Bogus Smith Posted August 10, 2023 Share Posted August 10, 2023 2024 Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Finals to Air on CBS Sports Network Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 10, 2023 Share Posted August 10, 2023 i guess this means no more getting ORU games for free on the ORU sports network Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodak651 Posted August 10, 2023 Share Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) 42 minutes ago, ORUalum said: i guess this means no more getting ORU games for free on the ORU sports network Based on their press release, it seems that schools that have existing streaming deals will be allowed to continue streaming games with their existing partners, and the Summit League Network will host those streams as well. For example, NDSU has a streaming deal with WDAY, and Midco will stream those games in addition to WDAY - similar to how midco and wday provided their streams to ESPN, last year (steamed in two locations). I think ORU may have the right to provide a free stream, just as long as they also provide a feed to the Summit League Network. Without seeing the contract, this is just my speculation, but if I'm correct, I think there is still reason to believe ORU would stop providing the free streams because they may now have a better opportunity to monetize the production/broadcasting of these games. Why do I think this? Because when you click to subscribe, you are asked to choose your favorite team. The NCHC hockey conference, which Fenton was the former commissioner of, does this exact same thing, and member schools receive something like 80-85% of all streaming revenue in proportion to the fan affinity selected by subscribers. Since this is a new addition to the Midco Sports Plus subscription process (I know because I am an existing subscriber), I assume the Summit League is utilizing a similar philosophy to distribute streaming revenue back to the schools. This is speculation, but I'm fairly confident that everything I've said above is correct, because the NCHC has a similar streaming deal and partnership with CBSSN. additional details here Edited August 10, 2023 by nodak651 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodak651 Posted August 10, 2023 Share Posted August 10, 2023 (edited) I may be wrong about streaming exclusivity - missed the word when I read this part "SLN will be a subscription-based, one-stop shop for all Summit League digital content and serve as the exclusive streaming home for live and on-demand coverage of the member institutions." WDAY will probably make an announcement about whether this affects their streamed NDSU games, so that will be the tell I guess. Edited August 10, 2023 by nodak651 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 I’ve heard Midco has an Apple TV app to make streaming on TV easy. Will schools get to sell local ads? If so, I like this deal for the fans and the school. Having every game on the worldwide leader in sports would have been nice too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted August 12, 2023 Author Share Posted August 12, 2023 I liked it better when the content was free, but I will still pay $80 a year to get the content because I will use it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 they'll get my 80 bucks too.... wish they had a 50 dollar option --- pick your school and get all contests involving them and nothing else 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 I am not a big fan of having the championship game move from ESPN to CBSSports. That's a huge drop in potential drive-by viewership. On 8/10/2023 at 11:01 AM, ORUalum said: i guess this means no more getting ORU games for free on the ORU sports network *IF* games broadcast for free is going away then the new media deal is not a net positive. The objective is to get in front of as many potential viewers as possible. CBS Sports is available in over 98 million homes with over 44 million subscribers ESPN+ has 25.3 million subscribers Outside of the championship only select games will be on CBS Sports so what's the benefit? Getting maybe one or two games on CBS Sports and possibly losing the free stream that fans anywhere in the world could watch? Not seeing how this deal benefits the members of the Summit League. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORU82 Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 Agree Dr. C. Another question I have is how much $$$ will this provide to ORU each year? By this I mean that many conferences/leagues members are getting guaranteed $$$ per year simply through their conference/league's broadcast agreement. Most are with ESPN either directly or indirectly and amount to millions of $$$ going to each of that conference's member institutions. Even G-5 schools are getting millions of $$$ per year for each of their members. Therefore, what guaranteed $$$ for each of the Summit League members is this agreement generating? We are probably different than most of the other Summit institutions because our alumni and hence viewers literally do watch from around the world. With a student body from all 50 states and approximately 115 different nations our fanbase is spread around the world. I point this out because Midco Sports at the end of the day is still a regional operation at best and then only in the Dakotas and surrounding states. In short, I would have ideally liked to have seen a deal with ESPN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted August 12, 2023 Share Posted August 12, 2023 I agree with those questioning the CBS affiliation vs. ESPN, but also don't know what ESPN was offering as a counter. At least the Summit finally has a media contract. I am assuming that the free ORU Sports Network streaming of live events is a thing of the past, and while disappointing, I knew that this day would eventually come. On the plus side, gaining access to all of the MBB, WBB, and BASE broadcasts for all Summit road games is something that will be worth the $80 per year to me, so I call this a wash. I do hope that we will still be able to stream the ORU audio broadcast for free, so we can synch Adam's call of the game with the video provided by the host school. And, in a true cost/benefit analysis, I think that I will likely sign on to the month-by-month plan, as my primary interest will be in the three sports mentioned above, which only are "in season" for 7 months of the year (Nov-May). Might save $10 that I can give directly to ORU Athletics! 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bogus Smith Posted August 13, 2023 Author Share Posted August 13, 2023 4 hours ago, TrueBlue82 said: And, in a true cost/benefit analysis, I think that I will likely sign on to the month-by-month plan, as my primary interest will be in the three sports mentioned above, which only are "in season" for 7 months of the year (Nov-May). Might save $10 that I can give directly to ORU Athletics! Excuse me, TB82, but at ORU, we play into June!! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueBlue82 Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 You are correct as usual, Bogus. I should have clarified that there would be no games of interest available on the Summit Network after May! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vcboy2000 Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 Yeah, with any TV deal I figured that the free broadcast was going away regardless of which network we were on. While I enjoyed the free stream, I’m glad ORU Athletics is getting another direct revenue stream. I’m sure it’s desperately needed. I didn’t realize that CBS Sports had more subscribers than ESPN. Will all the games be available through the CBS Sports app or only a few games on CBS and most on the Midco app? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cornelius Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 27 minutes ago, vcboy2000 said: Yeah, with any TV deal I figured that the free broadcast was going away regardless of which network we were on. While I enjoyed the free stream, I’m glad ORU Athletics is getting another direct revenue stream. I’m sure it’s desperately needed. I didn’t realize that CBS Sports had more subscribers than ESPN. Will all the games be available through the CBS Sports app or only a few games on CBS and most on the Midco app? As of right now only six Summit League games are a part of the CBS Sports deal. I assume ORU will be featured in at least one of those games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodak651 Posted August 13, 2023 Share Posted August 13, 2023 3 hours ago, Dr. Cornelius said: As of right now only six Summit League games are a part of the CBS Sports deal. I assume ORU will be featured in at least one of those games. 6 reg season + women's semi finals and the finals for both m and w. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUSwagger Posted August 26, 2023 Share Posted August 26, 2023 On 8/10/2023 at 10:37 AM, Bogus Smith said: 2024 Men's and Women's Basketball Championship Finals to Air on CBS Sports Network 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nodak651 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 Midco is restructuring their sports network, they just laid off a bunch of staff and have stated they are going to invest more in their streaming product, but it seems they will continue to operate the cable network and the current deals with USD, SDSU, and UND will apparently not be affected. However they did just lay off our BB/FB play by play guy, so I'm not sure what there plans are there for next year (I think they hope to hire the same people on as contractors, so they don't have to employ them as they have been doing). They are ceasing production of anything High School sports related. There is talk that they are pursuing the rights to a new collegiate sports conference, but the only ones that make any sense to me would be hockey related, which I doubt any of you would be interested in, unfortunately. Hopefully this cost cutting will allow them to redirect investment towards improving the broadcasts and the functionality of the streaming website/software. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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