pf9 Posted February 29, 2020 Share Posted February 29, 2020 For many years, ESPN has been airing college football, it now has several outlets to do so: the ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPNews national cable networks, the ABC broadcast network (which has branded almost all of their sports events as ESPN productions for the last 13 years), the conference-based ACC and SEC Networks, and the streaming platforms ESPN3 and ESPN+. Most of the games on the linear channels on Saturdays ultimately come from the Power 5 conferences. The G5 leagues do get some exposure on these networks but are otherwise limited to weeknights and the streaming services. ESPN could expand its CFB coverage by adding G5 games to Freeform (September and November) and FX (all season long). Of course they won't have access to the MW anymore soon, but they have the other G5 conferences at least to some extent. FXX and The Disney Channel would be used as overflow outlets when the end of one game overlaps with the start of another. Quite frankly, the G5 could use a lot more Saturday exposure. Freeform and FX are available in more homes than the network which currently airs the most G5 games, CBS Sports Network. Freeform would not air any games in October out of deference to 31 Days of Halloween. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexGreen#20 Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 1. This would be terrible for the brands of these channels. 2. Do G5 games net more viewers than the Harry Potter marathon that never ends on those channels? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 G5 teams may not be as attractive as P5 teams but they do have fanbases. I live in close proximity to two G5 teams (Akron and Kent State). And FYI, Freeform doesn't own the HP rights anymore - USA and Syfy do. ESPN should also consider producing more sports telecasts in general for other Disney cable networks that don't usually air sports. There's only so much room on the ESPN-branded channels and only so many have access to ESPN3 and ESPN+. Like beginning in January ESPN could produce Saturday afternoon NBA games on Freeform, with the ideal title being "NBA Saturday Matinee". I mean TNT and TBS have plenty of sports without being sports channels necessarily. The other major media conglomerates (NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS) should also expand sports offerings to other cable channels they own besides the broadcast networks and the sports-centric networks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexGreen#20 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 18 minutes ago, pf9 said: G5 teams may not be as attractive as P5 teams but they do have fanbases. I live in close proximity to two G5 teams (Akron and Kent State). And FYI, Freeform doesn't own the HP rights anymore - USA and Syfy do. ESPN should also consider producing more sports telecasts in general for other Disney cable networks that don't usually air sports. There's only so much room on the ESPN-branded channels and only so many have access to ESPN3 and ESPN+. Like beginning in January ESPN could produce Saturday afternoon NBA games on Freeform, with the ideal title being "NBA Saturday Matinee". I mean TNT and TBS have plenty of sports without being sports channels necessarily. The other major media conglomerates (NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS) should also expand sports offerings to other cable channels they own besides the broadcast networks and the sports-centric networks. Why do you think the audiences of Freeform want to watch ****ty college football? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naptownskinsfan Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Yeah, I think ESPN+ is plenty to handle G5 action, or even mediocre P5 matchups. More people are streaming now more than ever, and can get this content on the big screen at home. I know that I get a ton of different options to stream on my phone throughout the day. They don't need to add any major networks, unless they are adding a P5 conference to their ranks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeT14 Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Looks like Freeform gets about 300,000+ viewers for their shows. From what I can tell MACtion seems to float around 500,000? Not sure it would be worth the money to them. A lot of this comes from people casually watching, and I know I don't scroll to Freeform casually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.