http://www.expressnews.com/news/loc...e-network-in-the-country-has-lost-6721906.php
AUSTIN — At the Longhorn Network’s sleek set outside Royal Memorial Stadium, production assistants in burnt orange ski caps hustled about, Texas Heisman Trophy winner-turned-commentator Ricky Williams prepped for his on-air segment, and six blocks away technicians in a $13 million studio prepared to transmit the Kansas-UT football game to regional viewers.
Five years ago, ESPN signed a 20-year, $295 million contract with the University of Texas, broke ground on the swanky studio, and agreed to absorb LHN production costs pegged at an estimated $26 million a year, the contract details state.
At the time the deal was signed, Texas — the national champion in 2005 — was a year removed from an unbeaten, 13-0 regular season and a title game loss to Alabama. But its 5-7 record in 2010 was a harbinger of things to come. Since then, the Horns have not acted the part of a marquee program, going just 36-28, dipping once again to 5-7 in 2015 and missing a bowl game.
On this blustery November day, the Longhorns were matched up in a meaningless game against winless Kansas while bitter Big 12 foe Oklahoma and in-state rivals TCU and Baylor were jousting for inclusion in football’s final four playoffs.
Another old adversary, Texas A&M, angered by the Longhorns favored treatment by ESPN, had bolted the Big 12 several seasons earlier and joined the Southeastern Conference.
Asked about the Longhorns’ sudden decline, ESPN senior vice president Burke Magnus replied, “Nothing suggested that could happen.”
But it has, bringing into question the wisdom of ESPN’s sizable investment in the only single-school, around-the-clock sports network in the country, which thus far has lost $48 million, according to SNL Kagan, a media research firm.
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