Mike Slive indeed refers to it as the SEC Network, not the SEC ESPN Network. The network's logo had some concerned.
The whole thing will launch Aug. 6, 2014 and be based out of ESPN's Charlotte studio, supplemented by Bristol.
AT&T U-verse, for one, has already agreed to distribute the network. (Certain other conference networks have struggled to land distribution.) If you don't have U-verse, you can go bother someone about it at getsecnetwork.com.
Slive: "For the first time, a conference will launch a network in partnership with its primary overall media partner."
1,000 live sporting events each year, with 450 on the network and the rest digital. 45 football games a year, including three conference games a week, with one game in the morning, afternoon and night windows on Saturdays.
CBS will still have the game-of-the-week pick, but it will no longer have an exclusive time window. After that, SEC and ESPN will do the divvying between ESPN, ESPNU and the SECN.
Some original programming will be produced by schools themselves. The network will work with university journalism departments and shoot on campuses.
ESPN's Justin Connolly, in charge of the network's day-to-day, says the target distribution will be heavy in the 11 SEC states, with ESPNU-like coverage everywhere else.
"We're a Saturday league," says Slive about Thursday games. Two annual Thursday games "won't change."
No announcements regarding nine-game scheduling. Slive anticipates more discussion.
Asked about whether all this SEC Network money will mean paying players, Slive reiterated the SEC is in favor of full-cost scholarships.
The SEC's traditional pay-per-view football games will now be "in the mix" for SECN games.
