If I were in a position to chart the future of the Big 12, I would make development of tier 3 sharing agreement a priority. Content produced for each of the school's tier 3 networks would be made available to all of the school with the Big 12 providing the glue to tie it all together somehow. That could take various forms.
I doubt a new network with existing tier 3 content would work. At least not initially. I think the shared content could work. Using the Longhorn Network as an example, there is already a sharing agreement with CyclonesTV for the Texas-Iowa State game. It's a limited agreement, but it's a start. I would think sharing volleyball, women's basketball and some of the minor sports would be a relatively easy negotiation as it helps fill each of the networks with content with the only additional cost being distribution costs to transfer the content from one network to the other. In some cases like the Texas-ISU football game, only the raw video feed is shared with a local TV broadcast team providing the unique play-by-play and color commentary.
I don't have all the details worked out, but it seems like building up the tier 3 content by sharing it would make these tier 3 agreements much more valuable. It may start small and develop into something larger, but anything that enhances tier 3 could mean getting more revenue out of this resource and closes the gap with the Big 12 / SEC. It also could make the Big 12 more attractive to potential PAC 12 / ACC defectors.
If I were King, I would put a priority on finding a way to share tier 3 content as a way of enhancing tier 3 revenue.
- A Big 12 cable/satellite channel consisting of the shared tier 3 content mixed with some content produced by the Big 12.
- The Big 12 providing a "wrapper" on the content which is then distributed to all existing tier 3 networks.
- Each tier 3 network getting limited access to some of the content aired on other tier 3 networks and either taking it as is, or providing their own commentary.
I doubt a new network with existing tier 3 content would work. At least not initially. I think the shared content could work. Using the Longhorn Network as an example, there is already a sharing agreement with CyclonesTV for the Texas-Iowa State game. It's a limited agreement, but it's a start. I would think sharing volleyball, women's basketball and some of the minor sports would be a relatively easy negotiation as it helps fill each of the networks with content with the only additional cost being distribution costs to transfer the content from one network to the other. In some cases like the Texas-ISU football game, only the raw video feed is shared with a local TV broadcast team providing the unique play-by-play and color commentary.
I don't have all the details worked out, but it seems like building up the tier 3 content by sharing it would make these tier 3 agreements much more valuable. It may start small and develop into something larger, but anything that enhances tier 3 could mean getting more revenue out of this resource and closes the gap with the Big 12 / SEC. It also could make the Big 12 more attractive to potential PAC 12 / ACC defectors.
If I were King, I would put a priority on finding a way to share tier 3 content as a way of enhancing tier 3 revenue.
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