It’s fairly common knowledge that that the ACC is trying to build a channel in partnership with ESPN. Most feel the SEC Network will be the blueprint for such an ACC channel. I haven’t watched very much of the SEC Network, to be honest. I tuned in the first day to see what it looked like for about an hour, but I did watch quite a bit Thursday when Texas A&M / South Carolina played, then I watched the first half of Vanderbilt / Temple. By the way this tweet was pretty funny during Temple’s 37-7 thrashing of Vanderbilt…
The SEC Network might be going to the rainbow bars “no signal” screen here soon on Vandy. (BD)
— The Student Section (@TheStudentSect) August 29, 2014
That was worth a laugh there. Now that the SEC Network is launched and showing games, what’s my impression of it?
I tell you what, I like it. I mean I really like it. It’s not about the SEC Network making a bazillion dollars either. Those figures are exaggerated. The network is not going to make $25 Million per year for each SEC Team. I’m not here to debate that, though. It’s going to make money, and that is a certainty. What I want to talk about is how the channel comes across to the viewer.
ESPN really has done a top notch production job. It has the look and feel of just another ESPN channel seamlessly rolled into the ESPN family networks. Reports from Sportscenter go right to on-location shots of an SEC Campus. Even if you watch only ESPN and ESPN2 you are inundated with ads and commercials for the SEC Network their games and their teams.
Obviously it makes sense for ESPN to do this, but I didn’t see this for the Longhorn Network. It also has a professional look and feel, as opposed to the Big 10 network which still struggles with clearly inferior production for the most part in comparison. You thought the SEC got exposure before? They SEC Network televised Kentucky exhibition games from the Bahamas, while North Carolina games played in the same location were no where to be found.
It’s not just about exposure it’s about ease of viewing. To watch a football preview show about the ACC the other day, I had roll the dial around until I found it on a regional Fox channel. How nice would it be to have one stop shopping?
I believe the network is coming, and I believe now more than ever working in partnership with ESPN is the correct way to go. At the moment, though I’m jealous of the increased national coverage the SEC schools are now getting, and the ACC should be too.
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