Continental Divide

Today is the launch date for the Pac-12 Network, a brand new TV channel dedicated to Pac-12 sports.  As a Stanford / Pac-12 fan who recently moved to the East Coast, the timing couldn't be better - all of a sudden, I went from Googling "Stanford football bars New York City" to trying to figure out how and if I could get the Pac-12 Network at home.  I signed on to Facebook just minutes ago and found that the Pac-12 was one step ahead of me - they had just posted a link to their Channel Finder, and I immediately filled out my information to see how I could get the channel.  While this should be a pretty easy process, I almost forgot that I'd be forced once again to deal with Time Warner Cable on this.

As you might recall, I despise TWC - I was hoping the Pac-12 Network website would provide me with all of the information that I needed without having to navigate Time Warner's predictably horrible site.  All the Pac-12 site would tell me, though, was that "Pac-12 Networks will be available in August 2012 on Time Warner Cable."  But where?  Would it be a part of the basic cable package?  Would it be a part of the provider's digital sports tier that includes a few regional sports networks and a few of the lower tier ESPN channels?  Or would it be available On Demand?  And how much would it cost?  Neither the Pac-12 Network or Time Warner Cable websites provided any explanation of how to sign up for the channel, and a search for "Pac-12" on the Time Warner Cable website somehow yielded zero relevant results.

I understand that the main purpose of the Pac-12 Network is to televise every conference football and basketball game to viewers in the core Pac-12 markets.  By keeping their media rights, the twelve Pac-12 schools believe that they can extract more value than if they sold those rights to Fox Sports, Comcast or ESPN, and they're probably right.  But given the fact that many of these schools have diverse alumni bases that span the entire country (especially Stanford, Cal, USC and UCLA), there seems to be a great opportunity to get some subscribers from outside of the core Pac-12 markets.  Isn't one of the advantages of signing a deal with a quasi-national TV provider like Time Warner the opportunity to get national distribution?  Assuming so, why do they make it so difficult to find the channel?

Only after some serious Googling did I find a USA Today article that suggests that the channel will be available in New York "on a premium sports tier."  Later I found that the Pac-12 Network now has a channel number on Time Warner Cable in New York City (lucky 414), but it's still not clear how to get access to the network.  I'm excited that the Pac-12 is launching its network tonight and I'm looking forward to potentially having the opportunity to watch non-nationally televised football and basketball games from here in New York.  Unfortunately, the conference made the mistake of choosing to partner with Time Warner Cable, so the chances of anyone on the East Coast being able to order the channel are slim.