital subchannels, so I would not expect to miss games provided by the national networks unless the local station is in a market where one of these schools exist.  At that point, the local station needs to make a decision.

Because of the use of digital subchannels, you might have to drag out a set of rabbit ears (assuming your TV has a digital TV tuner) possibly to view these games if your local station is not making the game available on their main feed.  Cable companies have been hit or miss when it comes to providing the -2 subchannels that are not affiliated with the Big Four, CW or MyNet.  I believe DirecTV & Dish are even more unlikely to carry the digital subchannels in this case.  Can't speak to how AT&T & Verizon FIOS handle it.

As I read over Sinclair's press release again, I did see an answer to one item I was concerned about and that was digital distribution.  Seems like they have it as part of their plans.

Sinclair’s broadcast stations will either be carrying the games and original content as part of the primary program line-up (generally on the Company’s CW and MyNet affiliates) or as part of second channels (sub-channels of the primary station’s signal), complimented by access and distribution on digital platforms

Dave Weekley, a radio host in West Virginia who has also freelanced for regional syndication packages like ESPN Regional Television, was able to confirm from the Conference USA office that these games would be offered on the C-USA Digital Network online package.  I cannot confirm whether online packages like CAA.TV, Patriot League Network, etc. would also have access to these games.

When looking at the schedules released by Conference USA and the Southern Conference, there are a few overlaps in terms of games running concurrently.  When the Big South noted that they were part of the venture, they were very specific about where their games would be shown.

Finally, would Sinclair ever look to expand this effort?  Possibly.  They noted that once they get carriage agreements with local stations, development of new cable networks around the programming exists as a possibility.  Consider that a forward-looking statement and not a fact though.  

So, Doron Gorsheim's America Channel...maybe it still exists in the future.

CFB & MBK TV Roundup for 7/17/14

* The Big Ten released its remaining early season kickoff times and television assignments on Wednesday afternoon.  As Scott Dochterman reported earlier, ESPNEWS will carry a couple Big Ten controlled games.  I do not know whether ESPNEWS is ahead, behind or somewhere in between BTN selections.  I do know that ESPN has more Big Ten selections available to them compared to previous years.  Not sure how many.

* The Sun Belt announced that the conference had partnered with ESPN3 to air around 50 events per year from various sports.  I believe this is a direct replacement for the Sun Belt Network television package that was jointly managed by Comcast and Cox.  For football, I'd expect ESPN3 to exclusively air nearly every football game that is not televised, so that would mean ESPN3 would tack on an additional 10 football games.  In men's basketball, they'll probably carry a "game of the week" type package plus, as they announced, every game not on TV from the conference's basketball tournament.

* Sinclair Broadcast Group announced a new venture called the American Sports Network which will include athletic contests from the Big South, C-USA, CAA, SoCon and Patriot League.  The venture is run by Sinclair COO Doron Gorshein, who previously tried starting up a national cable venture called the America Channel using several conferences' events as backing.  The channel never got off the ground.

This venture differs from the America Channel because the ASN will be syndicated on over the air stations, so it has a better chance at success.  Per the press release, the Big South will have football games on the network and Western Carolina's AD acknowledged the existence of a deal with Sinclair last week.

* Per ESPN3.com, ESPNU will not have late evening (10:15pm or 10:30pm) telecast windows on 9/20 or 9/27.  On those dates they are currently scheduled to show tape delayed airings of games from HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities).  That may affect where ESPN places Virginia at BYU on 9/20 and UNLV at San Diego St. on 9/27, along with any possible Pac-12 selections.

For the Virginia-BYU game, ESPN has to place one more BYU home game on either ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 to satisfy a contract requirement of at least three BYU home games on the previously mentioned channels.

* The bowl schedule has been finalized.  ESPN has rights to nearly every bowl game.

* The Corpus Christi Challenge, now known as the Corpus Christi Coastal Challenge, is alive and well.  Bradley, TCU, Mississippi St. and Saint Louis will make up the "championship" portion of the field.  CBS Sports Network was not mentioned in the press release for the event, but my guess is that they will remain involved if earlier press releases touting the event by CBS are accurate as the dates for the event fall at a time that CBS Sports Network can air it.

* Last year, ESPN released several of the brackets for their early season basketball events on July 17th, so they should be appearing sometime in the next 2-3 weeks.  After that, conferences should start announcing their schedules.  One event that may look different is the NIT Tip Off.  Minnesota set off some alarm bells by posting that they are looking for a game on a date that would seem to conflict with the rounds that the host schools would play home games and the event may not have enough teams for the schools to be able to take advantage of rules regarding the number of games that can be played as part of an exempt event.

