There's not a television deal that bugs me more than the NFL Ticket. However, when it's been exclusively with one provider for 15 years, AND said provider pays $1 Billion to keep it, there's not much you can say. The NFL and DirecTV have once again thumbed their noses at the likes of Comcast and Time Warner, and the "Ticket" will be staying on the satellite platform through 2014. Via MCN....

The National Football League has reached a four-year contract extension with DirecTV to remain the TV home of the Sunday Ticket package through 2014.

Sunday TicketAnnounced Monday during the NFL owners meeting in Dana Point, Calif., the pay-per-view pact, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, is valued at about $1 billion annually from 2011-2014. DirecTV currently pays some $700 million annually on its Sunday Ticket contract that expires after the 2010 season.

However, the agreement opens the door to a wider reach for the out-of-home package, which will become available to broadband subscribers that can't receive DirecTV. The satellite leader will aim this broadband game service at those who reside in multi-unit dwellings or DirecTV customers with poor exposure to a satellite signal.

This broader broadband service, according to league officials, would kick off no later than 2012. Currently, broadband coverage of the games is limited to those who purchase Sunday Ticket, and then pay an additional $99 for the broadband Super Fan package.

While the Internet option sounds cool, don't get excited. You would have to be officially ruled out of receiving satellite television first, before getting that service. However, in the 2012 season, the NFL will be allowing some cable carriers to sell the "Red Zone" Channel. The live cut-in section of the "Ticket" would be available to almost all cable providers, as well as on the Internet.

With the money that's out there for the NFL, it still seems odd that they are giving an exclusive to DirecTV. But again....when there's a guaranteed billion dollars on the table, I'm sure that's hard to pass up.

NFL Scores With $4 Billion DirecTV Sunday Ticket Extension (Multichannel News)

The two were walking on thin ice for a few months, but today the NFL and Westwood One agreed to keep their relationship going. The new two-year agreement will have Westwood One covering 57 games next year, which also includes both Championship games, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl. Here's the WWO press release....

Westwood One and the National Football League (NFL) announced today a new two-year agreement for Westwood One to continue as the exclusive network radio partner of the NFL.

Westwood One has been an NFL network radio partner for more than four decades and the exclusive network radio partner since 1987.

Westwood One will continue to broadcast all national regular season and postseason NFL games, including the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, the NFL Playoffs, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl. In addition, Westwood One’s NFL broadcasts will now be streamed online as part of Field Pass on NFL.com.

As the exclusive radio partner of the NFL, the Westwood One 2009 NFL broadcast schedule features 57 national games, including: the Hall of Fame game, Opening Kickoff game, 17 Monday Night games, including one doubleheader, 16 Sunday Night games, eight Thursday and Saturday Night games (including Thanksgiving Night), Thanksgiving Day doubleheader, 12 Postseason games, including the NFL Playoffs, the AFC and NFC Championship Games, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl and Super Bowl XLIV in South Florida. Westwood One also delivers specialty programs, including: The NFL Today, NFL Preview, NFL Insider, NFL Sunday, and NFL Fantasy Football Forecast.

Good for both sides in working something out, and while the money hasn't been released, Sports Business Daily is reporting that the deal is near the $30 million mark and is all guaranteed money. Something ESPN Radio and Sporting News Radio couldn't provide.

Don't Turn The Dial (Sports Business Daily - $)

Back in May, Vin Scully hinted at a retirement, or at least a reduced role for next season. The 80 year old stated that he wanted to spend more time with his wife, but today there are reports that he's definitely coming back for yet another season with the Dodgers. The LA Times is reporting that the longtime announcer will be back for his 60th season as the team's announcer and that his wife, Sandy, has given the plan her blessing....

Vin Scully will be back for his 60th season as voice of the Dodgers.

The Hall of Fame broadcaster said he received the blessing of his wife, Sandy, to postpone retirement. Scully, 80, is in the final season of a three-year contract.

