ESPN Locks Up BCS Through 2014
Four-year deal moves Bowl Championship Games to cable, includes digital rights.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/18/2008 6:51:00 AM
As expected after Fox declined to match its offer yesterday, ESPN has signed a four year deal to televise Bowl Championship Series games.
The deal, which reports peg at about $125 million a year, will move the premiere college bowl games off of broadcast television for the first time. ESPN will televise the Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls from 2011-2014, and the BCS National Championship game through 2013. ESPN sister network ABC currently has the rights to the Rose Bowl, which will remain there at least through 2010. ESPN says it has not decided whether the game will be shifted to cable after that point.
ESPN president George Bodenheimer addressed the question of whether fans would be losing access to the games by moving them to cable in a conference call with reporters.
“I think there will be great access to all the games themselves as well as the coverage surrounding the games,” Bodenheimer said. “The relatively small differential separating broadcast and cable will continue to dissipate.”
Bodenheimer also said that the network would not be adding a surcharge to its distributors for the new content.
In addition to the television and radio rights, the deal also includes extensive digital rights, with ESPN operating the official BCS website, and the possibility of streaming games live on ESPN’s digital platform, ESPN360.com, or on mobile devices.
ESPN will also launch new BCS branded programming, and sister networks, including ESPNU and ESPN Classic will get BCS content.
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As I wrote on Tuesday, November 18th, this is a win-win for the ultimate college football fan. Getting the games away from Fox and moving them to ESPN is such a sensible move. With it''s family of networks, and it''s ever-expanding mobile TV content, ESPN has everything a viewer needs to satisfy one''s college football''s hunger. It was ESPN who launched a daily college football show back in July, 2007. If one is seeking quality-produced college football programming, there is no better place to find it than ESPN. Over-the-air networks are slowly becoming extinct when it comes to broadcasting college football. One only has to look at NBC with only Notre Dame, or CBS with it''s SEC game, and as for ABC''s Saturday slate of games, they''re produced by ESPN. So what''s the problem here? Transmission of sports now has so many different outlets from computers to mobile devices that only ESPN is already prepared to be at the forefront of the new technological age we now live in.
Jeff Ostach - 11/19/2008 2:37:00 PM EST -
Agree this is not a good deal for those who do not have cable or Satellite. This deal is about as bad as the deal that put Monday Night Football on ESPN. OOPS! Same company. DISNEY.
Max - 11/19/2008 12:42:00 PM EST -
I'm also not surpirsed atthis move but with them signing the rights of the British Open in 2011 and ABC just being a mere shell and alternative network of ESPN, we'll be seeing the Rose Bowl heading to ESPN in 2011 and that will mark the end of free broadcasts college bowl football games, unless you count the Sun Bowl on CBS and a few other here and there. This deal is not a good one for those without cable or satellite.
Richard - 11/19/2008 1:03:00 AM EST -
I'm not surprised that Disney/ESPN picked-up the BCS rights.
But I am surprised that the entire BCS will be moving to cable.
I fully expected the Rose Bowl and the BCS Championship Game would have stayed on broadcast TV (ABC), while the Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowls would have gone to ESPN.
Joseph Gallant - 11/18/2008 2:22:00 PM EST
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