Pac-12 Network & DirecTV Unlikely To Make Deal Before Cal Vs. USC

Jon Wilner confirms as much in his latest Hotline report. If you want Week 4 action, you're going to have to look to Dish or elsewhere.

This was expected. DirecTV seemed to send their olive branch earlier this week with the "offers" they handed out, but the Pac-12 had no plans on agreeing to those plans, and the result was an interminable war of words. The conference had no plan on becoming the HBO of the sports network world and risk being marginalized on the satellite carrier.

The Pac-12 would likely have not been able to implement their TV Anywhere option, but more importantly couldn't collect on the subscriber fees that would have sustained them as a network. Taking on a la carte invited great risk without great reward, as the plan would likely have forced them to lower their subscriber fees on their other services and risk cutting off the great sources of revenue they've already accrued from multiple carriers.

Wilner nails it in this portion of his article.

The first proposal (making the Pac12Nets a "stand-alone channel") means offering them in a la carte fashion (think: HBO). Subscribers would pay $15 per month, for example, for access to the channel; it wouldn’t be part of DTV’s sports package.

That’s as unreasonable as the second proposal (games available on-demand) and DTV’s purported concern about asking customers to pay for a channel they may not want.

Here’s why:

DirecTV offers dozens and dozens (and dozens) of sports networks and channels, from FUEL to the Big Ten Network to regional sports networks like Comcast SportsNet-Bay Area.

How many of them are available to DTV subscribers a la carte or on-demand?

Zero.

Either DirecTV is going to have to cave here, or the Pac-12 Network just won't be available this year on the satellite carrier. If you want Pac-12 Networks on DirecTV, you're just going to have to keep on demanding it.