For the past year, Texas Longhorns fans have been divided into two camps: the haves and the have nots.
There are those who have been fortunate enough to have the year-old Longhorn Network and those who don’t.
The Longhorn Network was created through a 20-year, $300 million partnership between ESPN and The University of Texas and debuted on August 26 of last year.
Since it’s creation, the network has been quite controversial.
Many claim that it was the LHN that nearly destroyed the Big 12 conference, and the final straw for Texas A&M, who bolted for the SEC shortly after the deal was announced.
Other Big 12 schools were angry that the network was set to air high school football games, considering it to be an unfair recruiting advantage (the network agreed to not carry the games).
In addition, the LHN has been a source of anxiety among Longhorn fans throughout the last year as only 4 million households have had access to the network, including a mere 2.1% of the households in Austin, Texas, the home of the Longhorns. This caused Texas fans to miss out on baseball, basketball, and even football games over the last season, which obviously angered the majority of fans.
With their first two games this season being aired exclusively on LHN again this season, the frustration from Texas fans was reaching a fever pitch.
So far, Grande Communications and Veriozon Fios are two of the few providers that carry the network**. However, reports out of Austin (including from Orangebloods.com) are surfacing that this could soon change.
Since UT President Bill Powers suggested earlier this week that talks have heated up, it has been rumored that AT&T U-verse will announce a deal with the LHN late this week, just in time for the Longhorn’s 2012 season kickoff vs. the Wyoming Cowboys.
As one of the few but fortunate Texas fans to have had access to the Longhorn Network myself, I must say it is incredibly well-done, and the fans who don’t have it are truly missing out.
Hopefully, if the rumors prove to be correct, soon even more Texas fans all across the nation will finally get to see what the hype has been all about.
** Since posting the article, we have received the following information from Mid-Coast Cablevision, based in El Campo, TX and with the partner companies Texas Mid-Gulf Cablevision, based in Wharton, and Bay City Cablevision, based in Bay City. Together we cover parts of Wharton, Jackson, Matagorda, and Brazoria Counties in the Gulf Coast region of Texas. We launched LHN last August to our Expanded video subscribers and have received positive feedback.
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I have AT&T U-verse so this is the BEST news if it happens. I cant believe they would put the 1st game of the season on this channel when 99% of the fans dont get this stupid channel. That was just a BAD decision…
How embarrassing to all the longhorn supporters that greed by our beloved university has kept the LHN from being enjoyed by the fans… It is a sad reflection on the current athletic director that this insult has continued so long..
Get it done!
Watch for it at about 10 am today. It supposedly went live at 4:30 am Central. If you have it now you are good, if not it will be there by next game.
I have directv. Cant get the stupid channel. Its disappointing. Im a huge Longhorn fan and cant watch my team play. Did I say this is a “Stupid” channel!?
I’m hearing that could be in the works soon as well.