47 ms·

This is a great move for Apple. The game-changer for them, IMO, is to buy the rights to broadcast Pac-12 and Big-10 football (and ideally all sports). I am an

This is a great move for Apple. The game-changer for them, IMO, is to buy the rights to broadcast Pac-12 and Big-10 football (and ideally all sports). I am an avid college football fan. Trying to find games to watch is a pain without some sort of lame ass subscription somewhere. I already pay for Apple TV + because it's bundled with other services that I use. With the incoming threat of ESPN + Disney + SEC fracturing the college football landscape, Apple could provide the money, reach, and power to take some of the sport (and country's) biggest brands and put them front and center in front of millions and basically compete head-on with Disney. Next step is you broadcast all of the NCAA sports - baseball and volleyball championships, etc. Take what the Big-10 and Pac-12 channels were supposed to be and make them great and unbundled from cable TV. In the coming years I think they're going to add live news with a focus on "quality journalism" as well. The Jon Stewart show and documentaries they are producing are the first drip.

bgorman 4y ago
Even if Apple just carried all Pac-12 network football games, that would really move the needle. The Pac-12 network is pretty much impossible to get through traditional cable providers outside of the west coast.
bachmeier 4y ago
At one point we had 12 different channels that carried college sports and maybe half the games we wanted to watch weren't available.
- ericmay 4y ago
  Yea… it’s like you can’t even pay for it!
  - wollsmoth 4y ago
    Why would they not even just have them available for PPV. I should be able to pay to see whichever football game! It doesn't need to be this crazy game of blackouts and satellite subscriptions!
MisterBastahrd 4y ago
I doubt either of those conferences would want to be stuck behind a paywall that is neither on terrestrial television or cable networks. Dealing with ESPN is dealing with ABC, which is a gigantic advantage. The SEC remains the power conference of power conferences, and whatever they decide is ultimately the way college football will trend. Their recent agreements with Oklahoma and the University of Texas are just a start into deraveling the top tier athletic institutions from other conferences.
- ericmay 4y ago
  > The SEC remains the power conference of power conferences, and whatever they decide is ultimately the way college football will trend. Not so fast my friend! :p The Big Ten in particular is a peer with the SEC in football viewership and revenue, but dwarfs the SEC in overall academic revenue and power. Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC is a big deal, but these seismic shifts cause other seismic shifts and conferences such as the PAC-12 will look to form deeper relationships with the Big Ten so that they are not at a permanent disadvantage. The Big Ten itself continues to eye schools such as Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech as potential new members. This isn’t the end of the story there. In addition, money from a company such as Apple gives them a significant bulwark against the SEC dictating how football goes. You may recall the Big Ten, ACC, and PAC-12 formed a scheduling “alliance” in response to Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC. It may end up being a pony show, but the intent is there. Apple perhaps purchasing the rights to stream the games may not necessarily preclude local broadcasts either. Otherwise you’d make the exact same argument about ESPN and the SEC. But SEC games are routinely broadcast on other networks. Now, that’s not to say with recent NIL deals and Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC that something seismic won’t occur. But I think what is more likely to happen is a separate league separate from any conference in football only which would include top tier brand name programs, versus a world where the SEC and ESPN dictates how things go. I do think ESPN’s likely long-term goal is to break off the marquee SEC programs (Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.) alongside the marquee other conference programs (Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn St, Oregon, USC, etc.) and form a league, but so long as the other conferences don’t care for it, the risk of losing billions in academic funding (which makes football revenue look like a lemonade stand) will keep this from happening.

bgorman 4y ago

Even if Apple just carried all Pac-12 network football games, that would really move the needle. The Pac-12 network is pretty much impossible to get through traditional cable providers outside of the west coast.

bachmeier 4y ago

At one point we had 12 different channels that carried college sports and maybe half the games we wanted to watch weren't available.

ericmay 4y ago
Yea… it’s like you can’t even pay for it!
- wollsmoth 4y ago
  Why would they not even just have them available for PPV. I should be able to pay to see whichever football game! It doesn't need to be this crazy game of blackouts and satellite subscriptions!

MisterBastahrd 4y ago

I doubt either of those conferences would want to be stuck behind a paywall that is neither on terrestrial television or cable networks. Dealing with ESPN is dealing with ABC, which is a gigantic advantage. The SEC remains the power conference of power conferences, and whatever they decide is ultimately the way college football will trend. Their recent agreements with Oklahoma and the University of Texas are just a start into deraveling the top tier athletic institutions from other conferences.

ericmay 4y ago
> The SEC remains the power conference of power conferences, and whatever they decide is ultimately the way college football will trend. Not so fast my friend! :p The Big Ten in particular is a peer with the SEC in football viewership and revenue, but dwarfs the SEC in overall academic revenue and power. Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC is a big deal, but these seismic shifts cause other seismic shifts and conferences such as the PAC-12 will look to form deeper relationships with the Big Ten so that they are not at a permanent disadvantage. The Big Ten itself continues to eye schools such as Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech as potential new members. This isn’t the end of the story there. In addition, money from a company such as Apple gives them a significant bulwark against the SEC dictating how football goes. You may recall the Big Ten, ACC, and PAC-12 formed a scheduling “alliance” in response to Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC. It may end up being a pony show, but the intent is there. Apple perhaps purchasing the rights to stream the games may not necessarily preclude local broadcasts either. Otherwise you’d make the exact same argument about ESPN and the SEC. But SEC games are routinely broadcast on other networks. Now, that’s not to say with recent NIL deals and Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC that something seismic won’t occur. But I think what is more likely to happen is a separate league separate from any conference in football only which would include top tier brand name programs, versus a world where the SEC and ESPN dictates how things go. I do think ESPN’s likely long-term goal is to break off the marquee SEC programs (Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.) alongside the marquee other conference programs (Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn St, Oregon, USC, etc.) and form a league, but so long as the other conferences don’t care for it, the risk of losing billions in academic funding (which makes football revenue look like a lemonade stand) will keep this from happening.