George Kliavkoff says Pac-12's next media deal will have streaming

After USC and UCLA announced they were going to leave the PAC-12 for the Big Ten, conference commissioner George Kliavkoff announced that the conference was going to start renegotiating its media. This was important for a couple of reasons. First, the PAC-12’s old media deal was a huge issue and part of why USC and UCLA left. Second, a new deal could help prevent other conferences from poaching member schools.

George Kliavkoff was asked if the next PAC-12 media deal would include a streaming service, or if it would have a more traditional model. He confirmed that the next media deal is going to have a streaming component to it.

“Well, almost all of the existing media companies have streaming services that they’re trying to promote,” Georgia Kliavkoff said.

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“So streaming will be part of the deal, whether it’s from a traditional linear network that has streaming services or whether it’s a new streaming service, don’t know, can’t tell you. All of those bidders are in front of us, and we’re looking at all those opportunities.”

It’s hard to ignore how many people are moving on from cable to only having streaming services. Meanwhile, live sports are still one of the most valuable properties that a cable channel or streaming service can have. So, as streaming services look to grow, sports are becoming an important property to have.

As far as the PAC-12 is concerned, streaming services offer another bidder to help raise the price that the conference gets for its deal. On top of that, this is a way of making sure anyone has access to watch a team’s games. It’s an option that George Kliavkoff seems committed to going forward.

“But I don’t see any scenario where we don’t end up streaming some of our games,” George Kliavkoff concluded.

George Kliavkoff is trying to prevent UCLA from leaving

UCLA leaving the PAC-12 is a huge part of why the PAC-12 is renegotiating its media deal. However, plenty of parties are upset about UCLA’s decision. That’s because UCLA is a public school and the move is expected to hurt fellow public school, Cal. This has led to Governor Gavin Newsom demanding that UCLA publicly explain the decision and George Kliavkoff campaigning against the move.

Last month, George Kliavkoff sent a letter to the University of California Board of Regents asking them to block the move. He insisted that if his move to block UCLA from leaving worked he would still have a good relationship with the school.

“We’re not thwarting anyone’s wishes. It’s not our choice. It’s up to the regents, and we’re just providing information as requested. I think saying hundreds would be an exaggeration; dozens, more than a hundred. And I have yet to talk to anyone in the UCLA and USC community who’s in favor of the move. I will say that I probably hear from folks who are not in favor, not surprisingly,” George Kliavkoff insisted nobody wanted the move in the first place.

“That letter was written at the request of the regents. We wrote it. We did not leak it. Someone leaked it…I think it’s a couple of things. I think, first, we’re going to do a media rights deal here in the near future, which will close the gap between us and the Big Ten and the SEC. That’s a first step.”