The ACC Network will launch on Aug. 22, 2019. pic.twitter.com/Y5o4YuOCMt— The Athletic CFB (@TheAthleticCFB) November 30, 2018
Not too many details there, but its something. Network launches on August 22nd, 2019 with the first broadcasted game being August 29th between Clemson and Georgia Tech.
That said, I'm still very interested to see if this will come standard if you have a cable subscription, or if they are going to leverage their ESPN Plus to make it premium content. I'm also curious if this is going to be an actual Over The Air channel, and if so, whether it will be new, or if they'll be transitioning ESPNU to the ACCN, as long speculated.
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Only a decade late Swofford.
Well, at least his son got a raise.
At our expense.
And more than a dollar short.
Hopefully they improve the coverage of the ACC Fencing championships now that there's a whole network.
Now you're just making sports up
I know you kid but Notre Dame typically rosters like a quarter of every US national team at any given time. It's not even fair right now, but it's fun to watch.
It looks pretty cool.
Hot Fuzz?
Automatic leg, every time
The alternate name for Gritty.
Ahh, that what fencing is. All along I thought it was something to do with swords.
Only if you don't make it over one.
Well my cable package includes ESPN news, BTN, and SEC network, so my guess is it'll be on the same package.
I get SD Longhorn Network, but not HD. Same with Deportes. Hope I don't need to pay extra for it.
When we moved to Florida I lost so many HD channels and just channels in general like PAC12. Xfinity is trash.
Our smartest bet would be to not hitch our wagon to cable, at least not out of the gate. Make it an add on for Netflix, HBO, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon video, etc.. or at least use that as bargaining for a sweet sweet cable deal
I was worried that we might get that Thursday slot opening week.
Hopefully it's like SEC Network and comes with YouTube TV. That's all I'm asking.
It'll come in the least wanted platform in the most inconvenient way and overpriced; its the Swofford way.
Good luck future Georgia Tech Head Coach!
It's definitely going to be over the air and not ESPN+. The money they can make in carriage fees is too much to pass up. As for whether it will come with your cable subscription, I think it will depend on the bundle offered by providers in your region.
My family is up in NOVA and we have the standard Fios package that includes most of the sports networks and RSNs. We get BTN but not SECN, no CBSSN but we do get BeIN, and we also got FS2 upon signing up 3 years ago when many cable providers weren't offering it in the regular tier.
All that to say, I wouldn't be surprised if the ACCN gets added to our channel lineup since we're squarely in the footprint the ACC is going to try and sell.
I don't understand why people keep thinking this is going to happen. ESPN still has way too many college broadcast rights to nuke ESPNU. I think it's likely going to be a brand new channel.
If any channel were going to get transitioned, it would be ESPN News. Even still, I think it's unlikely that any ESPN channel will get nuked for the ACCN because they like to have an extra channel to show the beginnings of games in case prior games go long.
There was speculation that News would become ACCN, and U would turn into ESPN3.
Eh, I think the media people who were doing that speculating don't traffic in the realm of carriage rates & the minutia of the TV industry enough to understand what each of those channels means to ESPN.
I don't think ESPNU will become ESPN3 any time soon. It will take a big shift in content acquisition for them to make that move. The college sports rights they have fit the ESPNU linear channel branding, and I think they'd need a wider variety of content on the channel to justify a shift.
They could always pull some of the content on ESPN+ from behind the paywall (like international soccer or put more boxing on the linear channels), but I don't think their current offerings warrant a shift in branding.
What the articles I read pointed out was that a full ESPN3 would give them greater flexibility in scheduling. They were running into problems around the NFL Draft, at the same time as the NBA playoffs, and so a professional NBA game got shifted over to ESPNU, which seemed a little silly.
As for ESPNEWS, the only time that channel is for a few minutes every three hours when games run long on Saturdays. It's outlived its usefulness as a 24/7 Sportscenter channel.
I could totally see this. I doubt advertising slots command much money on ESPNNEWS.
