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The inside story of the Pac-12 Networks’ impasse with DirecTV

Related Topics: Pac-12 Network, Impasse, DirecTV

I spent years trying to locate Derek Chang, to no avail, and eventually gave up trying. But a tip from a source this summer — ”Last I heard, he’s in Singapore” — re-started the search and led me, eventually, to Chang.

To the executive vice president for content strategy for DirecTV (i.e., it lead negotiator) prior to the launch of the Pac-12 Networks.

Turns out, Chang does not hate the Pac-12. In fact, he’s a Stanford business school grad who took endless heat from classmates for not signing a carriage deal with the conference.

(During one of our conversations, Chang joked that the blowback was so severe, he was forced to leave the country for a new job.