If you’re planning to watch Saturday’s Kentucky-Chattanooga football game on one of the usual television broadcast channels, you are out of luck.
The Cats-Mocs clash, set for a noon kickoff at Kroger Field, is not on ESPN, or ESPN2, or ESPNU, or the SEC Network or even the SEC Network alternate channel.
In fact, Kentucky-Chattanooga is not on television, at all.
It will be streamed.
The next game for Mark Stoops’ 2-0 club will be carried by SEC Network Plus and ESPN Plus, the World Wide Leader’s streaming services. Welcome to the future.
UK’s Olympic sports followers are familiar with SEC Network Plus, which ESPN describes as “a complimentary digital platform providing hundreds of additional digital-only events to fans through the ESPN App on connected devices. SEC Network Plus is not a television channel.” You must have the SEC Network through your cable or satellite company to access SEC Network Plus online.
ESPN Plus is different. It is ESPN’s stand-alone streaming service, which requires a subscription of $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year. (It’s also included as part of the Disney Bundle — Disney is ESPN’s parent company.) ESPN Plus offers editorial content, original programming and live sporting events. Think of it as ESPN’s version of Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Bottom line: If you have the SEC Network on your television, you can access SEC Network Plus on your digital devices to watch Kentucky-Chattanooga. If you do not have the SEC Network, you’ll need a subscription to ESPN Plus.
With more people “cutting the cord” with their cable companies, networks have started streaming services — NBC’s Peacock; CBS’ Paramount Plus — in hopes of adding customers.
That’s where Saturday’s game comes in, UK football’s first to be streamed exclusively. Actually, it’s where the SEC comes in, thanks to an agreement between the conference and the cable network.
As part of the deal, ESPN Plus has the right to stream one non-conference football game and two non-conference men’s basketball games per SEC school each season. It will carry up to 14 non-conference football games and up to 20 non-conference basketball games annually.
“Whether it’s the ESPN networks — now the critically important broadcast component through ABC, the new streaming component through ESPN Plus, obviously the ESPN networks and the SEC Network — the flexibility and the opportunity to maximize audience and put the biggest games on the biggest stages for the most people to watch is really what we’re excited about,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN president of programming and original content when the agreement was announced.
The trend is set. Notre Dame’s home football game last Saturday against Toledo was shown exclusively on Peacock. Many of this year’s Olympic events, including some U.S. men’s basketball games, were shown exclusively on Peacock via subscription-only.
“Sports has been the last bastion of live TV, but we’re definitely seeing that starting to change slowly,” Geetha Ranganathan, a Bloomberg News analyst, told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Over time we are going to see more and more sports make their way to streaming.”
Beginning in 2022, the NFL’s Thursday night games will be carried exclusively on the Amazon Prime streaming service — unless you live in the local market of one of the participating teams. YouTube has exclusive rights to stream 21 Major League Baseball games this season. ESPN Plus will exclusively stream 75 hockey games next season as part of its new agreement with the NHL.
Long gone are the days of sitting in front of the television for the Jefferson-Pilot 12:30 p.m. SEC game followed by the marquee SEC matchup on CBS at 3:30. (The SEC’s deal with CBS runs out after the 2023-24 season.) Also long gone is the tape-delay broadcast of your local team on your local broadcast channel.
It’s a brave new digital/streaming world out there. And for UK sports fans, Saturday is only the beginning.
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