Big Ten Network to be on D* Channel 220

[Madison Hawk]

I don't have the requisite number of posts to link yet but confirmation can be found on bigten.com under Media Day quotes by Mark Silverman.

[John4924]

Originally Posted by Madison Hawk

I don't have the requisite number of posts to link yet but confirmation can be found on bigten.com under Media Day quotes by Mark Silverman.

Here it is...

http://bigten.cstv.com/sports/m-foot...073107aak.html

And welcome to the forum

[Smthkd]

Wow! Nice find for a newbie! You get 10 points for that!

[JohnH]

Nice the article also mentioned the overflow channels will be nearby.

[garn9173]

God, Silverman is so ignorant, it's not even funny. He thinks the Big 10 Network is the end all of sports networks. Being stranded in Big 10 land, i'm getting rather sick of Silverman and Delany pimping this network and their constant battering that the Big 10 Network is just as important to sports fans as ESPN.

On the sports tier/basic debate:
"Right now, only 40 percent of consumers have ability to get the sports tier. On the sports tier today, I don't see networks that have the same appeal as the Big Ten Network.

When you have sports networks like ESPN, ESPN2, Regional Sports Networks, VERSUS, Golf Channel on basic, this clearly shows the Big Ten Network belongs there.

[Philby]

I bet the big 10 channel shows more actual games/sporting events than the VS or Golf channel and probably as many or slightly more as the RSNs (at least fox sports midwest or whatever one I currently get on Mediacom)

[ansky]

Originally Posted by garn9173

God, Silverman is so ignorant, it's not even funny. He thinks the Big 10 Network is the end all of sports networks. Being stranded in Big 10 land, i'm getting rather sick of Silverman and Delany pimping this network and their constant battering that the Big 10 Network is just as important to sports fans as ESPN.

"Right now, only 40 percent of consumers have ability to get the sports tier. On the sports tier today, I don't see networks that have the same appeal as the Big Ten Network.

His quote doesn't make any sense. In reality, 100% of customers have the ABILITY to get the sports tier (I assume he means packages similar to D*'s Sports Pack). It's just a matter of whether or not they choose to subscribe.

[garn9173]

Originally Posted by ansky

His quote doesn't make any sense. In reality, 100% of customers have the ABILITY to get the sports tier (I assume he means packages similar to D*'s Sports Pack). It's just a matter of whether or not they choose to subscribe.

Trust me, i've had to endure either Silverman or Delaney on an almost daily basis on Des Moines' lone sports station and most of the time, they aren't making any sense in their argument to place BTN on expanded basic.

[GirkMonster]

If you don't like it, don't watch it. Simple.

As for me, I'll have 220 listed first in my favorites list tonight!

[dhines]

comparing the Big10 network to ESPN . . . he is kidding right? outside of basketball and football, espn chooses not to cover what the Big10 network is bragging about. just to be clear, is this going to be a network managed and run by students? i am curious to see what the quality of the product will be.

[garn9173]

Originally Posted by dhines

comparing the Big10 network to ESPN . . . he is kidding right? outside of basketball and football, espn chooses not to cover what the Big10 network is bragging about. just to be clear, is this going to be a network managed and run by students? i am curious to see what the quality of the product will be.

Nope, the arrogance shown by the Big 10 has been simply amazing. I don't know about other states, but here in Iowa, the overwhelming majority are supporting Mediacom and their stance of putting BTN on a digital sports tier.

[APorter]

Originally Posted by ansky

His quote doesn't make any sense. In reality, 100% of customers have the ABILITY to get the sports tier (I assume he means packages similar to D*'s Sports Pack). It's just a matter of whether or not they choose to subscribe.

I read the 40% as those currently with digital cable box. The other 60% would have the subscribe to the cable companies digital package, subscribe to sports tier, and rent a digital cable box. That's how it would work with Time Warner here in Cincinnati if you only had basic cable and the Big Ten Network was put into Sports Tier. You can't get the sports tier without getting the Digital Package and you can't get the Digital Package without renting a digital box.

[Madison Hawk]

Originally Posted by dhines

comparing the Big10 network to ESPN . . . he is kidding right? outside of basketball and football, espn chooses not to cover what the Big10 network is bragging about. just to be clear, is this going to be a network managed and run by students? i am curious to see what the quality of the product will be.

In response:

1. Many people living in Big Ten states are huge college sports fans (including me) and will watch more of the BTN than ESPN. The BTN will be able to select football games ahead of ESPN during three weeks and ahead of ESPN2 three weeks so for half of the season the BTN will be selecting ahead of ESPN or ESPN2. The amount of coverage to Big Ten football and men's basketball (live games, highlights, analysis, classic games, etc.) is significant and will appeal to a large segment of consumers.

