Don’t expect to see Pac-12 Networks on DirecTV

Two of Stanford’s first three football games and probably a host of Cal games will be shown on the Pac-12 Networks this season.

If you’re in one of the 20 million homes in the U.S. that relies on DirecTV, don’t bother looking for those games among your channels.

Another football season is right around the corner, but a deal between the Pac-12 and DirecTV isn’t even on the horizon — for the third straight year.

The satellite giant won’t say how many subscribers it has in the Bay Area, but a reasonable guess is that it’s one fifth of households. Many of those customers are sports fans, drawn to DirecTV’s “NFL Sunday Ticket” package.

DirecTV also has deals with Major League Baseball to show nearly 100 out-of-market games a week, the NBA for up to 40 out-of-market games a week and the NHL for as many as 40 out-of-market games a week.

But when it comes to the 850 live events (including 35 football games)

that the Pac-12 shows on its network, DirecTV is unimpressed, unapologetic and unyielding — at least at the price the conference is asking.

Neither side will say what that price is, and neither side has been willing to give an inch.

It’s possible that AT&T’s recent acquisition of DirecTV for $48.5 billion will help thaw the icy relationship between the two sides. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calls AT&T “our most comprehensive partnership.” The deal, announced in May, has to be approved by federal regulators.

In an interview, Pac-12 Networks President Lydia MurphyStephans said she’s optimistic the deal “will lead to constructive negotiations.”

That is, she’s optimistic in the long term, but not the short one.

“We have put the same offer on the table that more than 60 distributors have accepted,” she said. “I’m optimistic for the future. For this season, I’m not optimistic.”

The way DirecTV sees it, the best football games the Pac-12 offers are already available to its customers. That’s because the conference lets ESPN and Fox cherry-pick the top games each week, often just six or 12 days before kickoff.

What’s left are typically conference games involving lower-echelon teams and nonconference games against outclassed opponents. Last year’s cellar dwellers, Cal and Colorado, took part in 15 of the Pac-12 Networks’ 35 games.

Just two of conference champion Stanford’s games were shown on P12N. One was a 21point win over San Jose State; the other was an upset loss at Utah, which ESPN and Fox obviously had given little chance of winning.

“Even though it is unwilling to invest its best games into its own channel, the conference has still established a high price for Pac-12 Networks and refuses to compromise,” DirecTV spokesman Thomas Tyrer said.

Murphy-Stephans points out that as many as six conference football teams will be in the Top 25 at the start of the season. As for the games selected by the Pac-12 Networks, she said, “Sometimes we have the second pick (in a week) and sometimes the third pick. We do get quality games.”

DirecTV, headquartered in El Segundo (Los Angeles County), has offered to carry Pac-12 Networks on a pay-per-view basis or on a sports tier if the conference won’t lower the overall price. The conference has steadfastly rejected those ideas.

It probably isn’t going to lower its demands after reaching deals with 66 other distributors. So it’s hard to envision how a compromise could be achieved, especially because the conference publicly has encouraged DirecTV subscribers to switch providers.

According to Tyrer, DirecTV would like to make a deal for its customers who want Pac-12 programming “as long as we’re not forcing everyone else to pay for it too. Pac-12 schools have a tradition of terrific competition and fair play, so we can’t understand why the conference won’t allow anyone to simply choose.”

Counters Murphy-Stephans: “No other sports network is carried a la carte. We’re not interested in being a case study.”

Only two other major conferences have their own sports networks: DirecTV shows the 7year-old Big Ten Network but does not have a deal yet with the SEC Network, which launches Aug. 14.