The Associated Press provides an update of sorts on the potential of the Atlantic Coast Conference creating its own television network with some help from ESPN. I say “of sorts” because details are scarce. The holdup? Well, this mainly:
But industry analysts say the ACC is wise not to rush into anything in an effort to keep up with the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences, whose networks have been the most successful.
“A lot of the other conferences and individual schools have set up networks and it’s successful, but it isn’t a slam dunk in as far as being able to get the cable carriage, the production and organization and selling advertising on it,” said Mark Fratrik, an analyst for Virginia-based market research firm BIA/Kelsey. “There are hurdles to go through.”
Your Charlotte link: The Queen City is specifically mentioned in the article: “The infrastructure for a channel would seem to exist already in Charlotte — where the SEC Network is headquartered along with ESPNU.”
