These people are talking long before any of the official windows open. Not to mention the sublicense deals with the B10 happened after their main deal went down.
That being said I still dont feel sorry for the likes of CBS etc. They chose to sign on with NBC, whether that happened before or after the B12 official window opened doesnt really matter. They chose to do that rather than signal to the B12 they wanted to work with them etc.
You are too hung up on "official windows" etc. Schools arent allowed to discuss moving with other conferences either before they notify their conference. Yet somehow the deal is completely done before they tell anyone etc.
Schools arent allowed to talk to players before they enter the portal, yet somehow they get offers and deals done before they ever enter the portal and 2 minutes after they enter they already make the move to the new school.
Nothing can be done officially until the so called window opens, but there is a ton of things that are happening in a nonofficial manner long before those official windows open. You dont think Yormark has had discussions with media people all over? Even though the new contract is years away. Of course he his, of course he knows if others have interest, of course he knows how interested those are and roughly what they are interested in paying etc. He knows if it is worth opening the deal up to others or not, whether that is because ESPN is lowballing, or because others have significant interest to make it worth it.
There is no way that these companies are not working behind the scenes with all the conferences long before any deals are officially discussed. CBS got the deal they wanted for what they wanted to pay, whether it was a good deal or not is what it is, they could have negotiated with anyone else, they could have chosen to stick with the SEC, they could have signaled to the B12 that they wanted to work with them, but they instead wanted to pay less for less content, and chose to sublicense with the B1G.