http://www.kctv5.com/sports/23868261/detail.html
DALLAS, Tex -- A highly-placed source tells KCTV5 that the head of a television network has again told Big 12 officials they would like to form a Big 12-Pac-10 Network and that the conference's next television deal is lucrative enough to keep remaining Big 12 teams together.
Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is using the potential contract to try and urge the remaining universities in the conference to stay together.
Oklahoma Athletic Director Joe Castiglione told the Oklahoma City Daily Oklahoman, "We have a very, very strong sense from our television partners that the revenue stream would be very, very good going forward. Better than where we are today.”
The current Big 12 television contract is a seven-year contract through 2016 with ABC that pays them $480 million, and the Fox Sports Network contract pays them $78 million and ends in 2012.
In 2008, the SEC signed a 12-year, $2.25 billion deal with ESPN/ABC and has a 15-year, $825 million agreement with CBS. Each SEC's school reportedly receives around $15-17 million per year from the television contracts.
Th Big Ten has a 10-year, $1 billion deal with ESPN/ABC and a 25-year, $2.8 billion deal with the Big Ten Network. Fox Sports owns a 49 percent stake in the Big Ten network and would likely want a similar deal with the Big 12 and Pac-10, KCTV5's sources said.