Comcast In Your Future? Don’t Get Too Excited Just Yet

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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Jim Quist @ACCTheQ –

Did ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips talk out of turn or were his words simply misinterpreted? When he gave Comcast customers hope of having the ACC Network by fall the joy amongst ACC fans was palpable. You may recall from a David Teel story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that Phillips felt negotiations were moving along nicely. According to the story, Phillips felt that a deal may be brokered in time for the debut of football season. The clock is ticking and there hasn’t been a whiff of any agreement from the media or among the rumor mill of social media. Not to be a nay-sayer but when have you ever known of a story with these implications encountering so many willingly tight-lipped reporters and bloggers?

“Phillips told his audiences in Blacksburg and Charlottesville that he believes ESPN/Disney, the conference’s partner in the ACC Network, likely will strike a carriage agreement by September with cable behemoth Xfinity/Comcast.”

I’m not from Missouri but I’ll gladly borrow their ‘Show Me’ slogan when it comes to having the switch thrown in time for football. What makes me doubt it will happen? Possibly because the current carriage agreement that Comcast has with ESPN doesn’t expire until, hold your breath, January 2022. And if you go back to when that contract was negotiated it was for a ten-year term. It included everything imaginable under the Disney umbrella including House of Mouse content, ABC and ESPN. No where in that agreement is there the mention of the ACC Network. Which, by the way may have only been a twinkle in the eye of a handful of people in Greensboro at the time.

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The ACC Network was announced in 2016 and finally came to fruition in 2019. Being late to the party means you may not get any cake. And that has been the case. Since day one Comcast/Xfinity hasn’t had any ‘significant’ economic justification for adding the network. Aside from the small numbers of individuals who left out of frustration all is well. A company that went from $23.7 billion in revenue in 2007 to $50.04 billion in 2016 isn’t about to dole out big bucks to adjust a contract in mid-stream.

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Piecemealing contracts is simply not how things are done when it comes to carriage agreement between content providers and cable companies. Unless, there is a significant sweetening of the pot by the provider. Who among us believes that two of the most aggressive media and entertainment companies in the world are going to negotiate from this standpoint? Even if the ACC had the leverage, which they don’t, why not just wait a few months longer to get the big payoff? And you’d better believe there will be a big payoff coming down the pike for Disney and all their entities including the ACC Network.

The cable carrier had, as of 2013 21.7 million customers. Clear numbers for most providers has become a closely guarded secret in recent years with cable cutting, satellite and streaming services. Nonetheless, those kind of numbers will help put the ACC Network in front of a significant portion of the country. This serves to up viewership which delivers ad revenue that is shared by all of the schools.

Perhaps Phillips was referring to the likelihood that serious negotiations will begin in September? If that’s the case prepare yourself, as a Comcast customer, for several additional months of frustration. If I were to recommend one thing to the powers that be in Greensboro, get out in front of this before it’s too late. Because fans aren’t going to be very happy.

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From my perspective I thoroughly understand that frustration. The proverbial rock and a hard place. I’d be pleased to eat these words come September if my take is wrong. Until then, there’s nothing pointing any of us in that direction.

Column Jim Quist 21 ACC Nation