Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has bolstered its Atlantic Coast Conference lineup, acquiring live rights up to 120 events annually.
Through the sublicensing pact, CSN Mid-Atlantic will return to the ACC gridiron for the first time since 2004, with 14 football games, kicking off with the Sept. 3 matchup between James Madison and North Carolina. The deal also augments the RSN's position on the conference's hardwood, with 59 basketball games -- 31 men's contests, including 16 conference match-ups and 28 on the distaff side of the court.
Moreover, CSN Mid-Atlantic gains the rights for up to 20 conference baseball games, including tournament contests, plus an array of soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, softball and field hockey action. The network will also be home to ACC All Access, a weekly half-hour program.
CSN Mid-Atlantic, which is the official sports network of the Colonial Athletic Association, garnered the ACC rights through a series of sublicensing pacts, beginning with ESPN's 12-year, $1.9 billion deal with the conference that was signed in July 2010 and begins with the upcoming school year. Under that contract, Raycom Sports continues its long-standing position as the syndication home of ACC content for over-the-air and regional cable network distribution in the ACC market. In turn, Raycom worked a deal with Fox SportsSouth, which then assigned an ACC package to CSN Mid-Atlantic. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Our longstanding relationship with the ACC, its member schools and their many fans throughout the region make our network an ideal partner for the conference and a great home for their exciting product," said Comcast SportsNet senior vice president and general manager Rebecca Schulte in a statement. "This partnership represents a considerable increase in our high-quality programming and confirms our position as the region's leader in college sports coverage."
The RSN, which counts 4.7 million subscribers in Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C. and parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware, already had partnerships with the three ACC programs the University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, which yielded special team and coaches' shows, encore game presentations and marketing and branding elements. The network also has partnerships with other colleges throughout the region, including the University of Richmond, Towson University, Old Dominion, James Madison University and Virginia Commonwealth University.
The network, which is the home to Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards telecasts, also produces and airs a schedule of conference football and basketball from the Pac-12, Big 12 and Conference USA.
It recently renewed and expanded its partnership with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, adding official pregame and postgame shows and preseason games to its extensive line-up of team programming. The network will continue to deliver the Ravens' complete line-p of daily television shows, live coverage of head coach John Harbaugh's weekly press conferences and other team-related programming and online content throughout the season.
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