The 24-hour, still unnamed service, will be located in Austin, the result of a 20-year agreement with the University of Texas, the sports programmer and multimedia rights-holder IMG College, which negotiated the deal for the school. The Texas channel will offer a variety of content, highlighted by more than 200 exclusive events annually from numerous sports, original series and studio shows, historical programming and academic and cultural happenings.Additionally, ESPN said there will be an online broadband companion to the TV network that will present extensive content, particularly events not featured on the linear TV network due to simultaneous events or other overlapping programming.Sports Business Journal estimates the value of the deal at some $300 million, with the programmer committing some $400 million in production over the life of the pact."
This is a huge deal that a university was able to pull of a deal of this magnitude. I would have thought it would have been a professional team (such as Jerry Jones and his Cowboys) to be the first team to pull something off like this. I guess thinking back though it does make sense because a University has alot more sports and events that it can cover on a more consistent basis.
This deal could be the beginning to a transformation of how big time universities get covered. History in the making.
-Josh Kantor
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