New Opportunities
July 17, 2007 02:12 PM | General
July 17, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – About a month from now the Big Ten Conference will launch its 24-hour television network on Aug. 30 at 7 pm Central time. Two days later there will be regional coverage of the Appalachian State-Michigan, Youngstown State-Ohio State, Florida International-Penn State and Northeastern-Northwestern football games.
Very few around the country will have the ability to watch those games … but that doesn’t mean no one is paying attention.
The Big Ten isn’t the first conference to create its own television network – the Mountain West Conference launched the mtn. in 2006 - but how well the Big Ten does this year with BTN will determine if other major conferences choose to pursue their own TV networks.
The SEC for one will be taking copious notes. All of the SEC’s present television agreements will expire by 2009 and Commissioner Mike Slive says the conference has already begun exploring its options.
“The conference has had discussions with numerous distribution entities of various kinds, all of whom have expressed considerable interest about the channel,” Slive told USA Today last month.
A conference sponsoring its own all-sports channel isn’t without its risks. The Mountain West last year and the Big Ten this summer have encountered resistance from regional cable providers that want to keep their programming costs under control, meaning exposure could be dramatically compromised.
The Big Ten presently has agreements with about 40 smaller cable systems in Ohio but the three major cable providers in Columbus – Time Warner Cable, Insight Communications and Wide Open West – aren’t yet among them. The Big Ten Network is also encountering difficulties in Michigan where Wolverine games right now will only be seen on DirecTV and a handful of smaller cable companies.
According to a recent story in Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, cable giant Comcast is among those balking at the Big Ten’s price of $1.10 per subscriber to carry the channel on their analog distribution tiers.
Last year the mtn. wasn’t carried on primary cable providers Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications in the Mountain West’s largest market, Dallas-Fort Worth. CSTV, which partners with the mtn., has added Dallas and Chicago to its digital cable lineup but that doesn’t necessarily mean the mtn. will be carried in those cities. The mtn. still hasn’t been able to penetrate Phoenix, northern California and the Northwest.
Dick Harmon, who covers the Mountain West Conference for the Deseret Morning News, believes the network can sustain itself if it can secure deals with DishNetwork and DirecTV.
“It will struggle along as it exists right now because ‘select’ games on CSTV and Versus (Network) will give it a chance at a so-called national audience and exposure,” Harmon said via email. “The mtn. programming is unique enough that those who have it turn to glean very specific games, interviews and programs.”
The Big Ten Network is taking a similar approach with more than 1,000 hours of original programming planned for this year including a nightly highlights show hosted by Dave Revsine, formerly of ESPN. BTN is banking on bigger cable companies caving in to passionate Ohio State and Michigan fans demanding that they carry Buckeye and Wolverine games.
That remains to be seen.
Other major conferences like the Big 12, ACC, Pac 10 and the Big East have taken a more cautious approach. Last April, the Big 12 announced an eight-year deal with ESPN that is believed to be worth about $480 million to the conference.
After the ACC added Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech, the conference in 2004 renegotiated its contract with ABC and ESPN. The ACC’s new seven-year deal is worth $258 million.
The Pac 10 has an agreement with ESPN and ABC that starts this year and runs through 2012. The conference also has a long-term deal with Fox Sports Net.
The Big East announced last year a pair of separate six-year deals with ESPN for football and men’s and women’s basketball reportedly worth $250 million. The agreement with ESPN guarantees the conference 17 football games per season on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2. Men’s basketball will have a minimum of 60 games each year on ESPN and ESPN2 with the full Big East regular season schedule on ESPN’s family of networks – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Classic, ESPN 360 and ESPN Regional.
The launch of the Big Ten Network will have an immediate and positive impact on the Big East’s regional television network. In the past the Big East and the MAC competed with the Big Ten for network affiliates during Saturday’s noon Eastern time slot. Now with the Big Ten taking its remaining games to its own cable/pay TV network, it will provide more opportunities for the Big East and the MAC with over-the-air stations.
And the big winner of those two will of course be the Big East.
This year the Big East football game of the week will be televised in several new markets throughout the Midwest including Chicago. Last year the Big East game of the week was seen by roughly 30 percent of the country.
“You will see the number of clearances increase which will mean more exposure for ESPN Regional telecasts,” said West Virginia University deputy director of athletics Mike Parsons.
More affiliates means more advertising revenue.
The Big Ten’s gamble with its new television network could reap the conference untold millions in the coming years. It could also give a big boost to a Big East Conference presently intent on keeping its games free and increasing the exposure of its growing football conference.
In the early 1980s, Big East basketball was built on television. The same thing could be going on right now with football.
