The Iowa-Iowa State rivalry may not be the sexiest intrastate rivalry in college football, but in Iowa, it's a sharp sword that slices the state in two. Even though the modern series is only 31 years old, the game is still one of the biggest events in Iowa year in and year out. Whether it's at Kinnick or Jack Trice, the stadium is always filled to the spilling point, and most of the rest of the state watches on TV.Or at least they used to.
This year's Hawkeye-Cyclone game will be airing on the Big Ten Network, which still isn't available on many of Iowa's biggest cable systems. Comcast, the first major cable provider to sign with the BTN, barely has any subscribers in Iowa. A number of the state's smaller companies have signed on, but Mediacom, the state's largest provider, is still in negotiations with the network.
In its first year the games which aired on BTN provided plenty of memorable moments (like the notorious Appalachian State game) but relatively few of them were games with this degree of desirability. It's a brilliant move by the Big Ten Network to grab this game, which should put some pressure on Mediacom to get on board. I'm not sure how many Iowans would dump cable for satellite just for this game, but it's a good bet that you wouldn't want to be a Mediacom customer service rep if a deal doesn't get done before kickoff.
I no longer live in Iowa but I'm still in Big Ten country and I think it's past time for all sides to give a little and get a deal done. I can live without seeing my Hawkeyes take on Maine or Florida International (two other Iowa games that will air on BTN) but if I can't see Iowa-Iowa State? A pox on both their houses.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-03-2008 @ 12:06PM
nunya said...
I don't know how big this game is to the BTN just because one state wants to watch it. Sorry, but lord knows most other states really don't care about it. The funny thing, though, is people are probably going to blame this all on the BTN just like they did all last season (as a Michigan fan, I watched several other Michigan fans online whine because they just didn't have DirecTV). Like you said, the BTN isn't the only party involved. BTN is a great channel and I'm not sure what every other provider's problem has been with picking it up, but the fact that it now exists isn't the sole reason why people can't see all the games they want to (Iowa is the one with the weird massive cable service provider while it seems most everyone else has either satellite a la DirecTV or Comcast). Honestly, what's more annoying is the damn regional broadcasting blocks ESPN and ABC do, because if you're, say, an Iowa fan living in CA WITHOUT something like BTN you DEFINITELY won't be seeing some of your games (like I said, no one else cares about Iowa/Iowa State, so that could definitely be subject to a regional block and you could end up with Oregon/Oregon State instead).
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7-03-2008 @ 1:42PM
Mark Hasty said...
It's a big game for the BTN from a strategic point of view because something like 75% of Iowans get their cable from Mediacom, and this is a very effective goad to get that company to negotiate.
The problem with picking it up has been the BTN's high asking price and their insistence that the network not be placed on a sports tier; they want it available on expanded basic service. The deal with Comcast split the difference. BTN got less money than they were asking for, and had to agree to allow Comcast to move the channel to a tier in the future if they so choose.
I agree about the regional broadcasting blocks. Here in Big Ten land, we get too many games like Illinois-Purdue when there are better games available in other conferences. And of course, the only people outside Iowa who care about the UI/ISU game are people like me who used to live there. But then, there's plenty of other rivalry games that I don't care about.
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7-23-2008 @ 8:41PM
John said...
It seems to me that the almighty BTN cares only about money and not the true fans of Iowa and Iowa State. I live in the Vegas area and subscribe to the ESPN football package every year hoping to see some Iowa games. The Iowa-Iowa State game has even been on ABC or ESPN in the past. Now because of the BTN people that live outside the Big 10 states will have little chance of seeing the game. I think that stinks and I am sure that there are plenty of other Hawkeye fans that feel the same way. I have contacted my cable service and they said it would cost too much. Again, only thinking of money and not what the public wants. Is anybody out there, does anybody care?
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