The ACC and ESPN announced a partnership Thursday for a digital network and cable TV channel.
"I could not be more pleased to stand before you today (to announce) the launch of the ACC Network and the ACC Network Extra," ACC Commissioner John Swofford said at the ACC Kickoff media event in Charlotte, N.C.
The digital network, ACC Network Extra, will be available to ESPN3 subscribers beginning next month. The TV channel will debut in 2019. The TV channel will feature 450 live events annually, including 40 football games. Swofford said the digital network will broadcast 600 live games in its first year.
The digital platform will initially be available to more than 90 million subscribers.
ESPN and the league have also reached an agreement on a 20-year extension for broadcast rights.
ACC Extra will broadcast 600 live games in 2016, and increase coverage to more than 900 live events by the time the TV network launches in August, 2019. The TV channel will feature 24-hour programming dedicated to ACC athletics.
The location of the network has not yet been determined.
The Big 12 Conference is the only Power Five league to not have its own TV network either planned or active.
Three years is not a short wait for the ACC's foray into a dedicated, 24-hour television platform. When it launches, it will make for a revenue windfall for its schools and a game-changing branding opportunity for the league as a whole. The league's tradition and popularity in men's basketball, as well, could drive viewership in the winter and spring months like no other network among the Power Five conferences.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