ESPN September TV Windows

Open CFB TV Windows

ESPN's CFB TV windows for September were posted to WatchESPN.com except for ESPNU.  Hat tip to Jason Leimer who found these online.  Consider these windows tentative as the NASCAR windows don't necessarily line up with what NASCAR.com shows.  A few notes

* September 4th will not have a Thursday night game on ESPN or ESPN2.  ESPN has US Open tennis.  ESPN2 has Mexican national team soccer.
* The Connecticut-USF on September 19th is tentatively set for ESPN.  Fresno St.-New Mexico on September 26th is tentatively set for ESPN2.
* September 6th & 13th at noon appear to be ABC/ESPN2 reverse mirror windows.  September 13th at 3:30pm also appears to be a reverse mirror, this time with ABC & ESPN.
* September 20th looks like it will have a Pac-12 late evening game on ESPN or ESPN2.  ESPN is tentatively set with it as it has a 7pm telecast window.  ESPN2 has an 8pm window.  September 27th also has a late evening option.  Unlike the 20th, the 27th has a Mountain West option with UNLV at San Diego St.  EDIT: Forgot Virginia at BYU on 9/20.
* ESPNEWS looks set for three games a week through September with 12pm, 4pm and 8pm telecast windows except for September 20th when it carries a Nationwide Series race at night.
* ESPNU windows should appear later in July.

A couple other items
* I do not know where Big Ten kickoff times are.  Was hoping they would have shown up by now.  If I see them over the next week, I'll update.
* Campus Insiders set its Mountain West Network package of games.  Of the remaining MW controlled games, seven are games involving Hawai'i and should be available on PPV on the islands and via the MWN on the mainland.  The other two games (Northern Colorado-UNLV & UC Davis-Colorado St.) should be on the MWN but may be produced by the UNLV & Colorado St., respectively.

Catching up on CFB & MBK TV items

* Housekeeping:  If there are updates after July 1st, I probably won't be picking them up until after July 13th.  Going to try to take some time off.

* The Big Ten remains the only holdout for their early season television schedule.  Per a Scott Dochtermann article quoted in a previous post, July 1st still appears to be a date that ESPN and BTN must submit their selections.

BTN has struck a deal with Comcast to get the channel in more homes in the NY tri-state area plus Maryland & Washington, DC, so if negotiations with Comcast were holding up the announcement, that is no longer an issue.

ESPN MediaZone currently shows openings at 12pm on ESPN2, ESPNU & ESPNEWS, plus the second half of a ABC/ESPN2 reverse mirror at 3:30pm and another ESPNEWS game at 4pm.  If the Big Ten doesn't fill all of these slots, you could see games that were set as ESPN3 exclusives earn an upgrade.

Navy at Temple also appears to be waiting for the Big Ten decisions to be made.

* The quiet around when the Big Ten early season selections is interesting.  You may know that their ESPN rights agreement ends after the 2016-17 athletic.  I have no basis in fact for this one, no behind the scenes knowledge: What if ESPN were proactively trying to extend the Big Ten rights?

It has happened when Big 12 rights were reconfigured in 2012 as the ESPN agreement was extended beyond the 2015-16 athletic year so that it would end at the same time as FOX's agreement.  The Mountain West had its rights reconfigured to allow for the ESPN package and the changes tacked on years to their CBS agreement.  If you are not aware, the International Olympic Committee extended NBC's agreement into the 2030s this spring.  NBC's original agreement was for four Olympic games through 2020.

Just a thought.  Probably not happening.  The Big Ten isn't making any waves yet about what it wants to do with its next rights agreement, unlike when the Pac-12 went to the market.

* The Mountain West announced three extra national TV selections, along with a time change on the Washington at Hawai'i game to accommodate one of the added games.  I was curious as to how & why both ESPN and CBS Sports Network could add games since they had each selected 22 games, which to my understanding was the maximum both parties could select.  And 22 is the max, but at the same time it isn't.

As it was explained to me, both CBSSN and ESPN take their 22 game packages.  After ROOT Sports and Campus Insiders select games for their packages, CBSSN and ESPN can come back and select two more games each if they want to pick up any extra games.  CBSSN is limited by being a single screen channel compared to ESPN, particularly ESPN3, so it is more likely that ESPN would pick up extra games.

This does make some sense.  Late last summer, a pair of early season MW games were selected to air on ESPN3 after all other TV packages were set.  The two games took ESPN's count up to 25, but one of the games was a sublicensed game from CBSSN, so after accounting for that game, ESPN aired 24 games that they owned.

