“This was the story of Howard Beale, the first known instance of a man who was killed because he had lousy ratings.”
The final words of the 1976 Academy Award–winning movie Network can be applied to current events in college athletics. This is the story of the Pac-12, the first known instance of a conference that was killed because it had lousy ratings. (Or, at least, a lousy media deal.)
Network was an apocalyptic satire of the corrosive effects of the revenue-obsessed television industry. It rang a clear bell of unsettling truth that resonates prophetically today. The film’s climactic scene featured “Mad Prophet of the Airwaves” Beale being gunned down on live TV during the show he hosted.
