Xfinity to carry SEC Network; most of Gamecocks nation is still left out

So, earlier today, it was announced that the SEC Network has come to a deal with another cable provider, and this one is the biggest of them all:

Xfinity is the largest provider in the U.S. with 40% of the nation’s market share, so this eclipses the deal with competitor Cox Cable by a long shot. This now means that along with Xfinity and Cox, Dish Network and AT&T Uverse customers will be the only ones to receive the network on launch day (August 14) as of right now. (That could change.)

More from SEC News

• SEC Football Power Rankings: Week 2
• SEC Football: Could ACC realignment bombshell see Clemson, FSU, UNC, or others move on to SEC?
• SEC announces contract extension for Commissioner Greg Sankey
• South Carolina Football: Gamecocks’ schedule to be revealed on primetime television
• SEC Spring Meetings: SEC to play 8-game +1 schedule in 2024

Notice we didn’t mention Time Warner Cable, Charter, and DirecTV. And guess who the primary carriers in the Palmetto State are?

I’d imagine that South Carolina Gamecocks fans will be none too thrilled that they probably won’t be able to catch their team open the season against Texas A&M on August 28. (Neither will A&M fans as it stands now; Aggieland is primarily in Suddenlink territory, which doesn’t have a deal with SECN as of now).

Fortunately, part of the problem may be close to being solved: DirecTV has announced that they hope to carry SECN “soon”. That would still leave Time Warner and Charter along the major carriers. And apart from a small batch of homes just northwest of Columbia, much of the city of Charleston, points east of Beaufort, and just west of Aiken near the South Carolina/Georgia line, the majority of S.C. isn’t on board yet. That is, of course, unless they have a satellite dish, Uverse (which isn’t available to every home yet, anyway), or Google Fiber, which would take some doing since only Kansas City, Austin and Provo have it, and at last check, none of those three cities are in South Carolina. (Charter is the primary cable provider in the Upstate, where the outcry won’t be as loud thanks to most people up there being a fan of the team in orange.)

So, we’re close, but there’s still a long way to go. Here’s hoping DirecTV doesn’t give SECN the cold shoulder like it has the Pac-12 Network, or that we don’t see a repeat of the TWC/NFL Network battle, when it took TWC nine years to finally add it to their lineup.