On September 7, 1979 ESPN launched by broadcasting its first episode of SportsCenter, followed by the network's first live sporting event: a slow pitch softball game. Last Thursday the Big Ten Network launched at 7 p.m. CST with its first episode of Big Ten Tonight and broadcasted its first live sport event Saturday: the biggest upset in the history of college football.
Anyone still think BTN doesn't belong on basic cable?
The battle between the Big Ten Network and cable operators is centered on two things: the $1.10 BTN wants for each subscriber and whether or not the network should be on basic cable or a sports tier.
The $1.10 is negotiable. The sports tier is not. BTN President Mark Silverman will not put his network on a sports tier in the eight Big Ten states and he shouldn't have to.
The Benfica-Arsenal game belongs on a sports tier because it is being played on a different continent. The Wisconsin-Citadel game belongs on my basic cable because it is being played three blocks away from me.
One decent argument cable operators had was that the Big Ten Network's early football schedule was less than stellar. It was hard to argue that fact, seeing as how their first featured game was Michigan hosting a team that wasn't even a Division I-A school.
By halftime BTN was getting more publicity than ESPN because their game was turning into the story of the decade, while ESPN's games were more boring than the first day of class.
So maybe BTN got lucky Saturday as Appalachian State upset the Wolverines. Maybe they paid Michigan $1.10 per fan in the Big House to throw the game and get some publicity for the network. Either way, millions of Big Ten fans across the country were wishing they had DirecTV so they could have seen the best game of the week. Instead, we are all still blacked out - and not just because it was the weekend before classes started.
If you are frustrated now, just think about how bad it will be if a deal is not reached by basketball season. Wisconsin only has two guaranteed football games on BTN (the other will be a Big Ten game to be announced later), but already has 11 of their 18 Big Ten basketball games scheduled on the Big Ten Network.
Right now, BTN might not have the hot football games to barter with, but they do have basketball.
The football lineup will get better, too. This weekend Bowling Green travels to Michigan State after beating Minnesota last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Gophers have to rebound against another top MAC team as Miami (OH) goes to the Metrodome. Later that night, Iowa hosts Syracuse in a rematch of a game in which the Hawkeyes should have lost last season. You can catch all those games and more this weekend only on the BTN.
I know I sound like I just wrote a commercial hyping up this weekend's games on BTN, but if you haven't noticed, the Badgers game starts at 9 p.m. on a channel called Versus.
Versus' only sporting events are The Tour de Steroids and the NHL (with half of the games they show using a feed from a Canadian sports channel).
Yet Versus is on Charter's basic cable and the Big Ten Network is not.
Figure it out Charter.
At this point, I almost wish BTN would settle on the sports tier just so I could switch from the movie tier and get my Big Ten football games. Of course, then I would have missed Justin Timberlake's concert on HBO Monday night.
E-mail Adam at hoge@wisc.edu to share your opinion on the BTN/cable battle.
