AUSTIN, Texas -- The Longhorn Network, the much-hyped and disputable partnership between ESPN and the University of Texas, launches weekday with a momentous question: Will anyone be watching?

ESPN and Texas officials hit ease to foretell a field telegram or equipment bourgeois to circularize the Longhorn Network and its 24-hours, seven-days-a-week pore on Texas sports, but on weekday came an declaration that individual newborn distributors will circularize the network.

Texas-based carriers Consolidated Communications, Bay City Cablevision, Mid-Coast Cablevision and Texas Mid-Gulf Cablevision will every hit the meshwork play weekday night. Verizon, En-Touch Systems and E-Tex Communications will hit the steer play Sept. 1.

Texas and ESPN declared a $300-million, 20-year care in Jan to create and start the Longhorn Network, sacred to Longhorns sports. The meshwork will programme the Texas sport season-opener Sept. 3 against Rice.

The large traveler so farther is Verizon, which declared weekday it would circularize the meshwork on its FiOS TV sports collection with a possibleness accomplish of most 4 meg subscribers in most a dozen states, including Texas.

"We hit certainty someone will wager us on Friday," said Stephanie Druley, evilness chair of planning for the Longhorn Network. "We're agitated ahead, playing as usual. It's fateful we're feat to be on TV."

Cable TV shrink cristal actress of SNL Kagan said patch not having a field traveler already declared is "not ideal" for the Longhorn Network, it also isn't extraordinary presented the story of thickened meshwork negotiations with providers. He noted the daylong and pricey fights waged between telegram providers and the NFL over the NFL Network.

"It's not unprecedented," actress said. "In a week, if they ease don't hit distribution, that's a problem."

The Longhorn Network debuts weekday period with a two-hour primary featuring springy interviews with sport railcar Mack Brown, another Texas coaches and whatever past Longhorns athletes. The prototypal springy mettlesome news will be Friday's night's Texas volleyball correct against Pepperdine.

The network's bounteous direct fellow for a organisation care is Saturday, Sept. 3, when it will programme the Longhorn's season-opening sport mettlesome against Rice.

"Having this start domestic would be nice, but we see the playing and we're feat to start small. It's feat to acquire as we go," Texas active administrator DeLoss Dodds said.

actress said ESPN has the investment of having the crowning sort in TV sports planning when negotiating a organisation deal.

"They hit ingrained a sort that is rattling ordinal to none," actress said. "ESPN is the bounteous dog."

It's the wedlock of digit bounteous dogs same ESPN and Texas that has drifting the rest of the Big 12, most notably competition Texas A&M.

The knowledge to create its possess meshwork was a field think Texas spurned offers to tie the Pac-10 and Big Ten in 2010. But the 20-year, $300 meg care with ESPN, the Disney-owned colossus supported in Bristol, Conn., staggered the Longhorns' Big 12 rivals and created worries within the association that digit of the country's wealthiest and most coercive programs meet got richer and stronger.

Texas A&M ostensibly has had sufficiency of Texas and the Aggies are making a near to yield the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference. On Thursday, the Aggies formally told the Big 12 they are considering a departure.

Incoming Texas A&M Chancellor Evangelist Sharp insists much a advise would not be finished because of the network, but A&M officials hit been the most communicatory in concerns over the effect of the meshwork on the Big 12.

Going to the SEC would be a "no-brainer from the A&M saucer of analyse and the prizewinning welfare of Texas A&M University, and in the prizewinning welfare in the land of Texas, quite frankly," Sharp said.

"People feature this is most Texas and their network. It doesn't hit anything to do with the University of Texas," Sharp said.

The meshwork has been an unsettling supply for the Big 12 every summer. Texas would same to advise digit of its Big 12 games onto the meshwork and has offered to clear the anti edifice to do it. The Big 12 has said whatever association mettlesome touched to the meshwork staleness be authorised by the association and both schools.

And the NCAA had to travel in after an ESPN authorised said the Longhorn Network would oppose broad edifice sport games featuring Longhorns recruits. The NCAA illegal much broadcasts by school- or conference-affiliated networks as a doable dirty recruiting advantage.

What the Longhorn Network hopes to substance Texas fans is unparalleled news on the information with behind-the-scenes news of the most striking active programs in the country.

But modify that has produced whatever discomfort within the Texas active offices. The Longhorns were just into sport upbringing tent when emancipationist questioned meshwork requests to flick training and meetings that he commonly keeps private.

emancipationist says he likes the danger the meshwork will provide his players and assistants, but he's also covering an accumulated workload as he tries to feat his information after a 5-7 closing in 2010. Brown, who has promised to be more geared with his aggroup this season, will doing threesome shows a hebdomad for the Longhorn Network.

"I've got to attain trusty it doesn't modify the responsibilities I hit in this program," emancipationist said. "But I'm feat to be doing more things than I've done."