I get the Big Ten Network now!

[Passacaglia]

So while surfing through channels last night, I noticed the Big Ten Network was on. Wasn't sure if it was permanent, or just a free weekend, but either way, it's pretty cool, since the Michigan-Eastern Michigan game is on it this weekend. The bad news is that the MSU-Northwestern game is on there as well, so I won't get to see MICH-EMU until Sunday morning. Anyway, I dug around online and found this:

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/corporate/PR092807b.asp

So...anyone else have the Big Ten Network? Or want it? It's cool that I have it and all, but it sounds like a pretty bad idea -- you've got the worst couple football games each week (although they do have Michigan-Purdue next week), only eight shows (although they are just starting out), and what I think is going to be the nail in its coffin, a commitment to "event equality" for men's and women's sports within three years. On the other hand, I love the Big Ten, so I'm excited to get more of it!

[M GO BLUE!!!]

I get it, but it doesn't show up on my "TV Guide" programing thing on my DVR recorder, so I have to set it to manually record. I discovered this on the first weekend of college football this season, halfway thru a game against an insignificant 1-AA school

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/football/map06.asp

This map will inform you that you will in fact get to see Sparty play the Pat Fitzgeralds.

I noticed that it says Directv has the Michigan game on 219. My 219 is blank, but I'll record it anyway just in case. :)

[Passacaglia]

Yeah, I saw that I get MSU-Northwestern from looking at my guide. But it looks like they replay the other games throughout the week, for those who missed it (after all, what else are they going to show). Could be cool, though -when my schedule opens up some in November and things really matter, it'll be neat to be able to see all the games. I guess in this case, I'll record the Michigan game Sunday morning, and watch it when I get a chance.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

(after all, what else are they going to show).

I don't know, that Northwestern-Ohio State quilting bee looks pretty intense. (I hear Ohio State players have a three-word essay due by the end of the semester on this event that will keep them academically eligible...
) :D

[HerRealName]

You should have some spillover channels as well that come on air when there are multiple games on at the same time. Last week, they had Illinois-PSU on one channel, then on the spillover channels they had UM-NU and some other game as well.

[Passacaglia]

You should have some spillover channels as well that come on air when there are multiple games on at the same time. Last week, they had Illinois-PSU on one channel, then on the spillover channels they had UM-NU and some other game as well.

Thanks -- my preview channel says that Channel 99 is "RCN Promo" and they're showing the Big Ten Network on it -- some archery thing. I hope this is the MICH-EMU spillover, not MINN-IND.

[Passacaglia]

I get it, but it doesn't show up on my "TV Guide" programing thing on my DVR recorder, so I have to set it to manually record. I discovered this on the first weekend of college football this season, halfway thru a game against an insignificant 1-AA school

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/football/map06.asp

This map will inform you that you will in fact get to see Sparty play the Pat Fitzgeralds.

I noticed that it says Directv has the Michigan game on 219. My 219 is blank, but I'll record it anyway just in case. :)

oh, duh, this map says that the Michigan game is on Channel 99 in Chicago. Heh.

[dervack]

I get it, but it doesn't show up on my "TV Guide" programing thing on my DVR recorder, so I have to set it to manually record. I discovered this on the first weekend of college football this season, halfway thru a game against an insignificant 1-AA school

http://www.bigtennetwork.com/sports/football/map06.asp

This map will inform you that you will in fact get to see Sparty play the Pat Fitzgeralds.

I noticed that it says Directv has the Michigan game on 219. My 219 is blank, but I'll record it anyway just in case. :)
It's an Alternate channel. It's blank except when a game is playing.

[Kodos]

Stupid Comcast.

[DeToxRox]

Uh oh.. Is this the Spartys of old? A tough loss last week and now potentially losing to a team they should handle with ease

[markprior22]

Stupid Comcast.

Yeah, I love the fact that Comcast won't put this network on a basic tier because "they don't want to make everyone pay for a channel that not everyone wants to watch." I wish they would take this same approach to all channels. My basic cable bill covers shopping channels and much other crap that I don't watch but still have to pay for.

[mckerney]

Yeah, I love the fact that Comcast won't put this network on a basic tier because "they don't want to make everyone pay for a channel that not everyone wants to watch." I wish they would take this same approach to all channels. My basic cable bill covers shopping channels and much other crap that I don't watch but still have to pay for.

They have no problem charging everyone for it, they just want everyone to have to pay extra to get it. They recently moved ESPN Classic to their sports package, though that didn't change the price of basic service or the sports package.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Yeah, I love the fact that Comcast won't put this network on a basic tier because "they don't want to make everyone pay for a channel that not everyone wants to watch." I wish they would take this same approach to all channels. My basic cable bill covers shopping channels and much other crap that I don't watch but still have to pay for.
I think they might be able to live with that if the BTN weren't asking for a king's ransom per subscriber.

I support Comcast for the principle of the thing, even though as a DirecTV subscriber I'm not personally affected.

[mckerney]

I think they might be able to live with that if the BTN weren't asking for a king's ransom per subscriber.

I support Comcast for the principle of the thing, even though as a DirecTV subscriber I'm not personally affected.

I can understand not wanting to pay the price the Big Ten is asking, but to claim their doing it because they want to protect the customer and not make everyone pay for it is bullshit. They want everyone to pay for it, but they want people to pay extra to get it. If they were able to add the Big Ten Network to their sports package I'm betting the cost of the sports package would stay at $6 with a good chance at a slight increase in everyone's basic cable bill.

