Tag: pac-12 network

Oregon State trolls Oregon about local Big Ten Network blackouts

Oregon State Beavers make jab at rival Oregon Ducks for Big Ten media rights causing blackouts locally ahead of college football season.

The Pac-12 conference was gutted for a variety of factors, which prominently included a media rights deal that wasn’t working for the member institutions or the fans.

The Pac-12 Network was difficult for fans to find, and the lack of games on major networks led to limited visibility and major frustration – which was expected to be alleviated in the Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC.

However, as Comcast subscribers in the Pacific Northwest are finding out, the same old problems persist.

Comcast offers a $10 add-on which features the Big Ten Network, a relatively small price to pay for fans of Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA to ensure access to their favorite teams as they embark on a new season.

Except, as reported by John Canzano, a battle of ‘territorial rights’ currently means local games will be blacked out on the Big Ten Network – proof the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The irony of Oregon bolting from the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten – in part because of more reliable media rights – is certainly not lost on Oregon State, who took a shot at their longtime rivals with a social media post on Tuesday.

The Beavers were one of two Pac-12 schools left in the dust during realignment, and they are now playing as independents along with Washington State for the next few years while they look to rebuild the conference.

It has certainly been a rough calendar year for the Beavers and Cougars, but they can relish the fact their games are much easier to find on TV locally, at least for the time being.

If you’re looking for Pac-12 Network today, you’ll get a special message on your TV

Pac-12 Network is now officially history.

The Pac-12 Network is now a part of history. It is in the past tense. The move of the calendar from June to July ushers in the new year and the new college sports cycle. Accordingly, there is no more Pac-12 as we have known it, only Washington State and Oregon State existing in limbo and playing sports in other conferences such as the Mountain West and the West Coast Conference.

If you are looking for Pac-12 Network today (July 1) on your television, you will receive a very specific message: “This channel is no longer available.” The move to darkness occurred at midnight as Sunday turned into Monday and June turned into July. All of the crazy plot twists, all the spectacular blunders by Larry Scott, George Kliavkoff, and the Pac-12 CEO Group led us to this point, but now the finality of this new world is setting in and becoming absorbed on a deeper level. Stanford and Cal are officially ACC schools today, July 1. The Pac-12 has been placed in the past tense, along with its ill-fated television network.

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Bill Walton said Pac-12 Network saved his life

An anecdote hits home — and hits hard — as the Pac-12 Network goes off the air.

The Pac-12 Network is about to go dark. The conference is about to fade into the history books as USC, Oregon, Washington, and UCLA move to the Big Ten. With the Pac-12 Network about to go off the air, longtime network anchor Ashley Adamson wrote a farewell letter published on John Canzano’s Substack (paywalled; subscription required). There’s a poignant remembrance of the late Bill Walton from Adamson, who writes:

In one of my last conversations with the late Bill Walton, he told me the Pac-12 Network saved his life. His spine had failed, he had been fired from every broadcasting job.

“I had spent four and a half years on the floor. Everything was dark. I had no reason to hope anything would be different. And then out of the blue, Larry Scott calls me and said, ‘Bill, we have an idea.’”

That idea — a television network that officially goes dark on Sunday — gave so many of us who worked there real purpose, joy, and a community that will live on forever.

So as sad as it feels to say goodbye, I know it’s just a reminder that the time we spent together really meant something.

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Friday, June 28, 2024 is last day for many Pac-12 Network employees

Pac-12 Network employees say a final goodbye before the channel goes off the air.

Friday, June 28, 2024: a date which will live in infamy. It’s a date on which many employees of the Pac-12 Network spend their last day on the job before the network goes dark at the very end of June. Pac-12 Network anchor Ashley Adamson, who was there from the beginning more than a decade ago, wrote a goodbye column on John Canzano’s Substack (paywalled; subscription required).

Adamson thanked a lot of people throughout the Pac-12, in broadcasting and coaching, in addition to family and friends.

Here’s the excerpt from the coaching section of Adamson’s farewell letter:

The late Mike Leach taught me a lot, including where dairy comes from. He was also the shining example of living wholly, and unapologetically, as yourself. One of my biggest regrets from the last 12 years is that Leach and I never did that rollerblading feature together in Key West.

Former Washington coach Chris Petersen showed me that often the most courageous choice we can make is knowing when to stop. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham put on a masterclass on leadership through adversity, proving the power of brotherhood.

Stanford great Tara VanDerveer proved to all of us that you can reach the mountain top, while simultaneously pulling up everyone around you.

We won’t miss the Pac-12 Network, but we will miss the people who have been part of the Pac-12 and are genuinely sad the course of events brought us to this point.

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Report: Big Ten Network to hire some familiar faces to Pac-12 fans

The Big Ten expects to hire Pac-12 Network talent to cover their new West Coast teams, per John Canzano.

The Pac-12 Conference as we knew it may be dead, but that doesn’t mean the people behind the scenes and on television who covered the Conference of Champions have to go away with it.

The Big Ten Conference, the new home of Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA, plans to hire a lot of the on and off-air talent that once worked for the now-defunct Pac-12 Network.

In John Canzano’s online newsletter, which is available with a fee, the commissioner of the Big Ten, François McGillicuddy, laid out their plan to Canzano when asked if they plan to hire Pac-12 Network staffer and local staff in Seattle and Eugene.

“We do, although the on-air portion will likely not be announced officially until later in July. The Pac-12 Network had incredibly talented people both on-air and behind-the-scenes, and we have been fortunate to add some of those folks,” he said. “It gets back to our goal of immediately representing all four schools and their fan bases.

