[Farm93]

Yeah, the math is as follows:

Eastern Standard Time Zone: 150.2 million (47.1%)
Central Standard Time Zone: 92.3 million (29.0%)
Mountain Standard Time Zone: 21.3 million (6.7%)
Pacific Standard Time Zone: 53.0 million (16.6%)

The rest live in Alaska/Hawaii.  The numbers are starker than I expected, with three times as many people on the East Coast than the West Coast.

BC

Population density by time zone highlights one portion of the problem.
Another problem with time zones is the time.  

Someone in the Pacific time zone can easily watch an 8PM Eastern time zone game after work.   That game will end at 7 or 7:30PM in our time zone which is close to ideal. 

A 7:30PM Pacific tip doesn't really fit into an Eastern or Central time zone lifestyle.    That 7:30PM game would start at 10:30PM and end at 12:30AM. 

The ACC/SEC game benefits from a vastly greater population and will likely get some viewers in the other three time zones.
The Pac-12 game sits in a far less densely populated region and will likely get almost no viewers from the other time zones.

Once the population density and time zone realities are layered together it is not hard to understand that the Pac-12 and its network are unlikely to ever command SEC/ACC or BigTen rates.   If every conference has similarly competent administrators, then the SEC and BigTen will get more revenue than the Pac-12.   It is what it is.

[Farm93]

Yeah, the math is as follows:

Eastern Standard Time Zone: 150.2 million (47.1%)
Central Standard Time Zone: 92.3 million (29.0%)
Mountain Standard Time Zone: 21.3 million (6.7%)
Pacific Standard Time Zone: 53.0 million (16.6%)

The rest live in Alaska/Hawaii.  The numbers are starker than I expected, with three times as many people on the East Coast than the West Coast.

BC

Population density by time zone highlights one portion of the problem.
Another problem with time zones is the time.  

Someone in the Pacific time zone can easily watch an 8PM Eastern time zone game after work.   That game will end at 7 or 7:30PM in our time zone which is close to ideal. 

A 7:30PM Pacific tip doesn't really fit into an Eastern or Central time zone lifestyle.    That 7:30PM game would start at 10:30PM and end at 12:30AM. 

The ACC/SEC game benefits from a vastly greater population and will likely get some viewers in the other three time zones.
The Pac-12 game sits in a far less densely populated region and will likely get almost no viewers from the other time zones.

Once the population density and time zone realities are layered together it is not hard to understand that the Pac-12 and its network are unlikely to ever command SEC/ACC or BigTen rates.   If every conference has similarly competent administrators, then the SEC and BigTen will get more revenue than the Pac-12.   It is what it is.