And now sports radio is saying Pac 12 is trying to lure OU and OSU. So where will the Big 12 teams be in five years?

The new Longhorn Conference including Texas, Hardin Simmons, McMurry, Howard Payne and Notre Dame. Texas will play itself twice each year. The conference championship will be held in Hico and the winner of that will meet Richland Springs in either San Angelo or Abilene.

And everytime Mac Brown heads to the can, the LHN will have a "breaking news" update. Of course, since no one can get LHN, no one will know.

Would love to comment on all of this... but probably should not.

Just a few things I would like to remind everyone. In chronological order:
Texas and Texas A&M were approached to create a regional tv network. TAMU did not think it made sense.
Texas and several other schools were looking into moving to PAC-10, prompting A&M to look into SEC, Nebraska was looking to Big 10...
Mizzou and CU bolt while Texas agrees to stay in Big XII (remember folks, this benefited several schools)
During this time, Texas remained in talks with a specific network (not ESPN) to create their own channel.
ESPN gets into the mix and the LHN is created.
TAMU decides for the best interests of their school they should leave Big XII.

Remember, Texas A&M decided it was in the best interest of their school to move. They also thought it wasn't a good idea to have a network for the schools. I do not have an issue with A&M leaving for the SEC, but I am tired of people saying Texas did this.

I am also not convinced of all of these schools jumping to the PAC-12. If you read Larry Scott's comments very closely from a few weeks ago, I just don't see it happening. There are plenty of schools in the conference and the region that would like to keep this thing together. It makes no sense for all of the other sports, as it relates to travel.

As for the BYU, Pitt chatter... first thought, who is their travel partner?

OK, I have already said too much

Hey Guru, I dont fault the 'horns for starting their own network. More power to them. I just wish we could get the games. My 84 yo mother really enjoys watching her boys, specifically the McCoys and Shipleys. She used to teach Colt in Sunday School when he was a little boy.
Well, guess what? Can't watch 'em. I realize it is not UT's fault. Dish network needs to get off the dime and make a deal.
As for A&M leaving, Who Cares. If they thought they were treated as a red-headed step-child in the Big 12, wait'll they get in the SEC. All those "sacred traditions" won't mean diddly. They will be viewed for how they compete and probably will be perennial doormats. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Of course, it's basically an argument between millionaires and billionaires about how rich they're all gonna end up.

Mr. Alumni, Mr. Ticketbuyer, Mr. Television Advertiser, Mr. Cable Subscriber and Mr. Taxpayer end up on the short-end of the stick.

expect something here soon with a few of the cable operators, like in the next 24 hours. Once one shoe drops, the others will too.

DirecTV is the only one that probably will not. It all has to do with their contract w/ESPN coming due in a year anyways and not wanting to have to hash through the whole thing twice.

That's the worst part of the LHN.... the average fan at the moment cannot watch the games. And now they will have to pay extra to subscribe to the channel. Maybe A&M was right not to get their own network...

Actually, from what I'm hearing is that ESPN is insisting that LHN be carried just like ESPN and its family of networks, at a cost of about 40c per month per subscriber (that's every cable subscriber in your system). So, if you're an Aggie getting service from Podunk Valley Cable, your cable bill includes 40c sent to the Devil Incarnate (aka t.u.) and if you call up the nice folks at Podunk Valley Cable to complain about that pornography shown on that channel and to remove it from your bill, well, sorry Charlie.

It's the same reason NFL Network isn't on Time Warner and some other cable services. If both ESPN/LHN and NFLN were willing to put the channels on subscription service (sports tiers, etc.), they'd have every contract in the book already signed, sealed and delivered. However, the real money is in the 40c a month deals ...

I know you can get a "Bevo-On-Demand" channel on my Time Warner system for $3.99 a month or so. My bet is that there are few subscribers to that service.

Well if thats the case, I'd ask for my 40 cents back as I'm not a Texas fan. We'll see how this plays out, if it works in Texas' favor, then expect Florida, USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, etc to follow.

Maybe Granger can get his own weekly Longhorn Tennis show. :)

'cept the cable folks wouldn't give you your 40c back ... I tried that with MSNBC and CNN.

I think Granger's tennis show would be on LHN right after the UT women's water polo weekly spectaular.

a few things...

1. you cannot PPV the game, it is only on the LHN
2. I am not sure about some of the other things I posted earlier. Things have changed in the last 2 hours.
3. when you get cable, you pay $x to the distributor. They then pay rights fees to the various channels they show. That's just the way it works. Whether you watch Oprah or the Sci-Fi channel or anything else, it doesn't matter, you pay for it.
4. Your $0.40 does not go to UT, but to ESPN. UT does not get a cut of the homes. ESPN is obligated to pay UT $20M/yr, even if it does not show on any networks.

and yes, we are going to have weekly tennis shows in the spring... I won't be on though. The network stuff is actually really cool. Certain folks I live with have access through their computer... and I saw the network all night Friday.

Don't believe any of those schools could if they wanted to, thier TV rights are tied into conference networks. Can't see thier respective conferences relinquishing those rights for the schools to start their own network. If Texas would have joined the purposed PAC-16, LHN probably wouldn't have got off the ground, or been folded into a future PAC-16 Network.

For the most part true. Oklahoma's TV football and basketball rights are not 100% a part of the Big XII, just like Texas', so they could easily begin a network. Those other schools, except USC, are investigating this option. The problem with many of the schools is how big of an alumni/fan base they have that would be active to make a regional network.

The reason these schools will eventually do it: they have most of the rights to their own basketball and 100% of everything else, including academic feature, just like the Big 10 Network...