re: SEC Network: Friend or Foe

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Production is not the same as the pipeline

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no it isn't, and that wasn't my point, which is pretty clear as I stated, ESPN can put a better product on the air than most other producers, and that goes double for most of the little regional and in house jobs.

To your point, ATT and Dish are the choices now but that will change, Comcast is far too heavily vested in the SEC footprint to cede such an advantage to a competitor. The same applies to Charter, AOL and other SEC state carriers. The business is theirs to lose, which is exactly what will happen if they don't play ball with the SECN/ESPN.

SEC fans outside of the footprint may have a tougher time of it, but I will be surprised if FIOS and Google don't wind up signing on before long either.

For many in rural America, a satellite dish is still the only real option anyway. If you mistook my post as confusing a carrier with a production studio, I apologize, but I am very clear on the difference. For neophytes an explanation like this may help, the source content quality is the key to the beginning of a good broadcast product, if you have the best digital carrier in the world and the source product sucks, then you will wind up with a high quality signal, crystal clear picture of something that sucks. You can't short change the start of the process and that is what the SECN is attempting to insure with the ESPN partnership.