HOOVER, Ala. — During the 2013 Southeastern Conference Media Days, details about the SEC Network were vague.
One year later, there is a concrete direction the network is headed with four national cable and satellite distributors signed on to carry it during the Aug. 14 launch — including Cox Communications.
With four weeks left before launch, Justin Connolly, senior vice president of the network, spoke Wednesday about multiple aspects pertaining to the network, giving further clarity to what you’ll see when you turn on the TV next month.
In its infancy, there will be kinks to work out, one of which is how the network will cover situations such as breaking news.
It’s a network part-owned by ESPN — the exact ownership stake is not known — and part-owned by the conference.
There will be times during its first season that major news will break. The nature of the level of exposure the conference has and the reverence people have for their schools in this corner of the country leads to major scandals needing to be covered 24/7.
Cam Newton’s father allegedly taking money from Mississippi State, Johnny Manziel’s autograph scandal and Nick Saban’s flirtation with Texas are examples of major stories the network will have to cover and that’s only one sport.
The question is that of journalistic identity. Will the network be just a public relations mouthpiece for ESPN and the conference, or will it exhibit “Outside the Lines” level investigative prowess?
“We spent a lot of time talking about that and as I’ve said before we’re not going to have the news infrastructure that ESPN has,” Connolly said.
“We’re not going do a whole lot of investigative journalism but we are going to report when something happens and let fans know. I think that’s critical in order to maintain editorial integrity and credibility with fans out there.”
The talent on the network has been finalized including former Florida football players Jesse Palmer and Tim Tebow. Palmer will be a color analyst in the play-by-play booth and Tebow will primarily be an analyst on the “SEC Nation” pregame show which will travel every week to the biggest game of the Saturday slate.
“We’ve seen when we bring him on site just the level of fan affinity and overage and the following he has and the ability to bring that to our network is something special,” Connolly said. “So we’re excited about that.”
The programming has been finalized as well.
The network will premiere 10 new “SEC Storied” documentary style films each year, including one on former Florida coach Steve Spurrier on Aug. 27.
Radio host Paul Finebaum will have a daily slot in which his show will be simulcast and there will be a daily SportsCenter-like show called “SEC Now.” “SEC in 60” will provide an enhanced highlight package for the previous week’s football games and “Film Room” will showcase a different SEC head coach breaking down game tape every Wednesday night.
Combined with its online streaming via the WatchESPN app, the SEC Network promises to make 550 live events available in the first year after launch — that includes every conference baseball, softball, men’s or women’s basketball game as well as every SEC gymnastics meet.
In order to meet that goal, broadcast infrastructure at every school had to be improved — some more than others. As far as UF is concerned, the university found itself in the good graces of the ESPN brass when it came to facility inspection.
“They were ready to go because they already have a local broadcast network there,” Connolly said. “Great facilities, so there it was just interesting in terms of upgrades here and there, in terms of event production. But they were one of the campuses that were pretty far along.”
There is much more negotiation left to do with distributors especially with big fish like Comcast, DirecTV, Bright House and Time Warner yet to sign on. Not everyone will be able to watch the network when they want, and the 11th hour nature of when deals are struck understandably has some fans sweating.
The boss is not, though.
“I’d say we’re confident about the conversation and our confidence is really based on the demand that’s out there among SEC fans,” Connolly said. “You go out there and you just see the level of passion among this fanbase. I think it’s unrivaled so we’re confident based on that.”
Justin Connolly, from the SEC Network, speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference Media Days on Wednesday in Hoover, Ala.