2. The quality of production is expected to be top notch. For example, the top football announcing team will be Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis, the same pair that announced the BCS National Championship game last year. The #2 football announcing team is Wayne Larivee (announcer for Bulls and Packers) and Chris Martin. The lead studio analyst is Dave Revsine, formerly with ESPN. Over 85% of the events will be HD, including five HD football games each of first two weeks. In total, 33 of 36 football games are anticipated to be in HD and over 110 men's basketball games are anticipated to be in HD. The bottom line is the Big Ten and Fox have invested a lot of money to hire the talent and have production capabilities that are on par with ESPN and ESPN2, and far exceed those of ESPNU, Versus or CSTV.

Feel free to ignore the BTN, but the BTN is an exciting new development for college sports fans and it is setting the bar very high in terms of content and quality. I hope that the BTN forces ESPNU, Versus and CSTV to significantly upgrade their productions.

[dmclone]

Originally Posted by Madison Hawk

In response:

1. Many people living in Big Ten states are huge college sports fans (including me) and will watch more of the BTN than ESPN. The BTN will be able to select football games ahead of ESPN during three weeks and ahead of ESPN2 three weeks so for half of the season the BTN will be selecting ahead of ESPN or ESPN2. The amount of coverage to Big Ten football and men's basketball (live games, highlights, analysis, classic games, etc.) is significant and will appeal to a large segment of consumers.

2. The quality of production is expected to be top notch. For example, the top football announcing team will be Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis, the same pair that announced the BCS National Championship game last year. The #2 football announcing team is Wayne Larivee (announcer for Bulls and Packers) and Chris Martin. The lead studio analyst is Dave Revsine, formerly with ESPN. Over 85% of the events will be HD, including five HD football games each of first two weeks. In total, 33 of 36 football games are anticipated to be in HD and over 110 men's basketball games are anticipated to be in HD. The bottom line is the Big Ten and Fox have invested a lot of money to hire the talent and have production capabilities that are on par with ESPN and ESPN2, and far exceed those of ESPNU, Versus or CSTV.

Feel free to ignore the BTN, but the BTN is an exciting new development for college sports fans and it is setting the bar very high in terms of content and quality. I hope that the BTN forces ESPNU, Versus and CSTV to significantly upgrade their productions.

That all sounds great so I assume you'd be happy to pay extra to get that channel? I'm guessing 75% of the people with Directv won't ever watch this channel. I think the BTN is trying to throw their weight around and at this point I don't think they have a lot of weight.

Here in Des Moines they are being obnoxious. Offering free lunches, bad mouthing the local cable company, bragging about viewership before the channel even goes live, etc

I have to pay extra if I want all the Fox sports channels. The BTN should be the same way.

[DCSholtis]

Originally Posted by Madison Hawk

I don't have the requisite number of posts to link yet but confirmation can be found on bigten.com under Media Day quotes by Mark Silverman.

Welcome over here Madison Hawk!!! Glad to see you here on this board as well.

[Madison Hawk]

Originally Posted by dmclone

That all sounds great so I assume you'd be happy to pay extra to get that channel? I'm guessing 75% of the people with Directv won't ever watch this channel. I think the BTN is trying to throw their weight around and at this point I don't think they have a lot of weight.

Here in Des Moines they are being obnoxious. Offering free lunches, bad mouthing the local cable company, bragging about viewership before the channel even goes live, etc

I have to pay extra if I want all the Fox sports channels. The BTN should be the same way.

Ultimately, the market place will decide the value of the BTN. The BTN believes it has a very valuable product and is selling that product to the end consumer. Ultimately the consumer will decide the value of the BTN. If Mediacom, Comcast, Dish, etc. do not offer the BTN, consumers in the eight state Big Ten region will then need to decide whether they want to switch to DirecTV (or another one of the over 80 providers that have agreed to carry the BTN) or go without the BTN. You want to wager on how that will turn out

Interestingly, the BTN is almost giving the BTN away in 42 states and DC so do not be surprised if the BTN shows up on cable systems across the country, albeit on a digital sports tier outside the Big Ten region.

[APorter]

Originally Posted by dmclone

That all sounds great so I assume you'd be happy to pay extra to get that channel? I'm guessing 75% of the people with Directv won't ever watch this channel. I think the BTN is trying to throw their weight around and at this point I don't think they have a lot of weight.

Here in Des Moines they are being obnoxious. Offering free lunches, bad mouthing the local cable company, bragging about viewership before the channel even goes live, etc

I have to pay extra if I want all the Fox sports channels. The BTN should be the same way.

What's bad about offering free lunches?

[DCSholtis]

Originally Posted by Madison Hawk

In response:

1. Many people living in Big Ten states are huge college sports fans (including me) and will watch more of the BTN than ESPN. The BTN will be able to select football games ahead of ESPN during three weeks and ahead of ESPN2 three weeks so for half of the season the BTN will be selecting ahead of ESPN or ESPN2. The amount of coverage to Big Ten football and men's basketball (live games, highlights, analysis, classic games, etc.) is significant and will appeal to a large segment of consumers.