As it relates to the Big Ten, no one should know those schools better than the Big Ten Network. The conference is now at 18 schools, versus 11 when the network launched, and admittedly there is a lot more knowledge required. Adding staff with an immediate and expert sense of programs, traditions, and rivalries is a must for us.”

Although the network itself had some problems, the on-air talent such as Yogi Roth, Ashley Adamson, Roxy Bernstein, Ann Schatz and a whole host of others are the best in the business and should continue to do thing in their respective sports out here on the West Coast.

Unfortunately, the man who coined the term “Conference of Champions,” Bill Walton, won’t be one of them as he was lost to the world to colon cancer.

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USC wins its last baseball game ever played on Pac-12 Network

USC’s win over Cal will be the last Trojan baseball game ever shown on Pac-12 Network. Freedom and success!

The most important thing to note about USC baseball right now is that the Trojans have reached the championship game of the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. They are one win from qualifying for the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid as the last Pac-12 Tournament champions in the history of Pac-12 baseball. However, there’s a satisfying added note attached to Friday’s semifinal win over the Cal Golden Bears: This was the last USC baseball game ever shown on Pac-12 Network. Yep, that’s it. Done. Final. USC will never play another baseball game on the network. The championship game on Saturday at 7 p.m. Pacific time is on ESPNU.

Football went through it. Basketball went through it. Now baseball has crossed the threshold as well at USC. The Trojans continue to put the Pac-12 Network — and everything it represents — in the rearview mirror. Their last Pac-12 Network game was a win. Now all that’s left is to take the diamond on a warm late-May night in Arizona and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. USC will face the winner of Friday’s late semifinal between Arizona and Stanford.

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Big Ten Network promotes USC, but still can’t televise Trojan spring game

Big Ten Network is offering analysis of USC, but BTN can’t cover the Trojans’ spring game. Sigh.

The absurdity of USC football moving into the Big Ten but not being shown on Big Ten Network or Fox Sports for its spring game is increasingly apparent. On the day before the action unfolds in the Los Angeles Coliseum, anyone interested in watching the USC spring game is being given one last example of how much the Pac-12 has limited USC’s exposure and overall national profile.

Big Ten Network is covering a lot of spring football games this weekend, and the outlet knows that USC is going to be part of the conference this fall. Big Ten Network was able to tell its viewers that the USC spring game is this Saturday, but then the network was unable to tell viewers what channel the game was on. The graphic below is such a sad story and commentary in itself. Three other Big Ten member schools have spring football games on either Big Ten Network or Fox. They are all getting the treatment one would rightly expect from a Big Ten football school … but then there’s USC, the team which wasn’t able to be shown on either BTN or Fox.

USC fans are being subjected to one last humiliating experience, courtesy of the Pac-12 Network.

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Many people couldn’t see JuJu Watkins’ amazing game, which was on Pac-12 Network

Not only was JuJu Watkins’ game relegated to Pac-12 Network; all other Pac-12 Friday games took place at the same time.

If you have Pac-12 Network and you were able to see JuJu Watkins take a blowtorch to Stanford’s defense on Friday night, good for you. You deserved to see such a great performance from USC’s superstar player. However, if you have DirecTV or any other system which limits your access to Pac-12 Network, you were out of luck.

Women’s college basketball fans in general, but specifically those in the West, will be so happy next year. JuJu Watkins and USC will be on Big Ten Network and Fox Sports a lot more often. They won’t be on Pac-12 Network. Exposure to Watkins and the USC women’s basketball program will rise substantially.

Fans were frustrated and disappointed on Friday, not only because they couldn’t see JuJu Watkins on television, but also because other interesting Pac-12 women’s basketball games were competing with USC-Stanford.

Let’s highlight some of the details:

Pac-12 Network announcer’s attempt to say ‘crackback block’ became a very NSFW comment

This isn’t really a football term

Technically speaking, an illegal crackback block occur when a defensive player is hit below the waist within five yards on either side of the line of scrimmage.

It’s a dangerous play that all levels of football have tried to legislate out of the game. That’s not really relevant to the story you’re reading, but it was vital to start everyone off on the same page so that we can get to the main event.

On Saturday, with Colorado playing Utah in the regular-season finale, there was some discussion on the Pac-12 Network broadcast over crackback blocks. And while you’ve now read that term multiple times, it’s a bit more difficult to say aloud.

The Pac-12 Network’s Lincoln Kennedy can attest to that fact after his attempt to say “crackback block” became something else entirely.

Warning: NSFW language

Welp. He tried.

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Welcome to our world, Irish! Notre Dame gets Pac-12 Network game before the Pac-12 dies

Notre Dame fans will finally taste what #USC fans have endured for years. The Irish vs Stanford is a Pac-12 Network game.

USC football fans will not be watching the Trojans on Thanksgiving weekend because USC won’t be playing. Notre Dame football fans won’t be watching the Fighting Irish on that same Thanksgiving weekend because the Irish will be on Pac-12 Network. It has been a miserable season for USC fans, but they will sit back and munch on some popcorn when they see how much Notre Dame fans are going to hate being on Pac-12 Network.

The Irish’s game at Stanford on November 25 has been announced as a Pac-12 Network game. It’s a sign that Notre Dame, not just USC, has tasted national irrelevance this season.

Oh, man. You can only begin to imagine what the reaction was like from Notre Dame fans. Welcome to our world here at USC! You’re going to get the Pac-12 Network experience!

(h/t Geoffrey Clark of Fighting Irish Wire)