MEDIA WATCH: SEC deal with ESPN likely to impact local market
In the news release an nouncing the SEC’s new mega-deal with ESPN, there was one sentence in particular that caught my attention:
“ESPN Regional Television will become the new over-the-air syndication home for SEC football and basketball games.”
I wasn’t aware the longtime cable giant had “over-the-air” capabilities. That said, it’s obvious that ESPN — as part of its deal — is now in control of what we refer to as the 11:30 a.m. SEC game beginning next season.
That means goodbye to Lincoln-Financial, Jefferson-Pilot, Raycom or whoever has done the broadcast in recent years.
To my way of thinking, that’s good news for two groups of people in this market: Notre Dame fans and the folks at WNCF.
While it’s possible that WSFA can still win the rights to the 11:30 SEC game in the future, it wouldn’t seem to make sense that ESPN would sell the rights to an NBC affiliate when a Disney family member lives right across town (Disney owns both ESPN and ABC). While no one at WNCF — the local ABC affiliate — was willing to say anything on the record at this point about the new SEC deal, I do know there was some excitement in the WNCF building when the announcement came down early last week.
montgomeryadvertiser.com
8/31/08
Magnolia Tribune
