Nov. 16, 2005
There has been some confusion recently about the Clemson-South Carolina not being televised. I would like to take a few moments and try to clarify a few points.
First of all, the home team owns the rights to the game. They have a contract with the Southeastern Conference and the conference television partners — just like we have with the ACC and their television partners. Their networks will pick up their games of choice.
If a game is not selected by a national television carrier, preference is given to intra-conference games as opposed to an inter-conference game because that helps better promote their conference. I think we can understand that priority.
If a game is not selected at all, there are provisions whereby it can be offered for pay-per-view. That is the decision of the home team, not the visiting team.
By contract, Clemson does not receive any revenue from pay-per-view sales, nor do we have any say in the decision. If it were to happen at Clemson and it was not picked up by the conference television carriers, we would have the same option.
So, Clemson was not involved in the decision.
There has been some misunderstanding that it was a joint venture with South Carolina. South Carolina holds the rights, makes the decision and receives the revenue from that decision.
Though we received some accusatory emails, we had no role in it. Even with the inter-conference dynamic, I am surprised it was not picked up by one of the networks. Since the game has been televised every year since 1984, many of us have come to expect that it automatically will be televised.
We also need to understand South Carolina has done absolutely nothing wrong. South Carolina did not ask the network not to pick it up. Like us, they would like for it to be at least regionally televised. And their decision does give people an alternative to watch the game that is not available otherwise.
Past ColumnsNovember 9, 2005November 1, 2005October 25, 2005October 19, 2005October 11, 2005October 4, 2005September 26, 2005September 21, 2005September 5, 2005August 23, 2005August 4, 2005July 26, 2005June 28, 2005May 23, 2005April 25, 2005April 4, 2005March 16, 2005February 23, 2005February 15, 2005February 9, 2005February 1, 2005January 25, 2005January 18, 2005January 11, 2005January 6, 2005December 15, 2004December 7, 2004November 30, 2004November 17, 2004November 10, 2004November 3, 2004October 26, 2004October 21, 2004October 11, 2004October 4, 2004
April 11, 2024
