Big Ten Network Battle is Screwing Us All
Apparently September 29, 2007 was Minnesota Big Ten Network Day in the city of Minneapolis. 10,000 Takes rightly wonders WTF is up with R.T. Rybak’s priorities.
In case you haven’t been following, here’s the deal on the Big Ten Network: It’s a new offering from Fox Cable Networks that airs Big Ten sports.
It’s great if you’re a die-hard Big Ten sports fan. It’s great even if you just have your one school that you like to follow. It’s a great opportunity to see some other sports — particularly women’s sports — that you wouldn’t normally get to see, from the comfort of your own home. They’re also committed to broadcasting a lot of Olympic coverage. I will just say that I spent a ridiculous amount of time watching the last Summer Olympics, literally scheduling it all out on my calendar and recording some stuff to watch later.
The reason this has been in the news is because BTN wants to be included in extended basic cable service and it wants to charge $1.10/month for all cable subscribers living in the eight-state Big Ten region. That’s $1.10/month on top of what you are already paying, just for this one channel, since your cable subscriber will surely pass that cost on to you. Outside of that eight-state region, BTN is asking for $0.10/subscriber and inclusion in digital basic. Every other cable channel charges a subscription fee, with higher-demand channels like ESPN earning more than something like Lifetime, but $1.10/subscriber is unusually hefty.
Comcast, which serves most of the Twin Cities, doesn’t carry it at all at the moment.
I hate to say it, but I’m with Comcast on this one.
Most folks are going to have the football, basketball, or hockey game they want to see available to them already on network television, ESPN, ESPN2, or their regional Fox Sports channel.
Except that some games which would normally end up on network tv go on BTN instead. So actually people can’t even see what they normally could before and still can’t get BTN.
Michigan congressman John Dingell, chairman of a House committee that oversees telecommunications, said he sent Delany a letter expressing concern “about the migration of previously free, over-the-air content to a pay-television tier.”
Still, it’s the hardcore sports fan that wants to watch more than that, and the hardcore sports fan will pay for it. Put it in the premium sports package, I say (I think most cable providers have offered this option to BTN). Don’t force all the other cable subscribers to pay for a(nother) channel that they probably won’t watch.
Of course cable subscribers already pay a lot of money for a lot of channels they don’t watch, but I applaud the “noble” attempt to keep from piling on.
Interesting sidebar: Apparently Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany is kind of a crazy jackass.
My landlord put up a sign right away mentioning that BTN is available with our Dish subscription. Should be available on DirecTV as well. So your options are to contact Comcast, contact the Big Ten Network, bitch and moan, or switch to satellite. Seems like satellite is the most impactful choice.
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Isn’t this similar to the Twins network they tried to start up a few years ago. Time Warner and Comcast didn’t bite and the network folded before it even started.
I think I’m with Comcast as well, but as a Big Ten fan and Comcast customer, I really want this to be worked out somehow.
Ideally, we would have a choice among cable providers and one of them would just happen to offer a package which was heavy on sports channels - including the Big Ten channel which is less about watching Gopher Football and basketball than it is about all their other sports that don’t get TV coverage. I live in an apt building and can’t go to satellite.
Customers should have a better choice.
Mayor Rybak’s top priorities are clear and I invite you to visit his website (www.mayorrybak.us) to see for yourself where he is focused. Mayor Rybak routinely issues proclamations for any number of events, annivarsaries, or entities in Minneapolis. Mayor Rybak’s BTN proclamation was simply intended to reflect his strong support for men’s and women’s athletics at the U of MN and the efforts of the Big Ten Network to provide national exposure to these fine University athletes. The proclamation was not an endorsement for any position in negotiations underway with Comcast related to the Big Ten Network.
Oh, Jeremy Hanson. Are you serious? Are you the guy in the office responsible for Technorati watch?
Although I’m sure the mayor had not much to do with this whole thing except to show up and read the proclamation.
I agree that the Big Ten Network is taking free television coverage that was otherwise picked up by free television. And I’m not happy about it. However, the minute cable began, we were walking down that road. I think that the BTN is asking too much, although, everyhing I have read states the BTN is negotiable on price. They’re only non-negotiable stance is expanded basic cable in the Big Ten footprint. I don’t think that is unreasonable as the BTN will be a very popular choice in the Big Ten States. That would be my guess.
We do not have al a carte cable in this country so we all get a bunch of channels that we don’t watch. When you really think about it, isn’t basic cable just a bundle of niche channels with a couple of exceptions. To me the real issue is should everyone have to pay more for the BTN channel to be on basic. In the beginning I said no for just that reason. However, now that BTN has done and is continuing to get deals done with cable companies, Direct tv and dish network, except for the really big cable companies, (i.e. time warner and comcast) something is happening that is rather disturbing.
I am not aware of a single cable or satellite company that has added the BTN and raised their rates. I have not read of a single instance. And keep in mind, these are little guys, with the exception of WOW, insight and Att U-verse. Comcast and time warner would get a much better deal than the little guys based on the sheer volume of subscribers they will be bringing to the table. To me all of the arguments are weak by big cable with the exception of increased rates, but that hasn’t happened. At least not to my knowledge. I hate to disagree, but something doesn’t smell right with big cable. My gut tells me the big cable PR machine is spinning this thing to keep our eye of the ball. I think we’ve been Comsuckered.