If Verizon drops all of the Disney channels, I will be contacting them and requesting a prorated bill for the time they are not providing those channels.
At least the Military Bowl should be over by the time the contract runs out.
Oh, I'm sure they'll have an agreement by the deadline. Otherwise both corporations will have millions of angry customers that couldn't watch their sports and/or cartoons.
Finally, they have something I actually want to watch, and they damn well better figure it out.
The only channels I even care about/watch any more are ESPN, the news channels (including local ones), and TCM.
Maybe get rid of the Kardashians, who I NEVER kept up with.
Everything will probably be offered digitally via Disney + which is launching soon. Disney has the leverage.
Add TCM and news to Disney+, throw in some news and maybe some HGTV for the wife, and I'm there.
Just pick up an antenna for your local channels. And how much do you rely on TCM? Can't you find enough classic movies through other means?
Excellent points.
I really should try out an antenna for the local channels.
You could probably get that with Hulu tv
Verizon has way more to lose, it's so easy to switch providers or cut the cord that they will cave.
counterpoint: say verizon is the only high speed internet provider you can get and say they decide to exact revenge on Disney by throttling streamed Disney (since net neutrality is dead). Who has the last laugh then?
Won't be Verizon, as people aren't going to stay with Verizon if they do that, and they are counting on 5G as a business advantage.
Can't drop your only option for internet.
I'd hazard a guess that most of Verizon's coverage footprint has competition.
In my case if I don't use Fios internet my other option is streaming directv over my cell phone. Many apartments are locked in to Fios as well.
Part of the agreement to install data infrastructure should have been an agreement for open competition after a certain number of years.
But it seems like 5G might help with that.
You don't have a cable company wired to your apartment? I thought that almost all of the places that are being wired for fiber already had a cable connection. I figured that rural areas with sparse housing were the only places left without cable.
Some deal between Fios and the property management I think. They have their own rep you're supposed to contact when you move in.
"Competition" is a bit broadly defined sometimes I think. For example, in my neighborhood there are several options if your goal is to access the internet. If you want high speed internet (e.g. >5 mbps) then you have one option. Or satellite, which isn't an option IMO.
Very few places have more than one option for high speed internet. For me, its Shentel (speeds from 25 Mbps to 1 Gbps) or Century Link (3.5 Mbps).
Very true, but I'm willing to bet, that if this goes on for a couple of days or weeks, that most people that have the option to switch, will. I just see the chips being stacked in Disney's favor on this. They have products people want. People already hate the cable monopolies.
This completely ignores that most people have "cut the cord" as a direct result of paying for content they don't want. People are willing to accept more limited content packages for a cheaper price. Adding more content that a majority of subscribers might not want and passing along that cost increase isn't going to help Verizon maintain customers.
While I agree that losing all Disney-affiliated channels would be a significant blow, Verizon isn't wrong that viewership has significantly declined across many of those networks. In my opinion, the networks are risking quite a bit themselves as cable companies have a lot of influence and bring a substantial amount of viewers/value as well compared to media networks trying to package and sell their programming a la carte. Most people seem to be willing to purchase a la carte programming from a few providers (Hulu, Netflix, HBO) but I think there is a limit to the number of providers people will be willing to maintain subscriptions with. I can't really fathom people would want to individually deal with with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO, CBS All Access, Disney, Fox, NBC, Viacom, Turner, Discovery, A&E, AMC, etc. etc.
Not when they have a monopoly on your service
ACCN will only be available on the Disney streaming service, which is expected to launch around the same time. [sarcastica, but maybe not really]
I'd be sort of OK with that, and cut the rest of my cable.
if I could get all the disney stuff, ABC, espn, and streaming movies I would just need to figure out CW and be done with direct tv now
If you're willing to wait and binge, CW has a deal that the current season of any show (at least the DC series) is available on Netflix 8 days after the season finale airs.
So they're not taking over Hulu? Also this is nice but bad for our revenue