* I was looking over Chris Dobbertean's Blogging the Bracket the other day as I was applying some updates to the men's basketball TV as he has a list of the early season exempt events.  One of the events that caught my eye was the Corpus Christi Challenge, specifically Bradley's inclusion as they will be in an event at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas before Christmas.  I *think* that would exclude them from appearing in the CCC.

After thinking about it more, I'm not sure if the Corpus Christi Challenge will be played this year.  I can see the event being replaced in the CBSSN lineup by the Emerald Coast Classic, which happens to be set for the same dates that the CCC would fill.  The ECC may or may not be looking for a TV partner, but CBSSN could be available, though the Corpus Christi Challenge was listed as an event in a recent press release.

* I have been told that the Ivy League and NBC have not extended their rights agreement.  Could mean they are negotiating a completely new deal with NBC.  Could also mean that the conference is looking elsewhere.  One thing about the Ivy League: It isn't a conference that needs the money.  They do just fine financially.

NBC may be strapped for space on Saturdays for Ivy football, with NASCAR coming in next year alongside existing Formula 1 and Barclays Premier League coverage.  I left IndyCar off the list as the compressed schedule doesn't put them in conflict with the fall season.  Could also be the case for their basketball after January as the conference is a Friday-Saturday scheduled conference for the most part.

* July 1st is the first day of the NCAA athletic year.  Some conference & school athletic websites will be changing hosts.  If you have bookmarks you might need to replace them.  A big push for a lot of schools is to make their sites responsive so that they can be viewed on computers, phones & tablets.  If you aren't aware of what responsive design is, here's a Mashable article about it.  CBS College Network, now under the CBS Interactive banner, was a little behind in this area.  It chose to create separate mobile templates that weren't always as usable or didn't carry the same content.  Because of that some schools were choosing hosting from Sidearm Sports, Presto Sports and Neulion which had solid mobile platforms.

Notes on American & Sun Belt TV selections, Mountain West on ROOT & Big Ten

American controlled TV schedule
Sun Belt controlled TV schedule
TV windows Google Docs spreadsheet

* In terms of the primary networks for the American, one game was selected for the early season (Boise St. at Connecticut on 9/13).  The rest fell into the secondary package of ESPNEWS, CBS Sports Network, SNY and ESPN3.  Eighteen games have been set aside in the primary package, leaving at least ten more games to be selected for ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU through the remaining twelve weeks of 2014.

* CBS Sports Network took an American game for each of the first three weeks of the season.  It appears that they will select at least one game per week, depending on telecast window availability.  Those selections would be handled twelve days in advance of the game date alongside any other selections by ESPN.  I do not know if, or how many times, ESPN or CBSSN can put their selection on hold until the Sunday before a game.

* The kickoff time for Air Force at Army may have been set by CBS, though neither side has announced it.  An 11am ET kickoff, per the MW website, could lead to Notre Dame vs. Navy from FedEx Field airing on CBS in the evening.

* The Big Ten is the last conference to hold off releasing any telecast information for the early season, except for the two weeknight games during the opening week.  Scott Dochtermann of the Cedar Falls Gazette reported a few interesting items this week:

• The conference is working with its TV partners, specifically ESPN it appears, to place games on ESPNEWS and ESPN Classic
• July 1st is the latest date that ESPN can pre-select a Big Ten game to air in primetime.  It is also the latest date the network can make its selections for the early season.
• No side deals.  No third parties.  

The Big Ten was going to need help placing games early in the season, if they did not want to stack a ton of games on BTN.  I have been told that ESPN has rights to a few more Big Ten games due to the increase in membership.  Not sure how many though.  ESPNEWS might be used only for a game or two so that the network can meet some of its requirements with other conferences.  I would not expect ESPN Classic to be used as it is supposed to be ending as a 24/7 channel per the agreement made with Dish Network with Disney.

I think that is why the Navy at Temple game remains TBA in the American package.  If ESPN is allowed to air a Big Ten game on ESPNEWS, it might push Navy-Temple to ESPN3.

As for the possibility of an extra night game selection, November 8th's matchup of Ohio St. and Michigan St. seems to be the one that is desireable to move.  CBS happens to have a night game that day as well from their SEC package.

The "no side deals" part just puts it out there that games won't be showing up on FOX, FOX Sports 1, etc. even though FOX is the primary owner of BTN.  FOX's other entities do not have the room when you consider their schedule of Big 12, Pac-12 and C-USA games.  FS2 doesn't seem to be available for those conferences either at this time.

If you want to see which openings are available for the Big Ten on ABC and ESPN's networks, take a look at the Google Docs spreadsheet at the top.

