I'm guessing a 30 second ad on the LHN is affordable to more folks than on ESPN or ESPN2
could be a price point that gets some dollars that otherwise might not be available. maybe not
But I'm not seeing the mechanism where this puts money into a college athlete's pocket?
It's much easier just to have any large donor or corporation give a college athlete an "endorsement deal" where they pay $X for the rights to use that athlete's likeness/image for Y period of time.
The key here, is that the likeness doesn't ever have to be used. The money has already changed hands for the rights to use the likeness. It's absolutely immaterial whether or not that likeness ever gets used.
In some cases, the donor or corporation will have a legitimate use for the likeness, and that's fine. That's all above-board.
What people are talking about here, though, is the ability to game the system and buy up players, outbid other schools' donors and supporting corporations, etc. To do that, you never need to actually use the likeness/image. You just have to pay the player for the rights.
I could definitely see donors buying up a portfolio of players-- some will hit and be stars, many will miss. Those that hit, could command even larger "licensing fees" else threaten to leave through the portal. Those that miss, will be processed out of getting payments, same way they're processed off the team.