Pac 12

NCTC Signs Deal With Pac-12 To Be First Carrier Of Conference's New Network

Published July 23, 2012

Pac-12 Enterprises and the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) on Friday announced that they have reached a long-term agreement for carriage of the Pac-12 Networks. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Pac-12 Networks, consisting of one national net and six RSNs, will be available to NCTC participating members starting with their Aug. 15 launch. NCTC members also will have access to Pac-12 Networks live programming through various TV Everywhere platforms (Pac-12). CABLEFAX DAILY notes this is the programmer’s “1st announced agreement since the venture was announced last summer.” NCTC President & CEO Rich Fickle said, “The deal is structured so that there are some carriage commitments if you’re within that region that you have to carry the regional content, and you have options if you’re outside those regions.” He added, “It has a lot of flexibility for the carriage outside that home market" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 7/23). In L.A., Chris Foster wrote the trickle down for the new TV deal “is already being felt at UCLA.” Football coach Jim Mora received a five-year, $11.24M deal when he was hired but “could make another $750,000 per season in performance bonuses and a total of $700,000 over the life of his contract in retention bonuses.” Athletic department officials have “upped the ante for assistant coaches as well," with a payroll of $2.08M, up from $1.645M last season. The department expects UCLA to take in $17.6M this year "from television contracts, multimedia rights and apparel sales” (L.A. TIMES, 7/21).

ACROSS THE COAST: Meanwhile, the ACC Digital Network on Friday announced a new partner channel on YouTube, which will show 20 live events in Olympic sports beginning this fall. The deal marks the first official partnership between YouTube and a major collegiate conference to date (ACC).