There are conflicting reports about how much of the SEC’s record $31.1 million payout per school can be attributed to the SEC Network.

Former commissioner Mike Slive declined to reveal that specific number at the conference’s Destin, Fla., meetings at the end of May. Some speculative estimates put the number at about $6 million per school, a huge figure for what’s essentially a startup company in its first nine months of existence.

“You can’t have the most successful launch of a television network in cable history and not have an expectation of some revenue to go along with it,” Slive said, according to AL.com.

Some have referred to the SEC Network as the most successful launch of a cable TV station ever. Less than one year into its existence, the station was being broadcast into 65 million homes and was available in another 25 million households.

Cablevision is the only cable provider in the country that does not offer the SEC Network as part of its cable package.

By every measure imaginable, SEC Network the business has exceeded every lofty expectation, and projects as a humongous asset to all 14 conference members for years to come.

The term “startup” is a misnomer when it comes to the station’s programming, though.

Tied to ESPN, the SEC Network enjoys a wealth of on-air and behind-the-scenes talent, including former players like Greg McElroy, seasoned veteran broadcasters like Dari Nowkhah, and the ubiquitous Paul Finebaum.

The collective knowledge base accrued by the Worldwide Leader In Sports through decades of programming on channels like ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN News and more provides an excellent template for what works and what doesn’t.

As part of a website that covers SEC football — forget the other sports — 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, I understand all too well the challenges of coming up with interesting, engaging content every minute of every hour, even during months like June.

Still, with all due respect, I think the SEC Network needs to improve its content.

The SEC seems to agree, installing a new Senior Vice President of College Networks Programming (Rosalyn Durant) in May. Durant has vowed to leverage the network’s access as much as possible and promised to provide more unique content, both of which are sorely needed.

The offerings last year were too simple and limited. If you preferred College GameDay to SEC Nation on Saturday mornings and aren’t a fan of The Paul Finebaum Show, you didn’t have many reasons to consume content on the station last football season.

Yes, there’s some live programming in the form of games, which is great. “SEC Now” was a decent initial effort at a SportsCenter-style conference-centric show. But there hasn’t been enough variety.

The network already has declared it doesn’t intend to do a Hard Knocks-style long-form documentary on a current team at any point, but there are so many historical documentaries that we’d love to see. With the ESPN name behind it, a “30 for 30” spinoff centered on SEC topics would draw views.

Within the last few seasons, the Houston Texans website broadcast a players-only variety show that immediately drew a huge audience, as it revealed some of the team’s personalities as well as the behind-the-scenes life of NFL players.

In today’s social media-friendly world, with as many photos and videos as star SEC football players post to Twitter and Instagram anyway, you can’t tell me the SEC Network wouldn’t be able to get, say, Leonard Fournette or CeCe Jefferson to film and submit a video diary every week or every month.

SEC Network is in a unique position to be an innovator with integration of social media, different forms of video and progressive, experimental programming, especially under the guise of a new station still finding its footing, but we haven’t seen many creative ideas.

The raw content is lacking as well, as there aren’t enough live interviews with SEC coaches and players. (Expect that to change next week at SEC Media Days.)

The programming also could include more classic stuff, especially outside of prime time. This month’s SEC Network “Takeover” series is a step in the right direction, at least philosophically. But who wouldn’t watch “Herschel Walker’s Greatest Games” if you flipped past the channel and found it, say, at 11 p.m. on a Friday night after a long week?

I also was a little disappointed that the SEC didn’t find a way to broadcast several of the spring football games on its main station, instead airing them on an obscure alternate channel as well as through broadband internet via ESPN3.

The word “access” can’t be accentuated enough. Which current or former player or coach is going to decline an interview or access to the network? The schools also have incentive to push head coaches and players to allow greater access, given the exposure for their brand and the millions reaped from cable subscriptions.

Due to quirky TV formalities, the SEC Network will not receive any Nielsen Ratings for another 13 months. I’m sure it would help the station to get detailed independent data on each of their programming decisions. In the meantime, though, the SEC can enjoy cable subscription fees and ad revenues essentially immune to ratings.

If the SEC Network wanted to run Finebaum 24 hours per day, barring some massive wave of complaints to the current cable providers, the conference still would rake in millions upon millions of dollars.

Still, it would be nice if the station invested more thought and energy into better programming now, especially given its advantage in virtually every resource. Luckily, it looks as if the network already has such plans.

From a recent Montgomery Advertiser story:

“I think there’s an opportunity to have more access, more unique elements that we can add to our productions,” Durant said. “We have to figure out exactly what that means and what it looks like but an opportunity to again, give SEC fans a very unique, you can only get it here, experience.”

An example of what the network wants to expand upon is having men’s and women’s basketball coaches mic’d up during games and in-game interviews with coaches as seen during the SEC Tournament and some regular season games, and network personalities in distinct settings with coaches and players, such as Marcus Spears talking with LSU’s coordinators over dinner or Booger McFarland in the weight room at Florida.

“Things you might not necessarily see,” said Stephanie Druley, the SEC Network’s head of production. “I think that that’s the type of thing that we’re going to continue to push to do.”