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Big Ten Network, WideOpenWest Strike Carriage Deal

Sep 28, 2007  •  Post A Comment

The Big Ten Network signed a carriage deal with WideOpenWest, an alternative cable provider that operates in the Midwest.
WOW serves markets such as Chicago and Detroit also covered by Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable operator, which does not carry the Big Ten Network.
Comcast and the Big Ten Network, a joint venture of the collegiate athletic conference and Fox Cable Networks, have negotiated their differences in public. Comcast wants to put the channel on a sports tier while the Big 10 Network demands digital basic coverage.
The Big Ten Network, which launched August 30, says it is now available in 30 million homes, thanks mostly to deals with the two big satellite providers, DirecTV and EchoStar Communications.
The network will be carried on WOW’s expanded basic cable package to customers within the eight states where there are Big Ten schools.
“We are tremendously pleased that WOW, along with over 140 television distributors, recognizes that fans throughout the Midwest want to have access to the wide variety of games, events and programs available on the Big Ten Network,” said Mark Silverman, president of the Big Ten Network. “While we still have a way to go, we’re honored to have reached 30 million homes faster than any other new network in history.”

27 Comments

  1. Gotta love it how a bunch of corporate heads in Philly can dictate what’s in the best interest of Big Ten Fans in the midwest. If Comcast didn’t gobble up a bunch of smaller locally run cable systems in the 90s, none of these problems would exist.

  2. Comcast sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Why should the BTN dictate what tier the channel goes on? Why should the BTN be the second most expensive network to carry? Why do you assume that everyone who has Comcast wants this channel? Why should they be subject to higher rates because of a few people?
    If you want it get the Sports package. It is no different than what DirectTV and Dish Net do with their regional sport channels. The only reason DirectTV has it in a basic tier is because they own half they network. Dish has on basic now but has already said it will be moved to a sports package down the road.

  4. Having worked for both Comcrap and WOW, I cannot believe a small, struggling provider can steal such a high-profile network away from the giant…This is a great case study in corporate ‘heads-up-azz’ and the smaller, more nimble provider with their ‘ear-to-the-ground’. WOW always had a better internet product, they have now taken major leaps to provide a better cable product.
    Comcrap sucks, Comcrap sucks, Comcrap sucks (as I sit watching Central Michigan and Ball State instead of Univ of Mich or Michigan State)
    Comcrap sucks, Comcrap sucks, Comcrap sucks

  5. Go Away BTN..
    Why should BTN even exist? What does it have to offer to viewers? Of course I want to watch football during the season. But for the rest of the season, they have nothing to offer me. I don’t want to watch college softball or gymnastics or whatever. For that I have to pay either Comcast or BTN for the entire year?
    BTN is holding few good college games I want to watch ( few,,, I don’t care about Northwestern Vs. Indiana ) to rip us off for the rest of the season.
    Crappy seats at UM cost $55 per seat. Take kids and wife for the game then you are out several hundred dollars. If you don’t want to be extorted (donate ) money, you stay at your crappy seat no matter how long you hold the season ticket. Stop squeezing football fans for everything. Those 60’s leftover bra burning hippie administrators are squeezing football for every single cent so they can fund some woman’s sports team no one watches or care about.
    Hey BTN, UM.. Keep your lousy teams, network and all that. Last few weeks made me realize that I don’t really need you or want you.
    GREEDY BIG TEN NETWORK should go out of business

  6. WHO? What viewer has come out and said “I love the big ten network” No you have to pay to watch a game in your own state? Give me a break this is crap.. and I’ve yet to me a human that supports the Big Ten Network.. I hope Time Warner Cable never picks it up… THIS IS CRAP.. bad for the Big Ten and bad for College Sports..

  7. Comcast…it’s comcastic??? LMAO
    What a joke this company is…
    they have no trouble billing people for many, many, did I mention MANY channels no one really watches on their basic tier, but when a channel comes along that will give us BIG TEN fans more than just football, but many basketball games and other BIG TEN info, they balk…
    mmm no wonder the stock as plummeted to under 20 losing almost 33% of it’s value…
    I hooked up the DISH Network, and as a going away present for me, comcast then billed me for the total month of October, and I’m still trying to get that 95 bucks back…
    COMCAST SUCKS BIG TIME!!

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