The SEC’s media policy is being seen by various outlets (and with some reason) as a ban on social media– e.g. Twitter:
Earlier this month, the conference informed its schools of the new policy, which reads: “Ticketed fans can’t “produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”
Translated, that means no Twitter (
), Facebook (
), YouTube (
I’m sure this is intended to ban YouTube. But Twitter? Are they really saying a fan can’t send a Twitter feed like “Touchdown! Ole Miss!”? I’m also wondering about all this state institutions in the SEC enforcing a speech ban.
As the linked article notes, this is a really stupid policy if it’s emanating from CBS, which has a contract with the SEC– Twitter and other alerts will draw attention to their ongoing broadcasts. It’s free advertising, silly.
In that case, I guess I will have to send tweets and possibly even blog posts live from the Alabama game come October.
h/t Conbelle’s Twitter Feed.
Update: The SECSportsUpdate Twitter feed posted the following: “To our Twitter fans, we have heard you. We’re working on clarifications to our policy and should have something done soon.”
So long as pretty girls can still throw their red shoes at the SEC’s dips#*t referees, I don’t care what CBS does about Twitter, Face Book, You Tube, or Carter’s Little Liver Pills.
Is ESPN owned by CBS? ESPN has a 15 year deal with the SEC worth over $2 billion, here. Almost every SEC home football game will be televised on one ESPN network or another (ESPN2, ESPNU, etc…), or ABC. CBS has a similar agreement with the SEC to televise some number of games every year on CBS, including the SEC championship game. I think that agreement was over $500 million for 15 years. The ESPN agreement includes other sports (Men’s and Women’s basketball and Men’s baseball, among others).
Updated to correct the CBS part of the deal.
WTBAL: Mickey Mouse owns ABC and ESPN.
You could watch Ole Miss on ESPN…..or you could watch Tom Delay on “Dancing with the Stars.” I just heard this on NPR, but it was so strange I had to check it out. Yes, Delay is going to be a contestant on the show.
Thanks Natd4. At first, I was excited that the SEC made the all-encompensing deal with ESPN rather than starting an SEC Network, ala the Big Ten Network, however, if this is any indication of what we, the SEC, get with the “mothership” (Dan Patrick’s name for ESPN), I am not so sure. Someone needs to straighten ESPN and the SEC home office out on this matter. We, the SEC, do not want to go the way of professional boxing, i.e. pay-per-view their way to extinction.
“In that case, I guess I will have to send tweets and possibly even blog posts live from the Alabama game come October.”
Please do… unless the Greyhound Gods intervene, I’m going to be on a bus returning from Springsteen at Giants Stadium.
It was made official this evening. The SEC made changes to their policy and took out the twitter/facebook restrictions on the fans.