ACC Football: 5 storylines to follow at 2019 ACC Kickoff

1. What’s going on with the ACC Network?

The biggest question for the ACC heading into the conference’s media day takes place off of the field, as the ACC Network prepares for launch in August.

The hype for the new network has been off the charts, and rightfully so, as the new television network should benefit schools across the conference for the upcoming football season and beyond.

With that being said, there are still plenty of questions surrounding the ACC Network, which was outlined at length by Awful Announcing in a very interesting article on Monday.

Per Awful Announcing, as well as David Glenn of The Athletic,  the ACC Network is currently scheduled to service just over 20 million homes as part of television deals between ESPN and Verion Fios, DirecTV, and others.

While more homes are expected to be able to view the ACC Network in all its glory this fall, there are still major holdouts which include Comcast, Dish, and Charter. Those three outlets service approximately 47 million homes across the country, who will not have access to the conference’s new network unless a deal is reached over the next six weeks, per the article.

The ACC Network will be a hot button topic throughout the media availability on Wednesday and Thursday, so expect conference commissioner John Swofford to be pressed on the progress of the television network’s discussions with cable and satellite providers.

The new television network for the conference has every opportunity to be a home run for all involved, but if deals can’t be struck across the board over the next month, the pomp and circumstance surrounding the network launch could end up being a potential black eye for the conference for years to come.