Scully said he does not intend to re-sign for more than a year, adding, "I'm really weary talking about beyond this afternoon. . . . There's a beginning, a middle and an end for all of us. I know that I have a lot more yesterdays than I have tomorrows."

Because of the amount of time his wife will have to continue to spend alone, Scully said he felt he had to talk over his plans with her. He intends to keep the same work schedule, which includes games at home and as far east as Colorado. "She pays a terrific price," he said. "What it means is that Sandy is so selfless and unselfish and she would go through it again because she knows how much it means to me."

Well that's good news all-around isn't it? MLB and Dodger Fans get Scully for at least another year and he's still in good with the missus. I personally don't think Vin has lost that much off his fastball, and even if he does he should always have a spot in the Dodgers' booth.

Vin Scully says he'll be back next season (LA Times)
Dodgers Annoucner Vin Scully Hints At Retirement (Awful Announcing)

The USA Network has carried the opening rounds of the U.S. Open for 25 years and has always done an amazing job with the tournament. For one reason or another, the network has decided to focus all attention and resources on its "Characters Welcome" campaign (and will give you more episodes of Law & Order you can handle!) and won't be renewing its TV contract with USTA next year....

The network is giving up sports to focus on its character-driven programming. ESPN and the Tennis Channel will televise from Flushing Meadows for at least the next five years.

For two weeks, USA has been reminiscing over its 25-year history of covering the tournament, replaying moments like the Barbra Streisand “Zen” interview.

The cable change probably won’t make too big a difference to tennis fans — McEnroe & company hop from network to network — but it will be strange without relentless commercials for programs like “The Starter Wife.” (In 1995, the network did so many promos for a made-for-TV thriller called “The Colony,” I broke down and watched it. Let’s just say it was best shown in 60-second snippets.)

Over the years USA has been purging themselves of Sports like the Masters, and after this move they're only left with just the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and RAW (not really Sports, but you get what I'm saying). I understand that $140 Million dollars is a lot of money, and I'm personally not breaking any doors down to watch Burn Notice or Monk, but maybe someone is. I've watched the U.S. Open on the network since I was a kid, so it's definitely sad to see it go to another network, but at least McEnroe and Co. are staying on board.

With that said, I've always been a fan of season ending or year ending montages and this 25-year one ranks up there with the best of them. Especially when you set it to a cover of Steely Dan's "Reelin' In The Years"....

Closing Time for USA Network (NY Times)

The rumored ESPN acquisition of the NFL Network has apparently reached a dead end. I mentioned the plan of the "Leader" adding some of the NFL Network's content to ESPN Classic back in June and apparently a few sticking points are causing the talks to stall. Via the NY Times....

And [the NFL Network] can’t rely yet, if at all, on the grail of greater availability in the form of a joint venture with ESPN. The proposal, which has been negotiated for a while, would give ESPN Classic’s slot to the NFL Network or fold it into the ESPN family.

But talks are at an impasse, or at least are extremely close to one.

Several issues have kept the deal from being completed, including the structure of the venture and how the ESPN/NFL Network channel would be run. Logic dictates that ESPN would want some of its executives and announcers in the mix.

If this Hail Mary deal somehow goes through, it would demonstrate how much the league needs the breadth and power of ESPN, which once needed the acquisition of N.F.L. games to enhance its credibility and inflate its subscriber rolls.

The league has long been the masterly puppeteer when it sells networks its broadcast and cable rights. But the NFL Network is not so critical to some of Big Cable, largely because its eight games are simulcast on broadcast stations in the markets of the teams playing, limiting the outrage from regions that absolutely must see the games.

This is an amazing shift in power in regards to the NFL and ultimately gives ESPN all the leverage considering that they're the current holders of the Monday Night Football contract. As the NY Times mentions, ESPN could seemingly get a discount and extension for the current MNF deal ($1.1 Billion) just by agreeing to help the league get their content to the masses.

