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Every Pac-12 fan can rest easy. Fox Sports 1 will be seen almost anywhere.
Fox Sports 1 has struck distribution deals with three major distributors that will ensure that the new cable network will be available in the majority of pay-TV homes when the network launches this Saturday, people familiar with the matter said.
The three carriers -- satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish and cable operator Time Warner Cable -- all have agreed to carry Fox Sports 1. Those three distributors combined reach over 40 million homes.
FS1's inventory was just too good. UFC, NASCAR, and college football are among the most valuable properties in sports, and Fox Sports 1 having a stake in all of those sports made it an easy sell to the Big Three. This will ensure that the 14 Pac-12 football games on FS1 will be available to pretty much the entire sports-viewing nation. (44 Pac-12 games will be broadcast on various ESPN or Fox channels.) A significant portion of Pac-12 basketball will also be broadcast on Fox Sports 1, so it was imperative that a deal was made to ensure long-term stability for the conference.
The Pac-12 has already faced a slight PR hit with no deal happening with DirecTV in the foreseeable future. While the network has been substantially successful in its first season on the air, DirecTV is the final frontier in this battle. But now they only have to worry about winning this front.