 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Arizona California Colorado Idaho Nevada Oregon Utah Washington Nationwide (via satellite) |
| Headquarters | San Ramon,California |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| History | |
| Launched | August 15, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-08-15) |
| Closed | July 1, 2024; 19 months ago (2024-07-01) |
| Links | |
| Website | pac-12 |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Charter Spectrum | "Spectrum TV Silver" Subscription |
| Comcast Xfinity | "Digital Preferred" package |
| Cox | "Contour TV Preferred" package, "Sports & Info Pak" add-on |
| Streaming media | |
| Sling TV | Sports Extra package |
| FuboTV | Premier package |
| Pac-12 Network Livestream | video requires login from pay television provider, or in some cases, an ISP to access live content |
| Spectrum TV Stream | Only available on the Spectrum TV App on mobile and the Spectrum TV Website with an account subscription. |
ThePac-12 Network (P12N), sometimes referred to asPac-12 Networks, was an Americansports-orienteddigital cable andsatellitetelevision network owned by thePac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities were headquartered inSan Ramon, California.
In addition to the national channel, it also operated a group of sixregional sports channels focused on different schools within the conference under the Pac-12 Networks brand:[1]
The network was shut down on June 30, 2024, following the departure of 10 of the conference's 12 members to theBig Ten,Big 12, andACC. The remaining Pac-12 Network employees were transitioned to an in-house media department known as Pac-12 Enterprises, which produces telecasts with its remaining members forCW Sports, and has offeredremote production services for the conference's current and future members, as well as other clients outside of the conference. It also continues to operate thefree ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channelPac-12 Insider, which features archive content and selected live events.
Announced on July 27, 2011 and launched on August 15, 2012, the national network was available on the West Coast in the United States at the time of its debut,[2] while the regional networks are available in all providers within their respective Pac-12 regional territory.[3] It is the third sports network to be devoted to a specific collegiate athletic conference (after theBig Ten Network and the now-defunctMountainWest Sports Network) and the first to be owned by a conference outright without support from outside companies (Fox Entertainment Group owns 60% of Big Ten Network, while the defunct MountainWest Sports Network hadCBS andComcast as partners, andSEC Network andACC Network are wholly owned byESPN). The network was headquartered at Pac-12 Conference offices inSan Francisco, and shared the $8.35 million in rent for offices in theSouth of Market Area.[4]
The networks featured 24-hour coverage of Pac-12 sanctioned sporting events, includingOlympic sports as well as broadcasts of archived sports telecasts. The contract ensures that every football and men's basketball game is televised nationally.[5] Sports not featured on the national Pac-12 Network are instead carried through the regional networks as well as on the Pac-12 Digital Network, which was launched the same day.
On June 10, 2012, the Pac-12 Conference announced a partnership withpay-per-view serviceIn Demand and Comcast Media Center (CMC) that would provide the networks with technical support,video-on-demand services, and support forTV Everywhere services. The infrastructure of the Pac-12 Networks, twelve member institutions and CMC's operations inDenver,Colorado are connected via fiber network.Master control origination services, including compression and satellite front-haul services, satellite receiver authorizations, and disaster recovery are also run through the CMC in Denver.[6] The following month on July 22, the Pac-12 Conference announced an additional partnership with In-Demand, that would provide mobile production facilities and below-the-line crews for all 12 schools in the conference.[7]
On December 8, 2012, theInternational Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) declared a strike against the network, citing the hiring of non-union television crews at lower wages at many of the twelve campus sites.[8][9] The strike ended 10 days later.[10]
The Pac-12's next media rights for football and men's basketball began in the 2024-25 academic year. In July 2022, following the decision ofUCLA andUSC to move to theBig Ten from 2024,Pat Forde reported that there had been early discussions over the future of the Pac-12 Networks, including the possibility of merging with ESPN'sACC Network which has wider carriage than the Pac-12 Networks.[11] As part of a restructuring, the conference office was shuttered with employees permanently working from home, and the production studios were moved toBishop Ranch in San Ramon, a Bay Area suburb.[12]
Ultimately, Oregon and Washington would also defect to the Big Ten, while California and Stanford moved to the ACC, and Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah all moved to the Big 12, leaving only two members:Oregon State andWashington State.[13][14][15]
Jon Wilner ofThe Mercury News reported that on June 30, 2024, the Pac-12 Networks would cease operation with the expiration of its carriage contracts, while the San Ramon studios will be retained to produce programming for the remaining two members, for at least one year.[16] The conference announced an agreement withCW Sports to carry most of the two teams' home games for the 2024 season onThe CW and produce a college football studio show for the network via Pac-12 Enterprises—a media department staffed by the remaining Pac-12 Network employees.[17][18] The Pac-12 Networks shut down on July 1, 2024 at midnight PT.
Pac-12 Enterprises was used as a sales point to recruit new members to the conference. Programming is produced centrally at Bishop Ranch with low latency and minimal equipment on site. In addition to current and future Pac-12 members, Pac-12 Enterprises also has produced programming for ex-Pac-12 members Arizona and California,ACC Network, theWest Coast Conference, andNBC Sports Bay Area (aGolden State Warriors exhibition game).[19]
The Pac-12 Networks produced telecasts of roughly 850 collegiate events each year (350 events on Pac-12's national network, and 500 events carried on Pac-12 regional networks).[1] The national network included 35 football games, 100 men's basketball games and 40 women's basketball games on an annual basis. The Pac-12 national network also featured all spring football games, coaches shows, and news conferences. The Pac-12 network has also shown rugby matches played by schools from thePAC Rugby Conference, even thoughcollege rugby is not a sport sanctioned by theNCAA.[20]
Original programs broadcast by the networks included:
The original announcement of the Pac-12 Networks' launch on July 27, 2011 included the announcement of carriage agreements with four major cable providers,Comcast,Time Warner Cable,Cox Communications andBright House Networks to carry the Pac-12 Network and Pac-12 Digital Network at launch. The agreements did not guarantee that the Pac-12 Networks would be available in all areas within the territory of a Pac-12 university, and a minimum of 40 million homes nationally at launch date.[23] The agreements complemented a 12-year deal that the Pac-12 Conference had struck withFox Sports andESPN that began in 2012. In addition, the network entered into extended negotiations with satellite providers. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott stated in a May 8, 2012 interview with sports radio stationKJR inSeattle that he is "quietly optimistic" that deals with providers would be made in time for the channel's planned fall 2012 launch. The Pac-12 Network was never carried byDirecTV,Charter Communications (exceptDallas andLos Angeles) andVerizon FiOS.
