Texas A&M's cut and run may have monumental implications, and not just for the Big 12 (er, 10 ... er, nine) conference. The Aggies might also kill your chance to watch University of Texas football on the Longhorn Network too.

It was just a couple weeks ago that CulutreMap first reported that an Austin cable deal to carry Longhorn Network was imminent. It was so close. But it didn't happen. And only a tiny fraction of the state (about 20,000 homes) can watch Texas' season opener with Rice University Saturday night.

Cable companies make deals with programmers based upon the promise of strong consistent shows that viewers want to pay for. With the Aggies' departure, the chances of a deal just got a whole lot smaller.

When LHN officials began discussing its programming with the big TV providers — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and U-Verse — it was with the understanding that it would have regular high school football game broadcasts and at least one Texas Longhorn football game, perhaps even a second. Way back in the day (three months ago), it also looked like the Big 12 would be around for at least another year or two.

So much has changed so fast.

Texas A&M's impending departure introduces serious questions about the on-going viability of the Big 12 (9). While the conference looks like a desperate pimply-faced geek looking for a prom date, the stud quarterbacks named Longhorn and Sooner are ogling the hottest chick they can find. Maybe even a well-built, whip-smart California girl named Pac-12. She's looking pretty good today.

Oklahoma is reported to be seriously looking at leaving this Big 12 Titanic and heading to the safety of the Pac-12. If the Sooners do bolt West, UT will likely go with them, and the Big 12 conference will shrivel and float away without the anchors that are Texas and Oklahoma. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State would jump in the raft and go along for the ride. This is the scenario that makes the most sense, and it's the scenario that will kill the Longhorn Network as we know it.

You see the Pac-12 has been here before. It was just a year ago that these same teams were courting the Pac-12 (it was Pac-10 then). Why didn't they go? Because the Pac-10 (12? whatever) would not allow the Longhorn Network. The Pac-10 schools decided amongst themselves that any television deal would be a shared television deal, not a deal with one school alone.

So what happens if Texas decides the Pac-12 is the best place to be? The Longhorn Network would have to morph, perhaps, into a regional network serving several Pac-12 schools.

And thus the problem with making a cable deal. There are too many questions with no answers, and these huge multi-billion dollar companies didn't become multi-billion dollar companies by making deals without answers to queries like, "What are you going to show on your network?"

We only know that the Aggies took their football and went east. What happens next may be great for football but not so good for business — especially if you are ESPN trying to make a deal.

That means, no Longhorn Network for you.