Comcast is the cable provider in Boston, Pittsburgh, South Bend, Charlottesville, Blacksburg, Atlanta, Tallahassee and Miami.

This gives ACC Network a bit more leverage than a normal negotiation when half the teams home markets fall within the system.

Two aspects of the negotiation. Price per subscriber and tier of service. If ESPN is trying to get comcast to put the channel on a lower tier so that more customers can see it, then the cost per sub needs to be lower or the price increase will be passed directly to ALL customers and not to just those that like sports.

Figure that Comcast would like to keep local markets happy and have the channel but put it on either the sports tier or pay a very low cost for lower tier and only launch in the east. ESPN wants national coverage for a high price on a low tier to make the most money.

Will be interesting to see what happens.