On July 20, 2012, the Pac-12 Conference announced a long-term agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a cooperative of 900 mostly smaller and rural cable providers, allowing any member of the NCTC access to carry one or more of the Pac-12 Network as well as providing access to the Pac-12 Digital Network through the NCTC WTVE TV Everywhere platform.[24] In an August 10, 2012 conference, the conference announced that NCTC members Strata Networks and All West Communications in Utah, San Bruno Cable in theSan Francisco Bay Area,GCI in Alaska, LocalTel Communications in Wenatchee, WA and Ashland Communications in Oregon had agreed to carry the Pac-12 Network.[25] On July 28, 2012,Frontier Communications announced on one of its officialFacebook accounts that the company would carry the channel on Frontier FiOS TV.[26] The deal was officially announced on August 1, 2012.
Several smaller providers reached carriage agreements with the network during the month of August 2012. On August 1, Oregon-based cable providersBendBroadband announced an intention to carry the Pac-12 Network as well as the Pac-12 Digital Network on their "bendbroadband2go" TV Everywhere platform.[27] Two days later on August 3, 2012, Arizona-basedWestern Broadband and Orbitel Communications announced their intent to carry the Pac-12 Arizona Network.[28] On August 6,Astound Broadband announced an intention to carry the Pac-12 Bay Area Network.[29] A day later on August 7,Wave Broadband announced an intention to carry the Pac-12 Bay Area, Oregon, and Washington Networks.[30] On August 8, 2012, CC Communications announced its intent to carry the Pac-12 National Network and one Pac-12 regional channel (on August 30, 2012, CC Communications began carrying the Pac-12 Mountain network, in addition to the national network).[31]Click! Network also revealed on their official Facebook page that it would carry the Pac-12 Network.[32] On August 21, 2012, Canby Telecom announced an intention to carry the Pac-12 National Network as well as all Pac-12 regional networks.[33]
On September 8, 2012,Dish Network announced that it would carry the Pac-12 National Network starting on September 8. To date, it is the only satellite carrier to have struck a carriage agreement with the Pac-12 Networks, and was the largest pay television provider to reach a carriage deal during 2012, bringing the Pac-12 Networks' national coverage to approximately 60 million households.[34] On February 1, 2016, however, Pac-12 restricted access to the regional channels for DISH subscribers.[35] On October 10, 2012, the conference came to an agreement with Consolidated Communications for itsSureWest Communications system in Northern California to carry the Pac-12 Networks Bay Area regional service.[36] On September 6, 2013, Pac-12 Networks entered into a deal with AT&T U-verse to carry the main feed on channel 759 (as well as on channel 760 in the San Francisco Bay Area, and on channel 761 in Los Angeles).[37]
As of 2015, the Pac-12 Networks were "available in" 90 million homes, but about 12 million actually subscribed to the network, according toSNL Kagan.[38] On February 10, 2016, theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on behalf of Jessop & Proulx LLP, added Pac-12 Network to its list of foreign broadcasters that are allowed to be carried by Canadian pay television providers.[39] By the end of 2016, Pac-12 Network had carriage deals withCharter Communications in Los Angeles and Dallas,[40]Frontier FiOS,[41] and streaming serviceSling TV,[42] but still had not come to terms withDirecTV.[43] In August 2017, the Pac-12 Networks were added toFuboTV.[44]
On November 28, 2018, it was reported that the Pac-12 Networks will no longer be available on AT&T U-verse as of December 2, 2018.[45] Approximately 19 million homes were subscribed to the network in 2018, according to SNL Kagan.[46]
In March 2019, Pac-12 Network announced partnerships with theSeven Network's7plus streaming service in Australia, andDAZN in Canada, to carry programming from the service.[47][48]
An agreement with DirecTV was never reached. Pac-12 Networks president Mark Shuken stated "Our presidents, our athletic directors, when we talk, we talk about skating to where the puck's going, not where it's been" referring to the decline of satellite TV and the rise of streaming services.[49]
Pac-12 Now was Pac-12 Networks'TV Everywhere platform. Developed in partnership withOoyala, it offered streaming of the Pac-12 Networks for television subscribers, as well as 800 live sporting events not on television per season.[50][51][non-primary source needed]
In June 2016, the Pac-12 announced that it would stream 150 live conference Olympic sports events in the 2016–17 season viaTwitter's live streaming functionality under thePac-12 Plus banner.[52]
In November 2020, Pac-12 Networks launched afree ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel known asPac-12 Insider. The service focuses primarily on original content, including classic events, original digital programming and highlights, and a slate of live events in Olympic sports. It launched first onSamsung TV Plus,Redbox Free Live TV andXumo Play.[53][54] The channel continues to operate, even after Pac-12 Network was shut down, airing home baseball and gymnastics featuring Oregon State University.[55][56] In 2025,Cal State Bakersfield announced an agreement to air homecollege wrestling duels on the service.[57]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
