The Big Ten Network Vs. Comcast
For those of you who are unaware of what's been happening, this year the Big Ten created it's own sports network. The idea in my mind was to get more visibility for Big Ten sports as well as to make some money. No doubt there is money to be made, and if there weren't, maybe things wouldn't be as deadlocked as they are.
Anyways, The Big Ten Network has made numerous deals with small cable providers as well as both the Dish Network and DirectTV to carry their channel. The Big Ten network has carried several of the Big Ten football games this year and what that has meant is that in areas where the Big Ten Network doesn't have a contract with the local cable provider, the games have been unavailable.
From what I've been able to understand, the big Cable Networks (Comcast, Charter, Time Warner and Mediacom) have not been able to reach an agreement with the Big Ten Network to carry the channel. The main issue appears to be that the larger cable systems want to carry the channel on a special sports channel tier while the Big Ten wants the channel to be show on the Expanded Basic cable packages. Of course the hook to all this is that there is a per subscriber charge to carry the channel which has yet to be negotiated. Comcast in this area in particular has taken their argument to the airwaves on TV and radio, and I'm sure several other mediums. They state that the Big Ten Network would be the 2nd highest priced cable channel on their expanded basic (behind ESPN) and they claim that the BTN is holding them and their customers hostage.
Now for my point of view. More money has been spent on the advertising from both sides than the entire deal is possibly worth. Comcast has a full court press on, trying to get the Big Ten Network to bend, while the Big Ten Network is content to continue to try to find ways to negotiate while customers of Comcast and the other cable providers complain that they aren unable to see the games that they want to see.
As in any disagreement of this type there is plenty of mud being slung around about who is right and who is wrong in this whole deal. Both sides seem to have some valid points to their arguments, but again, in my mind, the valuable points are lost in all the mud and misinformation being distributed. In the meantime, it's us, the consumers and fans that are suffering because we cannot see games that we would like to see.
Comcast and BTN, I hope you will both step out of your trenches and negotiate this out in good faith. A fraction of the money that has and continues to be spent on the media campaigns could have settled this issue long ago.
Do it for your customers, do it for the fans, do it for your business. Do it before both of your products are damaged beyond repair if that hasn't occurred already.
Jim Knight -- Comcast Customer and Big Ten Fan.