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New bids coming this week for B1G Media Rights

I’m calling it for a deal with Fox, CBS and Disney. National network games weekly on Fox (noon) and CBS (3:30) and nighttime games on ABC (but probably not every week). Then cable stays on ESPN/ESPN2 and FS1 with BTN getting the rest.

CBS will likely get more basketball games than currently.
 
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I’m calling it for a deal with Fox, CBS and Disney. National network games weekly on Fox (noon) and CBS (3:30) and nighttime games on ABC (but probably not every week). Then cable stays on ESPN/ESPN2 and FS1 with BTN getting the rest.

CBS will likely get more basketball games than currently.
Disney owned by ESPN aka SEC territory probably makes that unlikely imo.
 
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Disney owned by ESPN aka SEC territory probably makes that unlikely imo.
ESPN absolutely wants to have their hands on Big Ten rights (in fact the report is that have been more aggressive since the B10 added USC/UCLA). They don’t want to not have that exposure is a densely populated part of the country including most of the major media markets. They’ve always tried to have at least some rights to all the major conferences to reiterate the “importance” of ESPN to any fan of the sport as the place where you can see all the teams.
 
I took a quick read thru Frank The Tank’s blog post on this and from what I read in the comments, Fox has the noon slot wrapped up, meaning that the rights to the 3:30 slot and evening slot are “up for grabs.” Assuming 16 teams, there are 7 or 8 games available each conference weekend (and a boatload more during non-conference play). I’m figuring 3 slots on Saturday (noon, 3:30, and evening) plus 3 BTN games, and one for Friday nights (presumably Fox or FS1), and then one more for FS1. There is also talk of Amazon being hot to secure exclusive streaming rights. Based on this, I’m thinking Fox gets the Saturday noon slot, CBS the 3:30 slot, and who knows what for the evening slot. ESPN/ABC/Disney has coveted the SEC for years and you know they are salivating to have their weekly Alabama show at 3:30 or 8 PM, either on ESPN or ABC. Then there are the additional big dogs of Texas, Oklahoma, A&M, Florida, Georgia – plenty of teams there to fill plenty of slots, and then there is the ACC for filler on ESPN or noon ABC games, or the Deuce. I could see NBC looking to get a foot in the door in case the Irish move to the B1G. I’ll predict NBC to take about 8 evening games and Fox the rest. And I’m figuring that Amazon will get rights to stream one B1G game per week, probably under Prime Video, the question is which one? Maybe partner with NBC?
 
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