MORE ON A POSSIBLE SEC NETWORK
June 2nd, 2008 ║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
David Climer of The Tennessean takes a turn at the topic d’jour in the South… a possible SEC television network.
You can read his take, which includes another mention of a possible “Fox-steals-SEC-games-from-CBS” storyline, right here.
One thing that has been missed in all of this network talk is the fact that more than likely, an SEC network would NOT create more tv games for SEC fans.
Jimmy Rayburn of Raycom believes that any SEC network would partner with Raycom for production of the network’s games.
More than likely, that means that the Game of the Week you currently get on a local, over-the-air channel, would be moving to the SEC Network… which might or might not be carried by your cable/satellite provider.
Certainly, someone else could step in and create another SEC broadcast to replace Raycom’s syndicated Game of the Week, but what level games would they get?
If CBS (or Fox) get the first choice, ESPN gets the second choice, and Raycom/SEC Network gets the third choice, what network/production company would want to step in, bid for and then produce a 4th tier game?
This isn’t set in stone, of course. But after spending 15 years in the television business, I’ve gotten pretty good at reading the tea leaves.
And I don’t see fans being the big winners with an SEC network. Unless they happen to like gymnastics and tennis.
