Reaction after a few hours and with a real keyboard instead of my phone:
Is it fair to assume STO/Fox Sports (Fox bought STO?) passed on the MAC or didn't offer the deal we had before, anorris?
Obviously I have no knowledge of the situation, but based on Fox Sports Ohio having the MAC before STO, and not seeming to fight too hard to get it back, I have to imagine they either offered peanuts or didn't even offer. Regional FSN games from random markets probably do just as well for them, without much cost.
The link anorris posted mentioned more games televised... That would be a nice plus, but I can't see it being enough to voluntarily lure the MAC away from STO unless Time Warner really offered a payday.
I wish they put a number to "more." The STO deals had solid minimum numbers publicized, per sport (although men's and women's basketball were lumped together). The release does mention 55 basketball games, which is a sizeable bump.
Clearly a step back since, well, sucks for you if you have DirecTV. Honestly, I am a bit relieved because it's at least something.
This is a huge one to me. The channel isn't exactly well distributed. It does sound as though the live games, at least, will be simulcast through ESPN3 and mac-sports.com, which is excellent, and sufficient for most who have a bit of tech-savvy, although picture quality obviously will suffer. I also am a bit relieved, as I think about it, because I really was expecting nothing.
the important thing here is that the games are getting televised somewhere, which means they are already being produced and it's easier for ESPNU, ESPNnews and Gameplan to pick them up and put them on nationally.
As above, they're somewhere, which is good. Although the rest of this isn't really meaningful, because if U or News were going to put them on, they'd send their own folks. GamePlan, on the other hand, is possible, since that is how it operates (by picking up other feeds of games ESPN owns the first-tier rights to, as they do with the MAC).
Makes me wonder about the future of STO after the baseball season is through. Nothing on there now that couldn't be carried on FSN Ohio. Too bad.
Honestly, I thought from the moment I heard they bought STO the network was dead. Fox Sports Cincy/Fox Sports Cleveland, FS Ohio North/South, whatever. Especially given Fox's push nationally in sports, the STO branding will probably go away as fast as they can make it.
I understand this only a regional deal and beggars can't be choosers. But with the proliferation of college sports networks, I'm not sure why you sign a 3-year deal with Time Warner that essentially limits the distribution of your content.
Three years seems to be somewhat standard for the conference -- Both the STO and Fox Sports Ohio deal prior were for three year periods.
I'm wondering if this is going to be broadcast like the Big East Network and regional SEC games, where they use ESPN graphics and everything, but it's broadcast on local channels. Is that how this will work?
No. The MAC actually does have such a package with the MAC Game of the Week, which much like the Big East and SEC packages are produced by ESPN Regional TV. These Time Warner games would be produced by Time Warner, as STO's were by STO. It does look like they'll be available through ESPN3 though.
Which is what concerns me. STO was good for us in my opinion because they cared about the programming since baseball only fills up so much of the schedule, and they were making their money by broadcasting. I'm not certain Time Warner will pay for the quality of production that STO did, because frankly this channel seems like an afterthought. This network apparently launched in August 2012, combining three services in the region (TWTV, Time Warner Cable Sports 24, and NE Ohio Network) according to Wikipedia. Anybody heard of it? Does it seem like they're marketing it or trying to make it into a selling point? Or is this going to be public access plus?
Buffalo has had a couple of games on Time Warner's Buffalo-area sports channel the last couple of years, and the quality has been very, "meh."
Maybe they're really going to go for it and I will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.