Deal Finalized, Big Ten Network 2 Months Away

By ha-mace (Chief Contributor)
Tags: Comcast, Big Ten Network, Penn State Football, Big Ten

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Created: 06/19/2008
4:37 PM

So the rumored deal between Comcast and the Big Ten Network was finalized Thursday and I'll be honest, I really couldn't care less. Don't get me wrong, I love Penn State, but aside from the one or two games against crappy teams, I will never watch the channel. Really, look at Thursday night's schedule, you watching any of this? Oh well, at least I won't have to pay extra for it, Comcast is raping me enough as it is.

On August 15th you'll have the Big Ten Network on your TV if you're a Comcast customer in seven of the eight Big Ten states (Iowa doesn't have to deal with Comcast, you lucky dogs you). But even though they keep saying it "could" happen, we all know that by the 2009 football season you're going to be paying extra for the privilege of having a channel you'll watch twice a year.

In their press release they say, "In Spring 2009, Comcast may elect to move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service ..." In plain English that means you'll need one of Comcast's digital services if you want the channel, most likely on a sports package of some sort.

Obviously the big potential draw for BTN is football (and maybe basketball to a much smaller extent), but when you look at their schedule for next year it's not very exciting. Although there are plenty of other games that will show up on BTN here are the confirmed games so far:

• Northern Illinois at Minnesota
• Murray State at Indiana
• Ball State at Indiana
• Indiana at Illinois
• Iowa at Minnesota

Exciting right?

Last year Penn State had two games on the network and I would assume the same will happen for the 2008 season. And while they haven't announced any Penn State games on the network, it's probably safe to assume the August 30 game against Coastal Carolina will be on along with a game against either Purdue, Iowa, Indiana or Michigan State (all Big Ten schools).

The only part of the deal that sounds remotely interesting is the potential for a "multimedia" aspect. Again from the press release:

"Comcast's digital customers who receive the network will have On Demand access to programming such as weekly extended highlights and condensed game replays from around the conference, classic Big Ten sporting events, bowl game coverage and coaches' shows, plus original campus programming and nightly studio shows from Big Ten Network, most of which is available in high definition."

Comcast also has the ability to deliver much of that same content to its Comcast High Speed Internet customers via the company's Comcast.net portal. Additionally, Comcast has the rights to carry certain network content on Fancast.com."

Although, if you have a great way to deliver content and no one wants to see it ...