NCAA Football Big Ten Network

Now that the Big Ten Network and Comcast cable have finally come to an agreement that will actually allow the majority of Big Ten fans to see the network, it's time to figure out what exactly they're going to be showing to fill all that dead air between Iowa/Indiana lacrosse matches and Minnesota/Penn State tennis.

Last season the BTN did a series called "The Journey" in which they followed Tubby Smith and the Minnesota basketball team around during the season and chronicled the changes taking place under Smith. The series was a success, and the network will be doing it again this season, with the focus of the show being on Ron Zook and Illinois' football program.

BTN officials plan to announce Thursday the Illini will be featured in Season 2. Minnesota and its first-year basketball coach, Tubby Smith, were the series' guinea pigs.

"I talked with Tubby and he was impressed with their professionalism," Zook said. "He had the same fears in the beginning as I do."

Chief among those fears?

"This will be like having someone in your bedroom," Zook said.

The Big Ten Network's Comcast deal is done, and now there may be a thaw in relations with Time Warner:

"I think the fact that the Big Ten Network and Comcast came to an agreement is very encouraging and is a positive development," [VP of public affairs Mary Jo] Green said. "I think the fact that Comcast had similar concerns that we do, and that they were able to come to an agreement is encouraging."

That's a far cry from the standoffish quotes from Time Warner last summer and may indicate a potential deal in the offing. Or it may just be "please don't switch to satellite" posturing. This one, however, seems indisputably positive:

"We know that certain customers are interested in the network and we do hear from them," Green said. "We're hopeful that we can reach an agreement before football season."

Never in the thousand-year history of the Big Ten Network-cable war has a cable company acknowledged that customers might want the channel, and never has anyone come out and claimed they would like to make a deal.

The announcement that Comcast and the Big Ten Network were a week or so away from announcing a carriage deal seemed like a major, major win for the network given the way the Chicago Tribune -- the first source in this third round of "there's gonna be a deal!" stories -- pitched it:

The deal will nearly double the number of homes that can access the BTN, from 30 million to 55 million. In the eight-state Big Ten footprint, the number will surge from 6.5 million to about 13 million.

This implies national distribution on Comcast and is the best-case, pie-in-the-sky fairy scenario.

But... not so fast, my friend. David Jones spoils the party a bit:

Whatever, while the cable carrier's people confirm a deal is close, the agreement as it stands now would place the BTN on expanded basic for only eight months -- the upcoming football and basketball season -- on a trial basis and only within the Big Ten's eight-state footprint. Comcast, they say, would then have the option of pulling the BTN off expanded basic and sticking it on the more expensive digital tier, possibly in a sports-channel package.

While Moving the Big Ten network to the digital tier would not be a huge blow, -- Jones notes that 80% of cable subscribers in the Big Ten footprint already have digital -- the specter of the sports tier solution that Comcast was pushing earlier looms large.

Is it make the party time for Big Ten fans? In parts of the Big Ten footprint? And such?

Right, we've been here before, and before, and before, but now the imprimatur of the Sports Business Journal has been put upon your monthly "Comcast, Big Ten Network close to deal!" hyperventilation and it looks legit. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sums up the subscription-only SBJ piece (which the Sporting News has in its entirety):

The magazine, citing unnamed sources, said that Comcast had agreed to launch the network on "expanded basic through most of the Big Ten Conference's eight-state region, as much as 94[%] of it."

The full piece clarifies that the portions of the footprint excluded are likely to be Philadelphia and environs, which would get the channel on digital basic -- no tiers here.

Further confirmation comes from a Detroit Free Press that cites a source of its own before it reiterates the SBJ piece. I think this might be it, folks, at least for people in Michigan, Chicago, Indiana, and parts of Pennsylvania. Time Warner, Charter, and Mediacom are still holdouts. It should be noted that the articles cited expect negotiations to take another couple of whiles, but it appears the scaffolding of an agreement is in place.

Yeah, yeah, you've heard this before and nothing happened but maybe it's still worth reporting that the Big Ten Network appears to be under the impression a deal with Comcast is coming soon. BTN President Mark Silverman:

"We're making very solid progress and are confident it will get done. ... We're making good progress and talking regularly. We're hopeful to get it done soon."

Am I buying this anymore? Should you? Not so much. Requisite Comcast-guy quote from the same article:

"We also hope that we are able to reach a deal soon. ... We just want to make sure those who aren't interested don't have to pay. We'll continue to talk to reach a deal that is mutually beneficial."

Bolded section mine, and it's a clear indication Comcast is hewing to its sports tier-only offer, which appears to be a nonstarter for the BTN. Public posturing? Maybe, but on whose part? Is Silverman trying to deflect heat from Big Ten fans or is Comcast trying to maintain negotiation leverage? Who knows at this point?

