Pac-12 fails to make deal with DirecTV to offer Pac-12 Network

By Chase Ruttig | Sep 12, 2015

Bad news for college football fans came on Saturday as DirecTV won’t be airing the Pac-12 Network anytime soon after failing to strike a deal with the conference.

Fans of college football who have DirecTV received some bad news in the middle of the morning NCAA slate as news that the Pac-12 failed to make a deal with the television giant hit the wire. A huge blow to the West Coast conference on the national scale and sports fans in general who were hoping to get access to the network in more households.

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San Jose Mercury News reporter Joe Wilner broke the news that the conference and DirecTV couldn’t come to an agreement to close on a deal due to the satellite demanding a stake in ownership of the network, which would have compromised their current deals with other carriers.

Per source: Pac12 CEOs felt AT&T request for equity was too much, would have compromised biz model & deals with existing partners
— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) September 12, 2015

Per Sports Illustrated, the Pac-12 Network is currently in 12 million homes as a network owned entirely by the conference. ESPN and FOX-owned networks in the SEC Network and Big Ten Network respectively have a wider audience in available homes, also according to SI.

The advantage for the Pac-12 in owning their own network is the ability to have more of a say in the coverage of all the sports in their conference, but for the exposure of a conference that often has their marquee games late at night on the East Coast the lack of availability on DirecTV won’t help gain them any more national exposure. Something that is a shame for a conference that has been highly entertaining in both basketball and football in recent years.

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