Lydia Murphy-Stephans, president of the Pac-12 Networks, resigned last week. She was paid $1.25 million per year and also received a $400,000 bonus a year ago.
Along with commissioner Larry Scott, her administration and perceived platform was too much sophistication and not enough of a meat-and-potatoes approach.
Perhaps because Scott was an elite-class tennis player, and Murphy-Stephans an Olympic speed skater, Pac-12 Networks programming overflows with soccer, swimming, beach volleyball, tennis and other non-revenue sports.
If the Pac-12 Networks are to get a larger share of the viewing market – and therefore more revenue for its schools — Murphy-Stephans’ replacement must realize that football and men’s basketball are the only events that will entice a broker such as DirecTV.
What advertiser wants to put his money into an Oregon State-Cal women’s soccer game seen by less than .001 percent of a possible West Coast audience?
As a Dish Network subscriber in Tucson, my access to the Pac-12 Networks is maddening. I get an Arizona baseball game if it is on the league’s national feed, but not if it’s on a regional, Arizona-based feed. The same is true with UA softball games.
To viewers and to many on each campus, the Pac-12 Networks isn’t viewed as an easily-accessible and first-class partnership, but as some swank San Francisco boutique operation that’ll give you plenty of UCLA-USC tennis, but not enough of what you really want to watch.
