Last rodeo for Longhorn Network, the Texas venture with ESPN that once rattled the Big 12

abcnews.go.com:

The Longhorn Network that launched in 2011 is coming to a close

AUSTIN, Texas — When the Longhorn Network launched in 2011, the 20-year, $300 million partnership with ESPN set up Texas with its own 24-hour television showcase that sent shockwaves across college sports some say can still be felt today.

Rivals in the Big 12 Conference bitterly complained the swaggering Longhorns were stomping over the rest of the league, and would reap an unfair recruiting advantage amid that shower of cash. Some worried Texas was about to become a runaway train in college athletics.

Twelve years after the studio lights flickered on, the network will soon go dark: LHN will be folded into the SEC Network when Texas joins the Southeastern Conference next summer. This academic year is the last for a pioneering effort that forced new NCAA rules, laid the groundwork for emerging conference networks and played a role in what would be a decade of realignment.

“Yeah, it was bold,” said former Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, the architect of the idea for LHN. “We built something we can be proud of… I think it's a big loss for Texas to have to give it up.”

Dodds' vision was to build something that would elevate Longhorns athletics beyond football and basketball. He wanted more exposure for volleyball, softball, baseball and other sports. Once it got rolling, LHN would broadcast nearly 200 live events annually from across all Longhorns sports — the first live competition was a volleyball match — school graduation ceremonies and even student fashion shows.

But in the television business, football is king. ESPN wanted to tap into a massive Texas alumni base and the passion around a Longhorns program that had won a national championship in 2005