ESPN deal puts more of U.Va., Tech on TV

By Mark Berman

ROANOKE

It's time for the ACC to kick off its new deal with ESPN.

Fans will be able to watch a weekly ACC football game on CSN. But if you want to see the ACC's Sunday night basketball game of the week, you'd better get ESPNU.

This is the first year of the 12-year, $1.86 billion contract that the ACC and ESPN agreed to last summer. It marked the first time the ACC put its football and basketball rights in the same contract. And unlike past deals, the contract is with just one TV partner instead of separate pacts with ESPN and Raycom Sports.

Raycom did make a sublicensing deal with ESPN, so Raycom will continue to syndicate ACC football and men's basketball games on local stations, such as Virginia Tech's game against Appalachian State on Saturday.

Fox Sports Net made a sublicensing deal with Raycom for a package of games on regional cable channels such as CSN. But this time, the package doesn't just include basketball and nonrevenue sports but features football as well.

So North Carolina's game with James Madison will be on CSN on Saturday, kicking off a weekly football package that will include Virginia Tech's Sept. 17 game with Arkansas State.

Having football on regional cable channels is part of ESPN's plan to put on TV or the Internet all the football games to which the ACC has the rights.

"We've applied the same comprehensive philosophy that we've done over the last several big rights deals (with other leagues) to the ACC," ESPN senior vice president of college sports programming Burke Magnus said.

As in the past, ESPN/ESPN2 and ABC will get first dibs on each week's football games. The rest will be divided up by Raycom, Fox Sports Net, ESPNU and ESPN3.com.

"Until a year or two ago, the way football games were licensed was there was an exclusive window at noon, 3:30 and 7 to protect those rights holders," said Jeffrey Genthner, senior vice president and general manager for four of Fox Sports Net's regional channels. "There's been kind of a paradigm shift in college sports. It started with the SEC a few years ago, where every (SEC) game is televised. So the ACC, ... the goal is to get every game televised."

There are some football games that are not part of the deal. For example, the Hokies' Sept. 24 game at Marshall will be on the CBS Sports Network, a cable channel that has a deal with Conference USA.

The ACC's regional cable package will air on Fox Sports Net channels such as Fox Sports Carolinas, Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Florida.

Fox Sports Net struck a deal for the package to air on CSN (which isn't owned by Fox) in the mid-Atlantic region, just as it did when the previous packages had basketball but no football. Fox Sports Net is working on a deal to again get the package on New England Sports Network to accommodate Boston College fans.

In men's basketball, there will again be games on local channels, CSN and the ESPN channels.

Unlike in the past with men's basketball, every conference game will be on TV or on ESPN3.com. Last season, Virginia's games at BC and Miami were radio-only affairs. This season, all of U.Va.'s league games and all of Tech's league games will be on TV.

In the new deal, the ACC's Sunday night basketball game of the week will air on ESPNU. Previously, it aired on Fox Sports Net affiliates around the country, including CSN. But ESPN wanted the Sunday games for one of its own channels.

Another change is that Raycom is free to try to syndicate its football and basketball games to states outside of ACC territory. And Fox Sports Net is free to peddle its football and basketball games to cable channels in other regions.

Previously, ESPN did not permit such out-of-market syndication so viewers in New York and other such states would have to buy ESPN's "GamePlan" football or "FullCourt" basketball satellite TV packages if they wanted to watch a Raycom or CSN game.

"We used to sort of divide up the territory and draw pretty strict boundary lines," Magnus said. "But now we can get our investment back by just the sheer volume of stuff that we're able to put on the air or put on some platform."

The "GamePlan" and "FullCourt" options will still be available, since many stations or cable channels in non-ACC territory might not want to air ACC action.

The ACC's new deal also will put a lot more non-revenue athletic contests on TV or the Internet.

ESPNU will air six non-revenue games of various types this fall, including a Virginia women's soccer game at North Carolina on Sept. 25.

The regional cable package involving CSN not only includes football and men's and women's basketball but also about 40 non-revenue contests throughout the school year, including a U.Va. women's soccer game at Duke on Sept. 29; U.Va. men's soccer games at Clemson on Sept. 30 and against Maryland on Oct. 7; and a Tech volleyball match at Miami on Oct. 30.

The ACC tournament title games in women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's soccer and men's and women's lacrosse have moved from regional cable to ESPN2 or ESPNU in the new deal.