Current Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott shook up the college football landscape when his conference added Colorado and Utah to create the Pac-12. Now, he just might be shaking up the cable television world as well.
Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News speculates that the new Pac-12 conference is working on its upcoming television network, but it might not end up being on television in the traditional sense. Instead of distributing the network over cable, the conference may team up with Apple or Google to focus on launching the network on tablets, computers and smart phones.
The Pac-12 may try to capitalize on the growing trend of watching streaming video on iPads, smartphones and televisions with built-in Internet connections. Instead of partnering with a pre-existing channel or a pre-existing network (like Texas recently did with ESPN to create the Longhorn network), the Pac-12 may take a leap of faith with the tech industry and try something different.
It might be risky in the short term, but the hope would be to make up the difference down the road as technology shifts away from TV and cable towards streaming internet video.
Adding to the intrigue, Wilner also notes that the two co-founders of Google attended Stanford, a Pac-12 conference member.
A decision by the conference on its network is not anticipated for several weeks.
