ESPN and the ACC Network make a good 1st step in rocky media environment

The network’s launch is two years away.

Despite what you might think, ESPN is still in business, and business is still a-booming compared to nearly all other media entities. While the TV rights bubble that the four-letter network exacerbated seems like it may have burst, it’s still moving forward with the launch of the ACC Network. Today, ESPN got really good news.

The ESPN-owned conference channel recently secured its first carriage agreements with digital video providers, guaranteeing that the channel will be available to consumers when it launches in August 2019. The deals mark an important first step that comes as critics question the network’s viability in such a volatile media marketplace. ESPN would not identify the providers who agreed to a deal, saying it is with providers whose carriage deals run beyond 2019.

So far, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu have deals to carry ESPN programming. It’s not known which ones also will take the ACC Network, though it should be noted that ESPN’s parent, Disney, owns 30 percent of Hulu.

Whether fairly or unfairly, the standard the network is up against is the SEC Network. The Pac-12 and Big Ten Network exist, but ESPN’s largesse put the SEC Network in over 90 million homes at launch back in 2014. That doesn’t include streaming services for the cord-cutting folks.

If it can pull something off like that again with the ACC Network, it will erode some of the narrative surrounding ESPN’s broader demise. The network has been shedding subscribers in a broader trend throughout the cable television industry, and is now in around 88 million homes. That’s still a lot, if you’re playing along at home.

More important than what’s happening with cable companies could be what’s happening with the streaming services. We’ll see if ESPN can secure deals for those services to carry the ACC Network at launch as well. There’s a long way to go, but progress is progress.