The Crimson Quarry: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Along The Olentangy for Ohio State Fans!

Additional BTN network stuff.

This is an IU blog (really!), but the Big Ten Network seems to be just about the only news relating to IU right now, so here goes. Teddy Greenstein's column in today's Chicago Tribune provides a little more info, and indicates that the Big Ten will be making some sort of formal announcement today. Here's what we know:
  • The BTN nightly studio show, hosted by former ESPN anchor Dave Revsine, will launch on August 30 (that's the Thursday before college football begins.
  • The BTN will announce deals with over 75 cable companies, but none of the big boys (Comcast, Time Warner, Insight, Dish) are on the list yet.
  • There will be a Friday night "tailgate show" with live coverage from the sites of the next day's games. It's not clear whether that will happen every week or just the first week.

Greenstein also provides this information, which may have been reported before but if so, escaped me:

ABC Sports picks first each week. The BTN gets the second choice (ahead of ESPN)
in three of 12 weeks and the third choice three other weeks. In six weeks it picks fourth after ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

That does suggest that the games on the BTN will be a bit higher profile than the typical ESPN Plus games in the past.

UPDATE: Here's the release. Nothing much new. August 30 is the official launch date for the network, not just the studio show. The list of the committed companies is interesting:

Some of the local systems planning to carry Big Ten Network as part of their expanded basic level of service include Altatec Alta Municipal Utility, Cedar Falls Utilities, Celect Communications, Consolidated Communications Network Services, City of Wadsworth Cable TV, Dixon Telephone Company, Grundy Center Municipal, Harlan Municipal Utilities, Hiawatha Broadband, Horizon Telecom, Independence Communications, Iowa Network Services, Mid-Century Communications, Moultrie Telecommunications, Muscatine Power & Water, Oneida Cablevision, Spencer Municipal Utilities, The Community Agency and USA Communications. In addition, Big Ten Network has national distribution agreements with DirectTV and the new AT&T U-verseSM service, as well as a major regional agreement with Buckeye Cable.

That's better than not having Harlan and Muscatine in the bag, I suppose. And as Grundy goes, so goes the nation. How many households are represented on that list. 500?

0 recs  |  Comment 1 comment |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

"Maybe the programming is a little better than ESPN Plus but, as it looks from the post, only for a couple of weeks. And this only applies to football - what about basketball? That’s what I (and most of the state, I’d guess) care about the most. Who gets to pick those games before the BTN? Everybody else? Last year most of those games were on ESPN(s), plus a few on CBS – almost 29 games in all if you look at the IU website. The fact that I have to pay for stuff I was already getting for free already is absolutely ridiculous.

by pierre on Jul 2, 2007 5:36 PM EDT reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome. I previously blogged about IU at The Hoosier Report for about two years. You can follow The Crimson Quarry on Twitter. E-mail me at crimsonquarry at sbcglobal.net.
Start posting about the Hoosiers »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
Best and Worst Coverage of IU Football on-line?
Small
Scoreboard and Fisher
Small
NCAA 2011

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

South Carolina's quarterback Stephen Garcia celebrates with fans after defeating Vanderbilt 14-10 in their NCAA college football game  Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)

College Football Opening Night Rootability Index: Telling You Which Teams To Like

Florida State's Christian Ponder, left, runs as Miami's Marcus Robinson gives chase during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Monday, Sept. 7, 2009, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

2010 ACC College Football Preview: Deep Conference Should Make For Highly Competitive Season

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany speaks in Lincoln, Neb., Friday, June 11, 2010, in front of a Big Ten and a Nebraska backdrop. Nebraska made it official Friday and applied for membership in the Big Ten Conference, a potentially crippling blow to the Big 12 and the biggest move yet in an off season overhaul that will leave college sports looking much different by this time next year.(AP Photo/Nati Harnik) +5 updates

Big Ten Announces Conference Divisions For 2011

More from SBNation.com >


Managers

Crimson-lg_small John M (The Crimson Quarry)