USC going to the Big Ten, and ESPN getting locked out of any Big Ten football media involvements, will naturally change the media landscape in college football. Different teams being in new conferences, and a new wave of TV and streaming deals, will naturally change where fans turn to on Saturdays when they want to watch their favorite teams.
Yet, the effects of what we are seeing in college football go far beyond the channel or streaming service we will use.
Mark Rogers underlined this particular point in a recent broadcast with Trojans Wire at The Voice of College Football. Mark made the point that ESPN has had a hand in the programming for each of the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences. We all know and love “MACTION,” the November buffet of weeknight football in the MAC. ESPN’s streaming services carry Conference USA. ESPN will pick up an occasional Sun Belt game on weeknights. ESPN2 or ESPNU will carry some Mountain West games during the season. AAC football is regularly shown on the ESPN family, and of course, all the Power Five conferences have been part of ESPN’s content menu.
When the Big Ten’s new TV deal begins, ESPN will not have any say, any role, in one of the conferences. One can imagine the effect that will have on where College GameDay goes each week, and also how many minutes of air time ESPN devotes to Big Ten coverage and analysis.
We’re seeing consolidation in the marketplace, with Fox-NBC-CBS lining up on one side, and ESPN-ABC on the other. The non-SEC, non-Big Ten conferences will need to work around these structures to get maximum value for their product. We’re going to see a significant reshaping of the TV landscape.
Here’s Mark’s segment with Trojans Wire. Subscribe to, like, and share Mark’s USC channel and his other YouTube channels at The Voice of College Football:
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