NCAA Basketball FanHouse

Big Ten Network-Comcast Deal Official

Brian Cook — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:50:00 EST

Filed under: Big 10, Big Ten Basketball, Big Ten Network

The long, long, long, long rumored Big Ten Network-Comcast deal is done:

Comcast Corporation and the Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached a long-term multimedia agreement for Comcast to carry Big Ten Network programming across television, broadband and video-on-demand in time for the 2008 college football season.

As to the key issue -- a potential move off expanded basic after an eight-month "trial" -- discussed in last night's post: sports tiers are off the table.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast will initially launch the Network as part of its expanded basic level of service... In Spring 2009, Comcast may elect to move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in these states.

This isn't quite "expanded basic or death" like the Big Ten wanted but it's not Bennigan's coupons. 80% of the BTN footprint already has digital and that number will only increase going forward. The important thing: no sports tiers in the footprint. Outside the footprint, Comcast can put it wherever it wants, which means sports tier. Overall: a win for the Big Ten, especially if Charter, Mediacom, and Time Warner follow suit.

One final note: we at the Fanhouse would like to bid adieu to Sparky, the jean-shorts-wearing boxing guy who was our mascot during the protracted standoff. You and your preposterously oversized gloves will be missed. Godspeed.

Big Ten Network-Comcast Deal Official originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Ten Network-Comcast Deal to Be Announced This Week

Brian Cook — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:13:00 EST

Filed under: Big 10, Big Ten Basketball, Big Ten Network

Let's have a parade.

The Fanhouse has told you this at least thrice before, but here it is again: the Big Ten Network and Comcast are about to make a deal. So says everybody. This one's from the Chicago Tribune:

Comcast and the BTN are prepared to put nearly two years of bitter negotiations aside to announce a long-term partnership, the Tribune has learned.

"For all intents and purposes, it's done," one source close to the negotiations said Sunday. Technically, it's not done. But sources expect the deal will be completed and unveiled this week.

(Link via Spartans Weblog.) What's more, the Big Ten Network will provide on demand content including classic games and condensed "snap to snap" replays.

The price? somewhere between 70 and 80 cents, which is some way off the $1.10 that was bandied about as the BTN's asking price during the contentious PR battle waged last summer but also way, way higher than the 25 cents a Comcast vice president told me was the most they'd pay for the network.
There remain three cable holdouts in the Big Ten footprint -- Time Warner, Mediacom, and Charter -- and the current speculation has those three falling into line before another football season drives subscribers to satellite and the telco's rapidly expanding fiberoptic networks. If that does happen, the BTN will be on basic cable in every household in their footprint and broadcast nationally on DirectTV and DishNetwork, and at a price that's a significant portion of their no-doubt-inflated initial asking price.

After a year of nonstop mockery from the chattering classes it may be hard to comprehend... but didn't the Big Ten win? There was a year of pain for fans as football and basketball games got shuffled onto a network nobody got, but if these deals fall into place this will be the net result:

every Big Ten game on network TV is nationally televised thanks to the conference's new contract with ESPN and the "reverse mirroring" clauses inserted
every other Big Ten game can be found in HD on satellite, nationwide
a huge number of Big Ten basketball games are now available across the entire footprint instead of just locally, and...
the Big Ten is making money hand over fist on this frankly marginal content.

Several dozen journalists will probably owe Jim Delany an apology in September.

Big Ten Network-Comcast Deal to Be Announced This Week originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:13:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ohio Loses Grip on Buckeye Title

Charles Rich — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:36:00 EST

Filed under: Ohio State Football, Big 10, Ohio State Basketball, Big Ten Basketball, Ohio State

Not a good omen for the upcoming year for Ohio State athletics. According to the American Forests, the largest Ohio Buckeye tree resides in Oak Brook, Illinois, not Ohio. If that wasn't bad enough, it is controlled by a clown.

And Ohio lost the title to its state tree -- the Ohio buckeye -- to Illinois, whose new national champ stands at McDonald's corporate headquarters, Hamburger U.

They apparently track and score these things. The Ohio entrant that held the title for 11 years and is actually taller by 4 feet. Girth matters, though, as the McDonald's/Illinois competitor is thicker and wider overall. It outscored the Ohio based tree 266-233.

Ohio Loses Grip on Buckeye Title originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:36:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Ten Network Contract Remains a Mystery

Charles Rich — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:25:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan Football, Ohio State Football, Big 10, Indiana Basketball, Michigan State Basketball, Big Ten Basketball, NCAA Basketball Media Watch, NCAA FB Media Watch, Purdue Basketball

In the midst of an article about an Indiana University Trustee impotently complaining about the Big Ten Network stalemate, there's an interesting little nugget. Few people at the Big Ten schools actually have seen or read the contract with the Big Ten Network.

Eskew said he's also concerned that a year and a half after the contract between the Big Ten Conference and Fox was announced, not enough people know the details. He said he believes nobody at IU has read it other than Adam Herbert, IU's president in 2006. Eskew wonders if IU could get out of the deal if the cable issue isn't resolved.
...

[Neil] Theobald[, IU's vice president and chief financial officer,] said because IU has already used the money to issue $45 million in bonds for athletic facilities, there won't be any desire to pull out of the contract. School spokesman Larry MacIntyre agreed, saying that would be tantamount to pulling out of the Big Ten.

As for the Big Ten Network contract, Theobald said it's at the conference office in Park Ridge, Ill. He said he hasn't seen it, but that trustees "have access to it if they choose to read it."

In response to a public records request by The Star, MacIntyre said nobody at the school has the contract or a "definitive" description of its contents. But he said current school president Michael McRobbie and athletic director Rick Greenspan have been "intimately briefed on every detail."

And yes, they also checked to see if Purdue had a copy.
Purdue had nothing too interesting either.

The Big Ten Network and the Big Ten Conference, as private entities based in other states, naturally had no interest in sharing a copy of the Big Ten Network contract with the media. All but one member of the Big Ten are public institutions, subject to varying degrees of state public records requests.

It seems fair to assume that no school is keeping a copy of the actual contract, and that it was a deliberate decision to do so. Instead, those who are allowed to look at the contract have to go to it. Of course, it seems they aren't that eager to make sure those who can have access know they have access.

Big Ten Network Contract Remains a Mystery originally appeared on NCAA Basketball FanHouse on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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