An open letter to the PAC 12 Network

So you’re upset that you can’t get a deal with DirecTV. I don’t care anymore. Stop trying. When you launched the network you decided to keep control of the content because you wanted to be able to innovate. So do it. Start innovating.

Start selling your content directly to the consumer. Don’t make me show proof of a cable TV subscription in order to stream your content. I don’t want to send a wheelbarrow full of money to a cable company for content I don’t want. I have no interest in watching people fish or bake quiche. I don’t want to watch Love It Or List It, Cupcake Wars, anything having anything to do with anyone named Kardashian, and I certainly have no interest in watching any of the Fake News Networks. I just want your content. That’s it. I would gladly pay you, say, $6 per month for the right to see PAC 12 games. Stop worrying over the $0.80 per subscriber you want to get from DirecTV.

If half your revenue is from subscription fees and the other half from advertising, you need to increase viewership, not limit it by locking people out because, like me, they refuse to finance the dying cable TV scheme.

You are half-way through a 12-year contract with Fox and ESPN. When it expires, don’t renew. They’re poaching all the biggest games. The next time two top-10 PAC 12 schools are playing, you will own the rights to that game. Now you can force people to sign up for your streaming service if they want to see the game. If ESPN or Fox want to broadcast the game, they do so only on your terms.

Game times are counterproductive. Why do so many games start at 8 or even 10 pm mountain time? Is it any wonder this conference gets little respect from the East Coast when all our games occur after midnight in that time zone? Start playing games at the more logical Saturday afternoon time slot.