On the day before the University of Texas kicks off its 2013 football season, ESPN has scored an affiliate deal with Time Warner Cable for the Longhorn Network.
Announced Friday evening, the deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, will put the service dedicated to the school's athletics and academic fare on Time Warner Cable’s expanded basic service throughout the state of Texas in time for the 2013 season opener against New Mexico State at 7 p.m. (CT).
The network is now available on channel 444 in standard-definition and 1593 in the high-definition format in the greater Austin area.
Grande Communications, which is the video and broadband provider for the school in Austin, has been offering Longhorn Network since early September in 2011, just about a week after ESPN launched the service on Aug. 26, 2011 under a 20-year, $300 million deal with the school and rights-holder IMG College.
While the TWC pact secures a hometown advantage for Longhorn Network in Austin and throughout the Lone Star State, the channel still does not have deals with Comcast, DirecTV and Dish.
Longhorn Network’s distribution roster also includes Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Verizon FiOS TV, Google Fiber, Consolidated Communications, En-Touch Systems, E-Tex Communications, Bay City Cablevision, Mid-Coast Cablevision, Texas Mid-Gulf Cablevision and AT&T U-verse.
Yesterday, AT&T and ESPN inked a deal that gives U-verse TV subs access to the Longhorn Network’s authenticated TV Everywhere service on Apple iOS devices and on PC browsers at www.longhornNetwork.com.
Other exclusive Longhorn Network programming includes Texas’ football contests against Ole Miss on Sept. 14 and Kansas on Nov. 2, plus exclusive pre- and post-contest coverage on Texas GameDay and Texas GameDay Final. Viewers also can watch live presentations of men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, rowing, track and field and golf on the service.
"We're really excited to have reached an agreement that brings Longhorn Network's programming to Time Warner Cable," said Andrew Rosenberg, senior vice president of content acquisition for Time Warner Cable, in announcing the deal. "We know we count a lot of UT fans among our customers, and we've worked hard with our colleagues at ESPN to finalize an agreement in time to bring them tomorrow's game."
Noted David Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Media Networks: “We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with Time Warner Cable in time for college football. This deal will better serve UT fans in the greater Austin area and Texas statewide.”
New channel listings for Longhorn Network on TWC systems in Texas are listed below:
SD HD
Austin 444 1593
Columbus 333 1333
Gonzales 333 1333
Kerrville 333 1333
Waco/Killeen 444 1593
Dallas 910 911
El Paso 333 1333
Golden Triangle 333 1333
Greenville 910 911
Wichita Falls 333 1333
Corpus Christi 333 1333
Laredo 333 1333
Rio Grande Valley 333 1333
San Antonio 395 396
