Pac-12 Networks are coming

The creation of the Pac-12 Networks was announced Wednesday, with details about a television network covering schools in the West coming from league Commissioner Larry Scott in New York.

Beginning in August 2012, the Pacific 12 Conference will offer one primary national channel and six regional channels matching up teams paired in the same area (USC and UCLA, for example) that will televise 350 events annually on the main channel and 500 more regionally.

So far the Pac-12 has signed cable providers Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Cox and Bright House to distribute the seven network channels.

There are no plans in place with distributors such as DirectTV or Dish Network, though Scott said he hoped to eventually add satellite and telephone companies to the deal.

The four distributors who are onboard with the conference can reach about 48 million viewers.

Scott said the regional networks such as the Southern California channel dedicated to USC and UCLA content would be carried on expanded basic cable and that the national network will probably be found on digital basic cable in Pac-12 markets and on digital sports tiers that require extra fees in the rest of the country.

The networks would appear on high-definition channels and they will be new channels, not ones already in place, he said.

Scott said the conference will keep ownership of the Pac-12 Networks.

“With this arrangement, every [Pac-12] football game and every men’s basketball game will be available to a national audience on television,” Scott said.

Scott described the creation of the six local channels to enhance the one national channel as cutting-edge.

“This is an attempt through the … the cable industry to super-serve fans in a hyper-local way,” Scott said.

The conference recently signed a $3-billion, 12-year national deal with ESPN and Fox that begins next year.

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