Longtime Disney/ESPN executive Justin Connolly resigns from company
Justin Connolly is leaving Disney and ESPN after 25 years with those companies.
Justin Connolly is leaving Disney and ESPN after 25 years with those companies.
"Our new deal with the NCTC will allow member operators to continue serving their customers across the country by delivering Disney’s robust and expansive portfolio of networks, which includes the addition of the ACC Network."
"We don’t have any customers calling us on RSNs today. ...We’re not interested in taxing our customers when they don’t watch the channels."
"With Mediacom’s strong presence in key markets, the addition of the ACC Network and its extensive offerings of live sporting events will add tremendous value for their customers."
Those channels would include NBC Sports and Telemundo Deportes, which carry Premier League and Sunday Night Football.
Another ACC Network holdout bites the dust.
This deal means ACC Network could reach as many as 52 million subscribers altogether now.
Four games in Week 2 and one in Week 3 will be on "ACC Network Extra," a digital product within the ESPN app only available to authenticated ACC Network subscribers.
It doesn't look like the former Fox RSNs will return to Dish any time soon.
After a temporary extension Sunday, the Fox RSNs have now gone dark on Dish and Sling TV. And the sides don't seem close to a deal.
The 750+ members of the NCTC can now opt in to carry the ACC Network at launch.
The ACC Network's current announced deals only cover about 20 million homes, although more are expected by launch. But there are still some big holdouts, including Comcast, Dish, and Charter.
This may help alleviate some of the immediate worries about the RSNs' future carriage under Sinclair.
The Pac-12 Networks' carriage issues might get even worse if AT&T U-Verse drops them.
Dish subscribers in 14 of the biggest markets around the country no longer have access to CBS, just in time for Thursday's Thanksgiving Cowboys-Chargers game and Saturday's Iron Bowl.
The Pac-12 will be distributing some of its games and programming in China through Alibaba and Youku Todou.
PS Vue has added 18 ABC affiliates and several NBC affiliates.
Disney could make hundreds of millions more annually from ESPN fees with successful carriage negotiations.