SEC-ESPN TV

Today's New York Times has reported that the Southeastern Conference has signed a twenty-year agreement with ESPN to create its own television network.  Each year, the new network, which will air starting in August 2014, will feature programming that will include 45 football games, 100 men's and 60 women's basketball games, 75 baseball games, and selected events from all 21 sports that the SEC currently sponsors.  In addition, each of the conference's fourteen member schools will be able to produce and develop their own content.  Currently, both parties have not disclosed how much this agreement is worth.  However, the new contract is expected to generate more revenue for the SEC, whose existing agreement with ESPN already guarantees the league $2.25 billion over 15 years.  ESPN will own and operate the new network and it will be nationally distributed through AT&T U-Verse and other cable and satellite providers.  

It remains to be seen how this new SEC-ESPN combination will affect the league's current agreement with CBS Sports.  CBS's contract with the SEC, which lasts until 2023, allows that network first choice of Saturday football games it televises at 3:30 pm Eastern.  However, as FBschedules's Kevin Kelley put it, CBS "will no longer own the 'exclusive window' for Saturday mid-afternoon games."  One other question is how the SEC will distribute revenues from its new network since it does not have a grant-of-rights agreement with its universities.  More on this story can be found at the following websites:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/sports/ncaafootball/sec-will-have-own-tv-network-starting-in-2014.html?ref=sports&_r=0
http://www.fbschedules.com/2013/05/sec-espn-sec-network-digital-platform/
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/22183322/sec-espn-announce-sec-network
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/9235260/sec-espn-announce-sec-network-2014