If you thought ESPN partnering with the University of Texas to create the Longhorn Network was the last 24/7 outlet from the "Worldwide Leader in Sports", you are sorely mistaken. ESPN continues to expand with news of yet another network.

Today, ESPN & the Southeastern Conference have announced a partnership to form the brand new SEC Network, starting up in August, 2014. The new channel will feature over 1,000 conference events, including 45 football games, over 160 men's & women's basketball games, 75 baseball, softball, track & field, gymnastics and others. All 14 of the member schools in the league will be featured on the new SEC Network.

At the outset, the SEC Network will be carried on AT&T U-Verse, while other cable & satellite arrangements will be announced later. A complete press release from ESPN & SEC Commissioner Mike Slive in regards to the new network can be linked here:

http://fangsbites.com/2013/05/espn-and- ... c-network/

why oh why do I click on these threads?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

It's about damn time ESPN does something worthwhile.

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College sports networks are big business and everyone's getting into the act...or so it seems. That may also explain why ESPN has ESPNU in addition to the Longhorn Network and the upcoming SEC Network. FOX has the Big Ten Network (BTN) as well as FOX College Sports. Also, Comcast SportsNet has a 24/7 channel called the mtn., which covers the Mountain West Conference.

Do you regret your decision?

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

only further erodes their objectivity in the actual reporting of sports

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Every time.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Guy = SHARK Society= SHARK attackers

That's a good point, GD. What if one of these SEC schools commits a major NCAA violation? Will the new SEC Network cover the story or would they treat it as if nothing happened?

The FOX-owned Big Ten Network came under scrutiny when the Penn State football scandal became front page news if I remember correctly.

I think the Mountain West's channel folded when all the realignment stuff went down and decision-makers realized "holy crap we have an entire cable channel devoted to the Mountain West. We're stupid." Maybe it's back now, I dunno, but I remember reading that and taking it as a sign that the college conference RSN thing had officially gone too far and started self-correcting.

I hope the SEC Network is available free of charge, in honor of the most passionate defenders of free outdoor labor: football fans in the former slave states.

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CH, you are correct. The mtn. as they called it ceased operation last June due to that realignment stuff you're referring. It was actually a collaboration between CBS Sports, Comcast & the Mountain West Conference.

As for this SEC Network, it remains to be seen if the conference will have the kinds of issues that have also plagued other such channels at the outset.

While DIRECTV was one of the first to air the Big Ten Network as well as NFL Network, other cable companies didn't exactly offer those channels to their customers at first. Ditto for New York's YES Network. The bosses of those channels & cable system operators were initially at odds over fees if I remember correctly and these cable operators were reluctant to pass such fees to its customers.

Let's see how much they dare to charge per household for a channel directed to poor-ass Mississippi and Alabama.

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The problem with the SEC network is that SEC basketball, outside of Kentucky, and sometimes Florida, is totally worthless. It will sell well in the South obviously but it's going to have to be really cheap to get coverage anywhere else. Alabama fans aren't going to go switch cable networks because they have to go to a bar to watch the 3 football games a year on the network.

That's the secret of the Big Ten Network. While football is what makes money, the fact that 15-20 basketball games a year are on it is why people like me would switch cable companies to get it. I can go to a bar to watch Purdue-NIU on a Saturday afternoon. I don't really want to do that every Tuesday or Wednesday in the winter months.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

NIU? I think you meant NU...

Football is the big moneymaker, Rick, and I think that's one of the main drawing cards of this new SEC Network. They've dominated the BCS in recent years, even before the College Football Playoff replaces it next year. Other than Kentucky & Florida for basketball, as they say on the Mac show...Keep it.

No, I meant NIU. Purdue-Northwestern has a good chance of being an ESPN2 game. Purdue-NIU next year will almost certainly be on the BTN.

My point is that the secret to the conference network is the content created by basketball. ESPN pays a ton of money for most of the football. Most of the conference games end up on those networks. It's the opposite for basketball. I can go to a bar to watch the football games if needed. I'm not going to a bar 20 times during basketball season.

The SEC likely won't have that type of demand nationwide, though clearly in the SEC states it will sell well no matter what.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

He's outspoken. He's opinionated. He's the "mouth of the South" and I'm not referring to former WWE manager Jimmy Hart either.

According to the Wall Street Journal's Web site, WSJ.com, longtime SEC talking head Paul Finebaum has signed a multimedia deal with ESPN. Finebaum's new deal includes a new deal with ESPN Radio, although it'll start in the Southeast, some 100 appearances on ESPN's other platforms, and starting in August, 2014, Paul's radio show will be simulcast on ESPN's new SEC Network and will originate in Charlotte. The Paul Finebaum Radio Network, which was based in Birmingham, AL, signed off in January when Paul's contract expired.

In addition to a new multimedia deal with ESPN, Finebaum has also signed a book deal with HarperCollins, reportedly worth $650,000. It's also expected to be available in August, 2014, coinciding with the debut of his new TV show.

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