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Fox Sports and Big West Agree to New Media Rights Deal

Fox Sports has reupped their exclusive media rights to the Big West Conference. A minimum of 32 games will be shown on three regional channels starting in 2013, including 12 with new member San Diego State.

Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

In a new long term agreement, Fox Sports renewed and expanded exclusive media rights for the Big West Conference that will be shown on the three Southern California regional channels: Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Fox Sports San Diego. Starting next season, Fox Sports will be showing a minimum of 32 games per season, including 12 San Diego State basketball games.

In addition to the televised broadcasts, starting this November, the Big west will launch the free-to-access video online (similar to what BigWest.TV has now).

What we get out of this: the Big West can thank San Diego State for this deal, because they were the main attraction. That being said, any team has a possibility of usurping the Aztecs on a televised broadcast. This also puts huge pressure on Time Warner Cable to get their act together in San Diego, as the cable operator currently does not offer Fox Sports San Deigo..

Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket cover almost all of Southern California, Central California, Hawaii and Southern Nevada. This essentially leaves UC Davis and Boise State out of this deal, though UC Davis can probably work something out with the cable companies in Northern California and the Broncos will probably continue to work with 24/7 Sports, the local channel that broadcasts Boise State sports.

The remaining question of this deal: how much money is the Big West getting out of this? It probably isn't much more than what they're getting right now, but maybe it has been renegotiated to throw in the two new schools. No matter, the league still wins because they are getting quality, increased exposure.