Plus, ESPN Classic is just a wasteland at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love the channel, but it's rare you go to the channel for anything specific. Seems like a great move for all parties involved, but the tricky part will ultimately be deciding which personalities will go on which shows and features. I'm sure ESPN will want to have some of their 50 or so NFL talking heads on the channel and the NFL Network will want to keep theirs as well. It'll be interesting to see how they work that out if the deal goes down.

NFL Network Hopes ESPN Is Answer to Its Problems (NY Times)
More ESPN Acquisition News! How About The NFL Network? (Awful Announcing)

ESPN and the Western Athletic Conference came to terms on a multi-platform deal today that extends through the end of the 2016-2017 College Sports season. The agreement includes Football, Men's and Women's Basketball, as well as whatever Olympic events that ESPN would consider airing (i.e.- Softball and Volleyball). Here's more via ESPN PR....

As part of the agreement, ESPNU will obtain rights to televise conference controlled games for the first time beginning with the 2008-09 season. Some content elements under the new agreement will be incorporated into the remaining years of the current contract (this season and next).

“The WAC is a significant player on the college landscape and we are thrilled they will call ESPN home through 2016-17,” said Burke Magnus (ESPN senior vice president). “You can not talk championship level teams without including WAC members in that conversation. With this agreement, college sports fans will continue to see – in a bigger and better way -- the quality and depth of the conference as well as the passion and enthusiasm of their supporters.”

Karl Benson (WAC commissioner) added, “For the past five years, WAC football has benefited greatly from the exposure it has received from ESPN. The WAC values its relationship with the ‘leader in college sports’ and is confident that this extension will allow WAC football to continue to be a prominent player in the BCS. But just as important, this deal will finally get the WAC’s men’s basketball teams the type of national exposure it deserves. And finally, for the first time ever, women’s basketball regular season games will be aired on the ESPN networks along with the championship contests for volleyball and women’s basketball.”

The conference will have a minimum of ten Football games, as well as a minimum of twelve (six men's, six women's) Basketball games, televised each season on the network. If you add to that the Women's Volleyball Championship, the WAC is going to be getting a lot of press from the "Leader" over the next ten years.

While I wouldn't go so far as saying that the teams in the WAC are "championship level teams" (outside of Boise State Football), the Football games are some of the most exciting contests that you can watch each season. Anytime you get games that have point totals anywhere from 80 to 110....people are going to watch.

The whole State of Ohio was in an uproar recently (and rightfully so I might add) about the whole Big Ten Network-Time Warner battle that would cause some fans to miss games, but today the BTN announced they two sides had reached a deal. Just in time for fans to see the team lose to Youngstown State! (Sorry, it must happen to balance out the World after the UM loss to App State last year)....

Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached an agreement-in-principle on terms of carriage for the Big Ten Network and its high-definition and video-on-demand programming on Time Warner Cable's line-ups throughout the Big Ten territory, including Ohio and Wisconsin. The pending agreement will ensure that Time Warner Cable's customers across these Big Ten states will have access to this Saturday's Big Ten college football season openers and all future Big Ten Network programming on an expanded basic level of service.

It seems like the Big Ten Network has fought with every cable outlet from Comcast to Al Jazeera, but hopefully this is the last of them. And given that there are over 2.2 million Time Warner customers in the State, it's great that the two came to terms before the season got underway. They even got it done on the expanded basic cable package....bravo.

Joint Statement from Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network (BTN)

The Big Ten Network was somewhat of a disappointment considering the giant mess between the channel and Comcast. Hopefully the SEC can do a better job. According to Conference Commissioner Mike Slive, the decision is likely to come this fall....

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive says the league will make a decision on its television and multimedia rights this fall.

The TV deals with CBS, ESPN, Raycom Sports and FSN South run out at the end of the academic year.

Slive said at SEC football media days Wednesday that the options include an SEC Network similar to the ones started by the Mountain West and Big Ten conferences and the NFL.

