Since its launch in 2012, the Pac 12 Network has had trouble finding eyeballs. The network has never been on DirecTV. That led to an ad campaign urging conference fans with DirecTV to switch service providers. Now, the network is likely going to be left off another AT&T product’s channel lineup.
The Pac 12 Conference, which owns the Pac 12 Network outright, entered into a deal with AT&T in 2013 to put the network on AT&T’s U-verse package. That deal expires this year and it is not expected to be renewed.
Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News wrote earlier this week that in 2015 AT&T offered the conference a deal that included carriage on both U-verse and DirecTV in exchange for wireless rights on the campuses of each member school. That deal was rejected, and negotiations have not really gone anywhere since.
The Pac 12 recently hired Mark Shuken away from Root Sports and DirecTV to serve as the network president. The idea being that his relationship with the company could help secure a deal for the conference. So far that hasn’t materialized and commissioner Larry Scott said he doesn’t expect the DirecTV situation to change at the most recent Pac 12 Media Days.
The network has seen its carriage fee drop. Its programming (usually lower tier conference games or non-conference games against FCS opponents in football) has been deemed expendable by most providers. While U-verse isn’t a powerhouse in terms of television service providers (it only has 4 million subscribers), that’s still more eyeballs than the Pac 12 Network can afford to lose.