* Much like the MAC, the Sun Belt has a couple games on ESPNEWS at the beginning of the year.  The Sun Belt doesn't have a publicly known syndication deal, so they may be working with ESPN to maintain one or move them on to ESPN3 or get a few extra games via ESPNEWS throughout the year.

Sun Belt media day is July 22nd.  Maybe more will be announced at that time.

* ROOT Sports selected their Mountain West regional package.  Compared to last year it is a couple less games.   I counted three less MW controlled games compared to last year, so that may have something to do with it after you consider the following:

• CBS Sports Network and ESPN take 44 games off the top.
• Hawai'i has to have seven games available to maximize its PPV package as it does not share in MW television revenue
• Campus Insiders takes a handful of games to produce themselves
• ROOT is somewhat limited as its RSN footprint does not cover the entire conference

The last point is really relevant to ROOT.  If ESPN and CBSSN take a lot of games involving schools that reside inside ROOT's in-market area, ROOT may have fewer options that appeal to them.

Some Basketball Scheduling Related Items About Big 12 & Early Season Tournaments

* I was able to get some clarification from the Big 12 on a few TV items now that the Big 12 Network syndication package is ending & games moving to other ESPN national platforms like ESPNU and ESPNEWS.

• The number of games ESPN holds rights to has not changed.  Somewhere in the range of 90-105 games, which includes the conference tournament.
• This includes non-conference games as well, which means that the possibility exists for a handful of intraconference games that could be returned to the home teams for their own institutional packages
• When FOX aired a number of Big 12 games on non-Big 12 footprint RSNs, it is because FOX is allowed to offer any third tier game to its full compliment of RSNs.  Not that different than that Texas' ability to showcase their institutional content on Longhorn Network wherever it is carried.  These were not elevated games or additional sublicenses from ESPN.
• ESPN3 can air an intraconference game, but the likelihood is very low and would be used only when there was no other option to carry the game.

In not so many words, really no changes to the underlying deal itself.

* Big 12 schools generally don't play on Sundays during conference play, and while non-conference play is a little different since the schools set up their own schedules, keep an eye on the UNLV-Kansas game on January 4th.  The date falls during the NFL's wild card weekend, a time of year where CBS seems to schedule a basketball game to be played before or after their game on a particular day.  Very similar to Kansas hosting San Diego St. at the beginning of 2014.

* One exempt event has changed TV partners.  The Las Vegas Invitational, which had at least a portion of its event shown on ESPN's networks for several years, is moving to FOX Sports 1, where all four of its "championship" round games will be televised.  The event moved from Friday-Saturday after Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving day & Friday last year.  The Disney nets are usually quite busy on both days as they show multiple exempt event tournaments that they own, plus a few college football games.

One interesting item is that the two basketball games are not being shown back to back, but are bookends around the TCU at Texas football game on Thanksgiving evening.

* A couple new exempt events have sprung up this offseason and not much has been said about who would be televising them.  Both events are being presented by Global Sports and have schools involved from power conferences.  ESPN as we know shows a ton of college basketball, but these are on dates where ESPN might not be able to carry them due to other existing commitments unless they are tournaments shown on ESPNEWS or exclusively through ESPN3.

• The MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas on November 24th & 26th.  Based on the dates, I think FOX Sports 1 could end up with the event.
• ESPN's primary networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU) appear to be booked very solidly with the Maui Invitational (both dates), CBE Classic & Legends Classic (11/24) and the Battle 4 Atlantis and presumably the NIT Tip-Off (11/26).
• NBCSN is typically tied up with NHL games on these dates
• CBSSN has the Paradise Jam on 11/24 and Cancun Challenge & Great Alaska Shootout games on 11/26.
• The Emerald Coast Classic on the Florida Panhandle on November 28th & 29th.  I think this one depends on if NBCSN is interested in replacing their coverage of the Battle 4 Atlantis with this event or balance this event alongside the Barclay Center Classic, which they showed three of the four games from last year.
• ESPN has their two events from Orlando & Anaheim, plus presumably the finals of the NIT Tip-Off and college football games both days.  
• CBSSN has college football and in a recent press release indicated they would be televising the Corpus Christi Challenge again this year.  Assuming the Challenge occurs over Thanksgiving again and on top of college football games and the Great Alaska Shootout, CBSSN looks to be booked too.
• FS1 is booked on the 28th with college football at noon ET and the championship round of the Las Vegas Invitational in the evening and college football most of the day on the 29th.
  
  NBCSN is the only one left, short of Turner getting involved or FS2 airing it.