The SEC Network.Launches August 14th The SEC Network will be a tremendous success at launch, being available in right at 75 million homes. That will equal ESPN and the SECs stated goal for a nationally distributed channel. It will also make the SEC Network the most successful sports television launch in cable and satellite TV history. While DirecTV hasnt yet officially announced that it will carry the network, they reached out to Outkick two weeks ago to let everyone know that they planned to carry the channel. Already there have been official announcements from Dish Network, AT&T Uverse, Comcast, Time Warner, Google Fiber, and Cox. The only real drama will come in whether DirecTV has it at the official launch or it takes a couple of weeks after launch. Regardless, its a very good bet that DirecTV will have the SEC Network rolled out by August 28th for the first games. Ultimately, rest easy SEC fans, every single cable and satellite operator in the South will carry the SEC Network. Thats a testament to two things: 1. SEC fan demand for the channel was extraordinary and 2. ESPN and the SEC executed a flawless roll out strategy that took advantage of that fan demand and translated it into tangible results. The SEC Networks launch literally could not have gone any better. Now that the networks national distribution is assured -- no small feat considering that still hasnt happened with the Big Ten and Pac 12 Network -- the revenue that the SEC Network will produce is extraordinary. Last week I wrote about the size of the SEC Network in relation to other sports media channel. At launch the SEC Network will be the fifth largest sports channel in the country. 1. ESPN: 97 million households $7 billion 2. NFL Network: 72 million households $1.05 billion 3. ESPN2: 97 million households $861.4 million 4. FS1: 88 million households $718.8 million 5. SEC Network: 75 million households $611 million* 6. NBC Sports Network: 80 million households $259.2 million 7. Pac 12 Network: 26 million households $249.6 million 8. Big Ten Network: 52 million households $237.1 million 9. ESPN News: 75 million households $207 million 10. NBATV: 60 million households $194.4 million 11. ESPNU: 75 million households $189 million 12. CBS Sports Network: 53 million households $159 million 13. ESPN Classic: 31 million households $78.1 million *The SECs revenue is based on a $1.40 per subscriber average monthly cost in the 28 million cable and satellite subscriptions in the 11 state SEC footprint and .25 cents per month in the remaining 47 million households. Last week I told you that I would break down what these revenue streams would look like for individual SEC schools. So lets do that now.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 22:21:08 +0000
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