[Jim G.]

We've been having cable problems lately, so there was a technician here this morning.

He talked about the whole Big Ten Network thing. He said there's absolutely no way Charter will even negotiate with the Big Ten Network while they're insisting on basic tier.

We just lost ESPN-Classic to the sports tier, as well. No one gets that tier, because it just doesn't have much, so they're trying to push it. That's a shame, because while I don't really care about watching sports re-runs, they do put overflow college football on Classic.

In many ways, this tier approach is the worst of both worlds. Sports fans have to pay for a huge amount of crap they'll never watch. Those channels are cheap, but cable companies profit quite a bit from the basic tier. And then they bundle more expensive channels with specific interests into a sports tier. So in order to get a channel I want, I have to pay for outdoors channels and soccer channels I'll never use.

Something is wrong when so many customers can't even get access to desirable programming like the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network. That's a sure sign that both the cable companies and the networks are absurdly greedy in negotiations.

[Mr. Wednesday]

I have the sports tier on DirecTV, mainly because I want a) FSC for soccer, b) ESPNU and CSTV for non-football sports, c) ESPNU, CSTV, and the RSNs for college hockey.

mckerney, I disagree that the cable companies are lying about their motives. They're looking at either having a big chunk out of their profits, or raising prices for everyone. The first is not palatable for a major corporation, the second is not palatable for PR, especially since the companies obviously don't believe the audience for the BTN is all that large.

[JonInMiddleGA]

especially since the companies obviously don't believe the audience for the BTN is all that large.

It's also expected to be a very temporary audience, existing in any measurable quantity on a national scale for just a few weeks during football season each year.

[Mr. Wednesday]

The conference isn't asking for these deals on a national scale, only within the approximate market area of the conference. And I think they're gunning for basketball as well as football, but I don't know if that will have a significant audience comparitively.

[hoopsguy]

I've enjoyed being able to watch the Illini on the BTN the last couple of weeks. I get the idea that these are the "worst couple of games" but the two that I've seen have been compelling. I'm sure that the NU/MSU and UM/App State games would have been good watches as well.

As far as the showdown between BTN and Comcast, I just wish I didn't have to listen to Comcast commercials on the radio defending their position. I would imagine they are spending a fair amount of money on PR defending a position that I have no interest in hearing. In this case I honestly don't care who is right or wrong, but I'm tired of hearing about it.

[Passacaglia]

I've enjoyed being able to watch the Illini on the BTN the last couple of weeks. I get the idea that these are the "worst couple of games" but the two that I've seen have been compelling. I'm sure that the NU/MSU and UM/App State games would have been good watches as well.

As far as the showdown between BTN and Comcast, I just wish I didn't have to listen to Comcast commercials on the radio defending their position. I would imagine they are spending a fair amount of money on PR defending a position that I have no interest in hearing. In this case I honestly don't care who is right or wrong, but I'm tired of hearing about it.

That's what I thought too, but I don't see how Michigan-Purdue would be in the worst couple of games next week (but maybe that's homer bias).

I definitely agree about the commercials.

[Jim G.]

The obvious solution for DirecTV is to leverage this rights situation into a "sports only" satellite package for people like me who would probably pay for a la carte access to packages.

The fact that they don't offer this indicates they're using the sports packages as a loss-leader to get new subscribers for the future.

The sad thing is that because they're doing this, networks like the BTN and the NFLN are getting enough revenue to maintain this impossible negotiating position with the large cable companies.

Again, when billionaires battle billionaires over pennies, only the customers lose.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The conference isn't asking for these deals on a national scale, only within the approximate market area of the conference. And I think they're gunning for basketball as well as football, but I don't know if that will have a significant audience comparitively.

But even in the approximate area of the conference, the appeal is considered to be very small outside of a few weeks of football season (yes, even in the basketball crazy areas of the B10). But they aren't going to put the network on for just X number of weeks (unless something really out of the ordinary is going on that I haven't heard about), the network wants year round carriage.

Seems to me that this might almost work better as a PPV-styled "network" instead of a 24/7 type network.

[Wolfpack]

As far as the showdown between BTN and Comcast, I just wish I didn't have to listen to Comcast commercials on the radio defending their position. I would imagine they are spending a fair amount of money on PR defending a position that I have no interest in hearing. In this case I honestly don't care who is right or wrong, but I'm tired of hearing about it.

Sounds like the little pissfest they've got going on down here between Time-Warner and MASN. Sports radio airwaves usually get at least one MASN-supported politicking commercial during my drive to and from work. Frankly, I couldn't care less about MASN and hope it doesn't get carried, actually. I'm not going to put money in Angelos's pocket just to watch a few games that I've lived all 31 years of my life without seeing. While not an Orioles fan or a Nats fan, the way MLB went about trying to protect Angelos when the Nats moved from Montreal was repugnant.

[Butter]

Pass, I believe that this is one of the couple of weeks this season that the Big Ten Network gets 2nd pick of the Big Ten games instead of ESPN. That's why UM-Purdue is on BTN.

[Passacaglia]

Pass, I believe that this is one of the couple of weeks this season that the Big Ten Network gets 2nd pick of the Big Ten games instead of ESPN. That's why UM-Purdue is on BTN.

That makes sense, thanks. I guess it's good timing for me.