2. The quality of production is expected to be top notch. For example, the top football announcing team will be Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis, the same pair that announced the BCS National Championship game last year. The #2 football announcing team is Wayne Larivee (announcer for Bulls and Packers) and Chris Martin. The lead studio analyst is Dave Revsine, formerly with ESPN. Over 85% of the events will be HD, including five HD football games each of first two weeks. In total, 33 of 36 football games are anticipated to be in HD and over 110 men's basketball games are anticipated to be in HD. The bottom line is the Big Ten and Fox have invested a lot of money to hire the talent and have production capabilities that are on par with ESPN and ESPN2, and far exceed those of ESPNU, Versus or CSTV.

Feel free to ignore the BTN, but the BTN is an exciting new development for college sports fans and it is setting the bar very high in terms of content and quality. I hope that the BTN forces ESPNU, Versus and CSTV to significantly upgrade their productions.

+1 I know Im very happy about the BTN here and I'll be watching it. However just for this year I have also kept Game Plan so I can have an obscene amount of college FB this fall.

[Earl Bonovich]

Originally Posted by Madison Hawk

Ultimately, the market place will decide the value of the BTN. The BTN believes it has a very valuable product and is selling that product to the end consumer. Ultimately the consumer will decide the value of the BTN. If Mediacom, Comcast, Dish, etc. do not offer the BTN, consumers in the eight state Big Ten region will then need to decide whether they want to switch to DirecTV (or another one of the over 80 providers that have agreed to carry the BTN) or go without the BTN. You want to wager on how that will turn out

Interestingly, the BTN is almost giving the BTN away in 42 states and DC so do not be surprised if the BTN shows up on cable systems across the country, albeit on a digital sports tier outside the Big Ten region.

Similar statements in the the early days of the Sunday Ticket....
(no I am not saying that ST = BTN, or NFL = BTN Sports)

But there is a significant fan base there, that stays loyal to their school....
So if the other's want to role the dice, and not carry the BTN this year... and it turns out to be a "hit"....

BTN could then say next year... the price is now ....

If it goes the other way....

[Philby]

Personally - i hope the BTN succeeds and that success causes the SEC to create their own network.

I'm a huge Vols fan, but as I currently live in Iowa I only get to see about 4-6 of their games on TV every year (sometimes more if they're ranked). Hopefully this year the BTN pulling some BT games away from ESPN/2 causes them to pick up some more SEC games so I get to watch more Vols this fall. and then if the SEC has their own network I'd have a much better chance of seeing 8-10 games a year!

anyone know if any of the RSNs down south broadcast much SEC fball?? I know that there's been a couple Vols games on a channel called Lincoln or something?? I've never seen it in a channel lineup so maybe its a regional independant?

[DCSholtis]

Originally Posted by Philby

Personally - i hope the BTN succeeds and that success causes the SEC to create their own network.

I'm a huge Vols fan, but as I currently live in Iowa I only get to see about 4-6 of their games on TV every year (sometimes more if they're ranked). Hopefully this year the BTN pulling some BT games away from ESPN/2 causes them to pick up some more SEC games so I get to watch more Vols this fall. and then if the SEC has their own network I'd have a much better chance of seeing 8-10 games a year!

anyone know if any of the RSNs down south broadcast much SEC fball?? I know that there's been a couple Vols games on a channel called Lincoln or something?? I've never seen it in a channel lineup so maybe its a regional independant?

Lincoln Financial runs a syndication unit. They bought out Raycom a few years ago and changed the name. You'll find those games in Game Plan PPV package. CBS carries SEC games as well.

http://www.lincolnfinancialsports.com/index.php?s=

[Philby]

thanks for the info on the lincoln sports station - and yes I know CBS carries SEC games - i can usually count on 2-3 Vols games a season to be on CBS (vs FLA, vs ALA and a random if both teams are ranked, like Georgia 2 years ago)

Also congrats on signing Daunte Fumblepepper...Go Broncos!

[JonSamuels]

Originally Posted by Philby

I know that there's been a couple Vols games on a channel called Lincoln or something?? I've never seen it in a channel lineup so maybe its a regional independant?

First off it's nice to see I'm not the only SEC sports fan in Des Moines! (my team is the Razorbacks)

Lincoln Financial Sports used to be JP Sports and they carry syndicated games in the SEC states...like how we (used to) get all those Big 10 games on Fox 17 through ESPN+. The cool thing about LF Sports is that they stream all of their SEC games live on Yahoo.

[GoBeavs]

Originally Posted by GirkMonster

If you don't like it, don't watch it. Simple.

Does that also mean that I don't have to pay for it if I don't watch it?

[DCSholtis]

Originally Posted by JonSamuels

First off it's nice to see I'm not the only SEC sports fan in Des Moines! (my team is the Razorbacks)

Lincoln Financial Sports used to be JP Sports and they carry syndicated games in the SEC states...like how we (used to) get all those Big 10 games on Fox 17 through ESPN+. The cool thing about LF Sports is that they stream all of their SEC games live on Yahoo.

Yeah JP Sports I knew it was either them or Raycom. Thanks for the clarification.