Slive said criteria the league is considering include the ability to provide national exposure and to air events for other sports besides football and basketball.

I understand the idea of your own network on the surface, but the SEC doesn't really need help in exposing itself. Basically every single game is on TV and the CBS deal already gives them their own channel basically. If it's more money that's one thing, but they certainly won't get anywhere near the same exposure.

Slive says SEC will decide on television plans this fall (SI)

I hadn't heard about this until now, but apparently three weeks ago IMG signed on as FOX's International Content Distributor. On the surface it seems like just another deal but when you take into consideration that IMG is working on a commission basis, the BCS contract is up in 2010 and the negotiations are actually this Fall....it's actually much bigger than just a deal.

What's the problem you ask? Well with IMG at the helm, and FOX having a 30-day window to negotiate, it's not likely that the BCS is going anywhere. That means ABC is S.O.L. when the contract is up and we'll be getting more band shots for years to come. Fanhouse's C. Rich has broken it down the best....

Fox has the TV rights to the BCS bowl games excepting the Rose Bowl. They have the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange through January 2010. Fox also has the National Championship game through January 2009. The contract is coming up for renegotiation this fall.

Disney/ABC/ESPN is expected to push very hard to get the rights for the BCS and Championship games. This means one way or another the 4-year, $330 million dollar deal Fox gave last time will be going significantly higher....

....The big loser regardless, will be the fans. No matter which media group gets the BCS and National Championship game, it means trying to make back that money. That means advertising revenue. We have seen how Fox has jammed tons of ads in the last couple years. That isn't likely to change.

It also means any hope of a playoff is still years away.

With this amount of money on the table I'm pretty sure we're never going to get to see a Playoffs in our collective lifetime. If anyone remembers how bad last year's BCS games were, just think how bad it will be next year and the year after. More random crowd shots, a ton more ads slowing down games to a crawl, and dying livers from our "Band Drinking Game". I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually rooting for an ABC/ESPN win this Fall. Go Team!

IMG, BCS, Fox in an Interesting Money Triangle (Fanhouse)

The war that has been waged between Comcast and The Big Ten Network finally seems to have been settled. All Comcast customers in the states that have Big Ten schools and other states have the option of getting the network within an expanded Sports package. Here are the particulars.....

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast will initially launch the network as part of its expanded basic level of service to promote it to the majority of its customers residing in states with Big Ten universities (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, with the exception of the Philadelphia region which will launch on a broadly distributed digital level of service) starting August 15th. (Comcast does not have systems in Iowa, the eighth Big Ten state.) In Spring 2009, Comcast may elect to move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in these states. Comcast's digital customers in the Big Ten states will also have immediate access to live Big Ten games and events in high definition, Big Ten programming via Comcast's video-on-demand platform, and a wide array of conference-related content through Comcast.net.

Outside of the Big Ten states that Comcast serves, Comcast has the option to provide Big Ten Network programming on any level of service, including its Sports Entertainment Package.

Officials from Comcast and Big Ten Network said they look forward to utilizing both traditional and emerging media to bring more Big Ten programming to fans than was ever available to them before.

"We are very pleased with the agreement we have reached with the Big Ten Network to carry hundreds of live Big Ten events," said Madison Bond, Executive Vice President, Content Acquisition, Comcast Cable. "We will be providing our customers with Big Ten programming through our signature video-on-demand service, and will have lots of highlights, replays, scores and more through Comcast.net so fans can keep pace with Big Ten action whenever they want to."

Thank goodness that's over with. It's also amazing that this feud came to such an amicable end after about two years of dragging each others names through the mud. Now I will be able to watch the Wolverines lose to a 1-AA team to start the year! What's that? They don't play one??? Whew.

Comcast, Big Ten Network Reach Broad Multimedia Agreement for Big Ten Network Content (Big Ten Network)