Aaargh, this guy! Why why why, this guy!

Yesterday this space highlighted a Chicago Tribune article with hopeful quotes from Big Ten Network president Mark Silverman about a potential deal with Comcast, concluding that such a public shift in negotiations would be detrimental to their cause unless a deal was truly imminent.

So of course the Purdue Exponent -- the student newspaper -- talks to a Comcast guy who says this:

Comcast spokesman Mark Apple said on Tuesday that the negotiations are still in the same condition as they were a month ago.

"We're still in a position where we feel the best place for it to be carried is on a sports tier, and (Big Ten Network) is still insisting on basic carriage, and until we can get that resolved, there's really no end to this dispute in sight," Apple said.

Super. Please wipe yesterday's post from your mind and resume poking voodoo dolls of whichever side you believe more at fault in this conflict.

Oh, we dig up this guy again. Hi, this guy.

After months of entrenched World War I-style silence where the only thing that happens is the occasional mustard-gas lob at fans or French farmers, the Chicago Tribune reports on a possible thaw in Big Ten-Comcast relations:

Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman said Monday he was "cautiously optimistic" an agreement could be reached with Comcast, the largest cable distributor in the area. The parties began having "productive conversations" in December, Silverman said.

This is a 180 degree shift in rhetoric from the Big Ten Network, which had previously been very blunt about the dim prospects for carriage on any of the major cable providers in the Midwest, and likely heralds a deal soon. (Comcast has maintained all along that "negations were ongoing".)
The BTN, of course, has (or had) a vested interest in making grim negotiations look grim so that cable subscribers would jump ship to satellite providers; to publicly announce cautious optimism about a deal would be detrimental to their cause unless it was close indeed.

So, like, hurray for everyone in the footprint; most fans have taken one side or the other but mostly just want the opportunity to watch their teams play. Except for Michigan basketball fans.

Slapfightin... F-bomb yeah!

You might think this Comcast addition is really, really weird given the current slapfighting going on between the Big Ten Network and cable giants:

America Channel has signed an affiliation agreement with Comcast for digital carriage of its new channel in 26 markets.

Beginning in 2008, Orlando-based America Channel plans to broadcast sports events from 19 NCAA Division I conferences representing 172 universities. More than half of all NCAA Division I universities will be featured, including hundreds of football and basketball games, as well as additional sports and conference tournaments.

"More than half of all NCAA Division I universities" without mentioning a single specific university or conference implies "get ready for Cleveland State basketball!" Indeed, another article notes that one of the featured conferences is the Pioneer League, an obscure nonscholarship I-AA conference featuring Davidson, Butler, and other schools whose basketball teams you've heard of.

Why on earth is Comcast adding this channel when CSTV, ESPNU, and the Big Ten Network are shut out?

SLAPFIGHTIN! ETC!

Most of the time when you see the boxing guy and the italicized "SLAPFIGHTIN! ETC" intro text, it's been more of the same: big four cable providers won't but the BTN on, everyone's pessimistic except cable knobs trying to prevent subscriber flight, nothing to see here, please move along. Things might move once FOX channels come up for renewal, but anything before that seems unlikely.

Unless, that is, the government gets involved. In Wisconsin and Ohio, state congressmen have introduced legislation that would force arbitration on cable companies and channels that can't come to an agreement. The Wisconsin law embryo:

The bipartisan team is drafting legislation that would create a process to settle negotiations and between cable companies and sports networks. According to Hansen, the bill would provide a third-party arbitrator to help two companies, such as Charter and the Big Ten Network, come to an agreement.

Ohio's:

Ohio Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, joined by 21 co-sponsors, introduced a bill yesterday that would require a state-appointed arbitrator to settle disputes when cable providers and programmers can't reach an agreement -- such as in the ongoing battle between Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network.

It seems doubtful the Ohio law will pass, though.

The kids with the slappin' and the fightin' and the jello.

Yesterday, the Detroit Free Press reported a drop-dead date for cable providers interested (or not interested, more likely) in carrying the Big Ten Network:

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany recently told conference athletic directors that he set a negotiation cut-off date of Nov. 15 in the ongoing battle with cable giants Comcast and Time Warner regarding Big Ten Network distribution.

"The commissioner told us that we needed to establish a deadline to try and get something done (for the basketball season)," Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis said Saturday. "And if we couldn't get it done by then, we're probably looking at waiting until sometime next year to get a deal."

Meanwhile, either the folks in Iowa are getting a different message or Mediacom has not been given the same ultimatum:

Mark Silverman said there isn't a deadline for Mediacom and the Big Ten Network to come to an agreement to carry the new channel, and the two sides are still talking.

It's not like the talking has been particularly productive; Silverman describes the two sides as "not close."