Big Ten Network

You may have seen commercials for the new Big Ten Network, which will start broadcasting conference sporting events in August. I don't know about you, but it made me think of the OSU vs. Indiana football game last season, which broadcast on ESPNU, a channel that only a small percentage of the US has on their cable or satellite. (Click here to read my post from back in October.) Sure it was a small game, but clearly ESPNU was trying to grab viewers that otherwise would not subscribe to the channel. In some cases the cable providers would not even make the channel available. The same thing happened with the NFL Network, which also had exclusive rights to broadcast games, causing some folks to miss games. So, as you can see, I was a bit uneasy when I heard the network would have at least two Ohio State football games, and quite a few of the basketball games. I did not want to have a cable provider that was unwilling to pay the $1.10/subscriber to BTN, especially considering locally in Columbus, Time Warner was not willing to pay 70 cents/subscriber for the NFL Network. No deals have been made between the network and Time Warner, Insight or WOW, the three cable providers in Columbus, at this time. Those of you with DirecTV will have the channel available, with the Total Choice package. I have not heard anything about DishNetwork. I suggest you call your cable/satellite provider and harass them so that we all have this channel.

Below is the list of programs the channel advertises on their website.
- 35+ football games per season
- At least 105 regular season men's basketball games
- At least 55 regular season women's basketball games
- Big Ten championship events
- Archived Big Ten events, including bowl games
- 170 Olympic sporting events
- Coaches' shows
- 660 hours of institutional programming