The SEC has reached a 15-year contract extension with CBS Sports to continue broadcasting football and basketball games, both parties announced Thursday.
In the new agreement, beginning in 2009-10, CBS continues as the exclusive national network broadcaster for SEC home football games, including the SEC Championship games and SEC Game of the Week. The pact includes prime-time games and double-header opportunities.
In addition, CBS Sports continues its coverage of regular-season SEC basketball, plus certain digital, Internet, wireless, Video-on-Demand, data and enhanced highlight rights across all CBS platforms.
The league’s TV deals with ESPN, Raycom Sports and FSN South expire after the academic year. Commissioner Mike Slive has said the SEC’s options include an SEC Network similar to ones started by the Mountain West and Big Ten conferences and the NFL.
SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said the league continues to explore its options.
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Comments » 23
BigVolinCarolina writes:
So does this mean there won't be an "SEC Network" anytime in the future?
huntined#565710 writes:
Good now how about WARREN???
Greyback_Vol writes:
BigVol-
This pretty much means the SEC is going to do everything it can to establish its own network. It looks like the ESPN or Raycom games will be the ones on the SEC network.
It doesn't make a lot of since for the SEC to take usually 2 nationally-televised games on ESPN to what will be a regional SEC network. The league will make more $, but viewership will go way down.
GoVol writes:
The SEC Network better be in HD or the turds will hit the fan!
Waldorf writes:
I doubt the SECN will take away the ESPN games.
Raycom and FSN games will probably be put to an end. Actually, I'm about 99% sure they will.
And yes, SECN games will be broadcast in HD.
volboy81#211803 writes:
so get your rear in gear Slive and get to Warren.
imw8n4u writes:
Thank God they didn't go to FOX - what a horrible job they do with the BCS games!
FLVol writes:
Is Vern Lundquivst still calling the games? I hope not, he is well past his prime a gator lover to boot!
RJP11 writes:
Damn! CBS blows ... their coverage of the SEC is amateur hour. I was hoping for Fox to swoop in & rescue us with their foreign billions & higher production values. Since they have the BCS TV rights, I figured they were taking a larger interest in the college football pie & consequently would break the bank if necessary to steal the SEC from CBS. So much for that theory ...
Hopefully, the SEC will stick with ESPN for Sat night games, Thu night games & things like the Egg Bowl (you can't fight the power of that exposure, at least in the minds of the impressionable youth out there from which the recruitable prospects emerge) & finally give Raycom the boot at long last. JP/LF/Raycom are so bad they make CBS look slick & hip. If I never see another of the Daves, it'll be too soon. FSN is OK, I suppose, given its purely regional focus.
I'd say SECTV is just a matter of time ... that being a year or two, not 15. I'm already bugging Comcast to pick it up from second 1 of its existence. It could take the Raycom & FSN games & fill in the blanks with non-revenue sports & replays. There's no way that wouldn't sell throughout SEC country (& we can make a bunch of ACC fans pay for part of it through their cable & satellite bills too).
WorkinLikeHeck writes:
15 year contract? That's ridiculous.
Major_Magilicutty writes:
If they do it...I hope it makes its way to Texas. I have Comcast here too, so I hope they would provide it on a premium service level, like NFL network.
BigVolinCarolina writes:
Greyback, thanks for the tip on my SEC Network question.
15 years with CBS--or any network, for that matter--is a loooong time. That's why I was curious on the SEC Network gig.
Major_Magilicutty writes:
I just called the SEC office and got an email address for Slive's assistant. I sent the following:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this message in the hopes that Mr. Slive will eventually have the opportunity to read its contents. I have been a longtime fan of the SEC, and all of its excellent member schools. I have always appeciated the job that Mr. Slive has performed while acting as Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. Furthermore, I understand the importance of negotiating the terms of television broadcast rights for the SEC, and the implications such negotiations may have on the long term financial and strategic planning of our great conference.
However, it saddens me when the needs of a collegiate athlete are forced to take a back seat to such ambitions. I am speaking specifically of Brandon Warren and his pending eligibility appeal to play football at the University of Tennessee. The fact that this individual, whose mother was diagnosed with cancer and is now under considerable strain, has had his future placed on hold while the SEC seeks out television deals is disgraceful.
I will keep this message brief. Please expedite the ruling on Mr. Warren's case, lest this matter turn into a debacle from which the SEC's image will never recover.
Thank you and sincerely,
Silent_Fulmer writes:
who?
TNfaninMS writes:
Now he can work on Warrens case, Right?
tdforvols writes:
15 years is a long time but the good news is that means another 15 years of FREE football games. This SEC Network they are talking about will surely cost extra. We have the Big 10 Network where I live and you have to buy an "additional sports package" in order to receive it. This is in addition to the ESPN College GamePlan package which is currently "on sale" for only $109 until 08/29/08. After that it goes up another 20 bucks. Then if you want to watch the NFL Network........
pong982#236752 writes:
Major_Magilicutty, please tell me your post is a joke. You didn't really contact the SEC office did you?
Major_Magilicutty writes:
no joke Pong...not at all.
smitbo7 writes:
SportsTalk in Knoxville mentioned today that Warren's case was shipped back to the NCAA.
huntined#565710 writes:
Remember to vote for SMOKEY
MrBamSeydu writes:
IF MIKE SLIVE DOESN'T GRANT BRANDON WARREN HIS LONG OVER-DUE ELIGIBILITY, HE SHOULD RESIGN IMMEDIATELY.
I'm seriously thinking about taking his mom out to a nice seafood dinner and never calling her again.
mdvol writes:
Question....how can a 60 minute football game take 5 hours? Answer....let CBS televise it. A 15 year contract just means more and more and more commercials and eventually a 5 hour game. It's unreal when CBS televises. They stop the action and take the longest commercial breaks of any network. Give me ESPN any day.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
UCLA.
Soon...
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