While the newly created Pac 12 Network is months away from going on the air, behind the scenes work is well underway.
The Boulder Daily Camera is reporting that the Pac 12 has bought in Kevin Weiberg as deputy commissioner, Weiberg was instrumental in getting the BTN up and running.
While Weiberg and Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Brown lean on Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby and Utah AD Chris Hill, who both know the in's and out's of launching a cable network, i'm interested in the distribution side of the Pac 12 Network.
Lot's of questions remain with how the Pac 12 network be distributed. Following the launch of the BTN in August of 2007, the Big 10 went at it alone and did not give a stake in ownership some of the nation's biggest cable providers in the country that include Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Cable. Unless you had satellite TV, most areas of the country went without the BTN for nearly a year.
On the other side, when the MLB Network went on the air, MLB did in fact give a stake in ownership to the major cable providers and the network went on the air January 1, 2009 to nearly 50 million homes, it was the biggest launch in the history of cable TV.
In addition, when ESPN launches Longhorn Sports Network later this Summer, ESPN & the University of Texas will have the same questions.
Will Pac 12 & Texas go at it alone, or will they give a stake in ownership to the nation's four biggest cable providers? History shows with the MLB Network, the Pac 12 & Texas would be wise to let the nation's biggest cable providers have a ownership stake in their respective cable channels.
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