Comcast and Big Ten Network finally reach agreement

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 19th 2008 at 4:39PM

Whoa, Nelly! After what seems like eons, Comcast and the Big Ten Network have finally put their problems aside and reached an agreement. Of course, we heard yesterday that the deal was close, but we didn't exactly predict that it was this close. Under the terms of the deal, Comcast will "initially launch BTN as part of its expanded basic level of service to promote it to the majority of its customers residing in states with Big Ten universities on August 15th. Next Spring, the carrier reserves the right to "move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in these states." As expected, users will have access to all high-definition feeds as well, which is sure to bring a smile to Big Ten fanatics across Comcast's footprint.

Filed under: Industry, Cable, Sports

Tags: agreement, big ten, big ten network, BigTen, BigTenNetwork, breaking news, BreakingNews, btn, comcast, deal, partner, partnership, sport, sports, terms

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

YodaMac @ Jun 19th 2008 5:12PM

"... which is sure to bring a small to Big Ten fanatics ..."

A small what? Or should I ask...

Highly Ranked

Bryan T @ Jun 19th 2008 5:33PM

c'mon Charter >.< you're next. Need my college hockey since Charter doesnt even carry CSTV

Neutral

Jim Mallory @ Jun 19th 2008 5:45PM

We are going to get ALL of the High-Definition feeds?!?! That is surprising. I was figuring we would get 1 HD feed and the rest SD (as that is what I believe Wow! does in the Detroit Area.)

Neutral

why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 19th 2008 6:15PM

Death to the Big 10 Network. NFL network. NBA Network. NHL Network, etc.

They're just an attempt to make you get even more channels (at a higher price, even if it isn't broken out on your bill) in order to watch the same stuff you could already see before without additional cost.

Highly Ranked

Bryan T @ Jun 19th 2008 9:22PM

Actually I beg to differ.

I cannot tell you how amazing the NHL network has been. I was finally able to watch the memorial cup for the first time, and a great tournament that was. Unlike the NFL Network, the NHL does not try to throw it's weight around (mainly because it doesn't have any), and shows a lot from TSN and CBC, stuff I don't have access to.

Not to mention it shows AHL, ECHL games, world juniors, etc.

Even at least with the NBA network, they don't show "nba-only" games and often give you your NBA fix 24/7.

Now the NFL network...yeah, they are bad. I think I remember seeing that they wanted like a billion dollars for one of the TV stations in Green Bay to broadcast one of those Thursday-night games as a way of throwing their weight around.

Neutral

drocpsu @ Aug 27th 2008 12:08PM

I also disagree. Coming from a Big10 school and moving to a non-big10 state, I rarely get to see the games on network or standard cable tv. If it's a bigger game, possibly. Unfortunately, I'm not in a Big10 state, so I still won't get the BTN from Comcast and will go another season having to follow most games online.

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