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When the Southeastern Conference (SEC) released a draft of their digital media policy this past August, the backlash was fast and furious. Since then, I have had conversations with Charles Bloom, Associate SEC Commissioner for Media Relations, about the policy and the SEC use of social media in general. My position was, and still is to an extent, that the SEC is having a hard time getting their arms around social media.

Blogs with Balls has now, after an unanticipated delay, put together a podcast interview with John Christie, who serves in the dual role of EVP of Content Partnership with XOS Digital and as General Manager of the SEC Digital Network. This podcast, which you can play below or on the BwB website, does contain "some not safe for work (NSFW)" language.

During the podcast, it is clear that XoS Digital and the SEC has been learning and evolving the policy to allow more blogs and web sites to embed a SEC Digital Network widget on their sites.

The SEC did reach out to Eye on Sports Media a couple of days ago to see if we would like to use the widget. Unfortunately, they are still missing the point when it comes to embedding specific video clips to support a story/post. That is the value proposition that bloggers and on-line publications like Eye on Sports Media would want in exchange for giving up valuable screen real estate. This is the value proposition organizations like ESPN understand.

This is the value proposition that would make it a win-win scenario for both parties as opposed to a one-way relationship that merely serves to drive traffic to the SEC web site. While this model might be great for some sites, it may not be the best for all sites who want to make best use of the content. I am unsure if there is any benefit to adding the widget and losing ad space, as bills do need to be paid. We will have to do some due diligence and research before making a decision.

Thaks to the folks at BwB for following up and doing this interview. It will be interesting to see how the SEC use of digital media does evolve and grow.