Why haven't more cable providers gotten on board with the SEC network?

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Can a company like DirecTV hold you to your contract if they REFUSE to provide you with what it's competitor has?

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You bet they can and will. That wont stop me from threatening to leave Direct even with a year left on the contract and getting the Sunday Ticket for free again though.

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Because the sec network is charging too much

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If every provider jumped on board year one I would argue that the SECN was charging too little. As it is they are charging just the right amount I think.

The idea is to make them pay the maximum the market can bear. The only problem with that strategy is that it might take more than one buying cycle for the customer to realize that they need your product more than they think.

Once the first SECN game hits and these providers don't have it, their social media will be ruined for months. That will get them moving.

It's a pissing contest right now. Every cable provider, that is big in the south, will have to carry it. If they don't, they will lose mass business to the competitor's.

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Why not let viewers CHOOSE then a-la carte. I have a feeling many southerners will choose to pay a few bucks extra a month esp during football season.

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That is not the doing of the cable company, that is the doing of ESPN.

ESPN doesn't want $10 bucks from the percent of people that get the premium channels. They want $1+ from EVERYONE subscribed to cable in SEC states.

If they give in and allow it on premium channels, the miss out on a larger pie. I wouldn't be surprised if that is allowed in non-SEC markets though.

The whole thing that drives the conference network concept as defined by the Big 10 is to milk the shite out of your base.

If we could chose some people would chose no football at all (like a woman that never watches sports), then ESPN 1 and 2 would also be screwed and the huge pile of money the SEC gets from them each year OUTSIDE the SECN would go down the shitter.

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Why not let viewers CHOOSE then a-la carte

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why do people think this would somehow give them cheaper TV?

there is ZERO chance you could get a channel like SECN for less than $50-$100 a month if that happened.

ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNU would cost even more.

Standard negotiating tactics - it's a waiting game.

It's like a mediation that has been going on for 12 hours with both sides barely moving from their opening positions. In the 13th hour, when the mediator says he is ending it (and both sides are staring at going to trial and paying their lawyers $$$) all of the sudden the sides magically work out a deal in about 10 minutes. Same thing will happen before the fall. Nobody really cares about the SEC Network until those games start airing.

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I expect a significant part of the SEC footprint to be without the SECN this year.

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I disagree, they will eventually fold (I guessing before season starts). Subscribers need to call their bluff and go ahead and move providers.

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Better than another schedule thread though.

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You're damn right about that.

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I disagree, they will eventually fold (I guessing before season starts).

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I think many smaller ones will, but I don't expect deals to be done with Direct TV, Time Warner, and Comcast (possibly Cox) prior to the first SECN game.

In fact I don't think it will be on Comcast and Time warner for two or more years.

I am switching from DirecTV to Uverse today after 5+ years with DTV. It's just a matter of time at this point with Dish and Uverse and more cable companies on board. DTV is just trying to negotiate but their leverage is shrinking as more and more people are switching as the season draws closer. At some point DTV will have to stop the bleeding but in the meantime its just a game of chicken.

It's also brilliant that the SECN is putting the first 2 A&M games on SECN considering that Texas is the most populated SEC state.

This isn't like the LHN or B1G Network because neither was able to pull Dish this early and UVerse wasn't nearly as big when they got them. The SECN has tremendous leverage right now and they are using it.