B1G Media Rights / Comcast / Conference Realignment

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#1      

Dan

Admin
Comcast dropping BTN in non-B1G markets

The [Comcast] markets that will continue to receive BTN are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

States not on this list are considered out-of-market.
https://twitter.com/BFQuinn/status/984540460835274754


Comcast XFinity has decided unilaterally to drop BTN in many markets. All of their competitors still carry BTN everywhere. We at BTN share your disappointment. Let Comcast know how you feel.
https://twitter.com/BigTenNetwork/status/984578585179680769
 
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#2      

illini80

Forgottonia
Interesting. Did BTN overplay it's hand? Could amount to a substantial loss of revenue I would think.
 
#7      
Not really fair to MD, they've been fine.

Diluting historical rivalries while not adding premier football matchups is damaging the value of the brand. You can milk cable subscription fees in DC and NY of course, but it was as obvious as the nose on your face when we added those schools that that boost was extremely temporary, whereas the dilution was permanent.

Penn State and Nebraska were added to boost the inventory of desirable, nationally relevant football matchups, which are the core product under any revenue model. (For the record, I wouldn't have made those additions either, but I get it) Rutgers and Maryland were a cheap accounting trick and represented Jim Delany playing himself at the game he invented. Couldn't believe it then, and now the chickens begin to arrive at the roost.
 
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#8      
Guessing it is negotiation at this point, B1G wants more money than Comcast thinks they are worth. B1G wants enough uproar to force Comcast to pay. My guess not much happens until we get close to football season, then both sides get serious


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#10      

illini80

Forgottonia
Get a $ 22 roku express 1,free activation thru roku and sign on thru your cable subscription and watch all the BTN games....

Don't think that works if the channel is not offered in your area.
 
#11      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Don't think that works if the channel is not offered in your area.

true....but all you need is a friend or family that has access to BTN and sign in on their account....at least that's what I've been doing for over a year now...
 
#12      

Illini_1979

Oregon
Man, this really sucks. I currently pay $10/month extra for the "Sports Package" which, for me, is really just to get BTN (don't really care about the other channels in the package).

Guess I'll be cancelling the package and saving some money (but would really rather have BTN).

Per Dan's link, I'll be letting Comcast know that I am not happy.
 
#13      

haasi

New York
I gave up cable but have Hulu live. About $40 a month, tons of live channels including ESPN, btn, fsn etc. streams through the roku or whatever else you’ve got


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#14      
Hey but at least we wildly devalued the league by adding Rutgers and Maryland.
I'm glad I'm not the only who sees it this way.

Adding Buttgers and Maryland at the time was widely heralded as a smart move by Delaney to encroach upon the East Coast and its huge pool of eyeballs (sorry for the gross imagery). But... if you're going to do that, why not pick a good BCS football school? Football is where the money is. And, yes, the other reasons you pointed out.
 
#15      
Maryland was still a great addition almost any way you look at it:

* Great all-around sports program (look at all the B1G championships they've won)
* Flagship university for the State of Maryland and access into the Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Mid-Atlantic markets
* More competitive football program than people give them credit for (and have made major investments recently)
* Excellent academics
* Very fertile recruiting area

Rutgers is a long play athletically as it's going to take them a while to catch up with the rest of the conference, but they have also been investing lots of resources.

Regardless, Rutgers is the large flagship state school for New Jersey, which is a populous East Coast state. It has brought the B1G more visibility in the New York City market. And it is also fertile recruiting ground for both athletics and students.

Delaney said that the decision to add Maryland and Rutgers was a 100 year decision, and I think looking at it in that light it will make more sense -- in addition to adding a lot of revenue to the conference in the short term.

Plus, once the ACC added Syracuse and Boston College, it blocked them from completely taking over the East Coast market.
 
#16      
Looking at the map Dan linked to, Comcast doesn’t serve NYC, St. Louis or the Virginia side of suburban DC. Those are, I would imagine, the metro areas with the largest Big Ten fanbases outside of the Big Ten’s footprint that could have conceivably been affected.

Looks like the Midwestern ex-pats living in a good chunk of Florida, Houston, and L.A. are screwed though.
 
#18      
Welcome to midmajor status, Big Ten.

This has to be a joke.

The only reason the Big Ten Network was successful in the first place was because of the large and loyal fan bases that forced all of the providers to carry the network or lose a substantial number of subscribers. If you remember, it took a little while to get full carriage, but the Big Ten eventually won out.

Now, compare that to the Pac 12 Network that has struggled to get full carriage and never worked out a deal with Direct TV.

This latest move by Comcast is just a negotiating ploy. Let's see how it all plays out before you declare winners and losers.

Even with reduced Big Ten Network money, though, the B1G would still be ahead of every conference but the SEC in revenue, just based on their new Fox and ESPN deals.
 
#19      
No offense to BTN but for the most part it's not worth much at all. Not many games considering how many are actually played without TV. The BTN plus which has a few games but isn't included in the packages offered by the cable company. Don't be shocked when the others drop BTN as well when a new deal time comes. Best bet for BTN is to stop with the plus or give the cable companies access to airing them as well.
 
#20      

sbillini

st petersburg, fl
No offense to BTN but for the most part it's not worth much at all. Not many games considering how many are actually played without TV. The BTN plus which has a few games but isn't included in the packages offered by the cable company. Don't be shocked when the others drop BTN as well when a new deal time comes. Best bet for BTN is to stop with the plus or give the cable companies access to airing them as well.

Or go fully over the top in non-core markets. Like others on here, I pay for the sports package during bball/football season purely for BTN. If they just allowed me to get it direct, I'd be fine with that. Cable companies may not be happy about it, but maybe them dropping the channel allows them to do it.
 
#22      

kuhl84

Orlando, FL
Interesting. Did BTN overplay it's hand? Could amount to a substantial loss of revenue I would think.

Comcast is overplaying there hand, IMO.

They underestimate the number of subscribers who only stay connected to a cable package to watch live sporting events not broadcast on local channels.

There are a number of packages with Hulu, YouTube, etc. that offer B10 Network in their package at relatively low rates. I don't watch much live TV anymore, other than sports, and I pay way too much monthly to justify any service. I don't cut the cable, because the fee is not a big deal to me in the grand scheme of things.

But if they do something to annoy me...I leave their service and will learn to use the more cost effective alternatives. When that happens, they will never get me back.
 
#23      
As someone who is considering cutting the cord, how do you watch games/tv shows with a streaming service if you can’t see it live? I literally dvr everything and catch it later. Even if I’m only on a half hour delay that allows me to skip commercials.

The Comcast thing doesn’t affect me yet, but depending on how this goes for them, I guess other companies might follow suit.
 
#25      

Deleted member 631370

D
Guest
Looking at the map Dan linked to, Comcast doesn’t serve NYC, St. Louis or the Virginia side of suburban DC. Those are, I would imagine, the metro areas with the largest Big Ten fanbases outside of the Big Ten’s footprint that could have conceivably been affected.

Looks like the Midwestern ex-pats living in a good chunk of Florida, Houston, and L.A. are screwed though.


As a Northern Virginia guy, Comcast does in fact serve this area. But good thing I have DirecTV.

And yes, Comcast is available in New York.

That map is for Xfinity -- their high speed internet. It's not for cable TV.

There are a LOT of Big Ten fans in this area, aside from the Maryland fans. Penn State is practically the "local" team, and you can find big clusters of fans from most Big Ten schools. For those with Comcast, this will really suck.
 
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