Does your cable company carry the ACC Network? What you need to know
In just over a week, the ACC Network will launch, and unsurprisingly, Clemson football is playing a large role in kicking off the new TV channel.
The national champion Tigers open their season on Aug. 29 against Georgia Tech on the ACC Network, and several pregame shows will broadcast from Clemson’s campus that Thursday. From Aug. 25 to 28, the network will air a behind-the-scenes documentary on the program.
Like the SEC Network, the ACC Network is owned by ESPN, and it will feature 14 football games over its first three weeks and approximately “450 live televised events, including 40 regular-season football games, 150 men’s and women’s basketball games, and 200 other regular-season competitions and tournament games” over the course of a year.
According to projections reported by the Raleigh News and Observer in 2018, the ACC Network is expected over time to drive an extra $10 million per year to each school in the conference. More recent estimates, however, have put the bump at just $1 million from the first year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Complicating things is the fact that the network seems like it could launch without deals to be carried by several major cable companies, limiting the audience that will be able to watch.
Here’s a breakdown of the facts you need to know about when and how you can watch the ACC Network.
When does the ACC Network launch?
Thursday, August 22
Which cable companies have deals to carry the ACC Network?
Charter (which uses the brand name Spectrum), DirecTV, Verizon Fios, Google Fiber, TVision, Optimum and Suddenlink are all set to begin carrying the ACC Network upon launch.
Do any streaming platforms offer the ACC Network?
YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV and PlayStation Vue have all reached agreements to carry the ACC Network.
Which cable companies do NOT currently have deals to carry the ACC Network?
Comcast, Cox, Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are the major cable providers without deals to carry the ACC Network. Streaming service Sling TV does not either.
Will Spectrum have the ACC Network when it launches?
Charter, the company behind the Spectrum brand name, and Disney, which is launching the ACC Network, announced on Wednesday a multiyear deal to carry all of Disney’s networks, not just the ACCN.
According to CNBC, the deadline for the two companies to reach an agreement was initially Friday, Aug. 2, but they kept negotiation and left Disney’s channels available to Spectrum customers, unlike a recent situation that unfolded between CBS and AT&T, resulting in a three-week blackout of CBS’s channels for AT&T customers before a new deal was reached.
With just over a week to go before the ACC Network’s launch, however, the two sides reached an accord that will allow customers to watch as soon as the new channel debuts on Aug. 22, as well as Disney’s other channels — ABC, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Bases Loaded, SEC Network, Longhorn Network, FX, FXX, FXM, Fox Life, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, and BabyTV.
CNBC reports that “about 40 percent of Charter’s footprint overlaps with ACC schools,” and Charter previously told The State in a statement that the company hoped to reach a deal with Disney to carry the ACC Network in the near future.
