How exactly do we get the new ACC Network?

The release from the ACC and UNC this week about the Miami-Carolina game on September 7 being carried on the new ACC Network is both exciting and a bit confusing. Sure, it’s great that Mack Brown’s Tar Heels will kick off the ACC’s long-awaited new platform, but will or won’t the game be on regular TV?

Go to www.GetACCN.com; it asks for your zip code to see how the ACC Network is accessible in your area. Put in 27514 for Chapel Hill, and what comes up is DIRECTV and the Hulu and Vue digital streaming channels. The release also has a link to where you can buy tickets to the game ahead of single-game seats going on sale.

That’s a big “hmmmm” to me.

Hey, ACC, answer my question: Will the Miami game be on a TV channel I already have, or must I switch to DIRECTV or subscribe to Hulu or Vue to get the live stream over my Smart TV or device?

Let’s not forget that the ACC TV contract we’ve been used to for years had every football game televised by ESPN, Raycom or Fox Sports South, all of which I already have on cable system. If I am reading this correctly, or if I am not because it’s so confusing, this won’t sit well with most fans over 40.

Frankly, it reminds me of Raycom’s old Season Ticket pay-per-view offering back in the early ‘80s, where you had to buy some extra basketball games beyond the basic package that was free. Fan reaction killed that experiment before it started.

This is 35 years later, of course, and streaming is part of our lives, well, sort of. Most adult sports fans still prefer getting the game over a TV channel already on their cable box.

Do we have to subscribe to a new streaming channel, or lobby our cable providers to offer it? The ACC Network may not be well received if it is not like the SEC Network on ESPN.

There is something fishy about a story announcing the ACC Network will debut with Miami-Carolina while also peddling tickets to the game. That seems to say – to be sure you can see it – your butt better be in Kenan Stadium that night to avoid a big surprise when turning on your regular TV for the Heels and Hurricanes.

Hmmmm.

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