Spectrum to carry ACC Network games
A wave of Miami and Florida State fans will be able to watch games on the new ACC Network.
With a little more than a week until its scheduled debut, Spectrum will now carry the 24-hour network dedicated to ACC sports.
A new multi-year distribution deal between the Walt Disney Company and Charter Communications, which owns Spectrum, was announced Wednesday.
The agreement allows Disney to deliver a lineup of sports, news and entertainment content to Spectrum customers, including the new ACC Network that is set to debut Thursday, Aug. 22.
“Our new agreement with Charter allows us to continue serving Spectrum TV customers with the full value of the Walt Disney Television and ESPN networks, including the newly acquired FX and Nat Geo networks,” said Sean Breen, senior vice president for Disney Media Distribution. “ACC fans can also rest assured that they will be able to watch their favorite teams on Spectrum, one of the largest distributors across the ACC footprint, when ACC Network launches next week.”
Before Wednesday’s announcement, the only way fans could watch the ACC Network was by through online steaming sites such as YouTube TV, Hulu and PlayStation Vue. Fans could also purchase a subscription to the ESPN+ app to view the content.
ACC commissioner John Swofford was confident a distribution deal would be done sooner rather than later.
“What I will tell you is that we’re very confident that ESPN are the best in the world when it comes to distribution,” Swofford said during the ACC’s preseason football media day in July. “It’s all part of the Disney family and when you combine ESPN sports with what Disney does that’s non-sports, that’s strong. I think we all understand that. That’s why we feel so confident as this fills out [because of ] who we’re partnered with.”
When asked about future distribution deals last week during a teleconference call with reporters, ESPN senior vice president Rosalyn Durant said, “I can tell you that we are very pleased with the distribution agreements that we have in place currently, and as you’d imagine, we continue to have lots of conversations, and productive conversations, with other distributors for ACC network coverage, in the ACC footprint and beyond the footprint.”
The new network is expected to provide approximately 450 live events including 40 regular-season football games, 150 men’s and women’s basketball games, and more than 200 other regular-season competitions and tournament games from across the conference’s 27 intercollegiate sports plus news and other programming.
The ACC Network will air the season opener between Clemson and Georgia Tech on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 8 p.m.