Big Ten to have its own Cable channel
Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:28 pm
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... SPORTS0202
ANN ARBOR -- The Big Ten has hatched a ground-breaking approach to nationally televising its intercollegiate athletic contests while maintaining a strong tie with two networks -- ABC and ESPN -- that have such a stranglehold in sports broadcasting.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany unveiled on Wednesday a 20-year agreement with Fox Cable Networks to launch a 24-hour Big Ten Channel that will carry a number of football and men's basketball games beginning in August 2007. It also will carry nonrevenue sports, coaches shows and nonsports programming. The Big Ten Channel will be available to satellite and cable distributors across the country and be part of DirecTV packages.
The conference also announced a 10-year deal with ABC/ESPN that will include televising up to 41 football games, with up to 17 on ABC, and an estimated 60 basketball games a season, including one game every Tuesday and Thursday of a nine-week conference schedule on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Six-to-eight Saturday conference games will appear on ESPN/ESPN2 each season.
There will be 100 women's basketball and volleyball games on an ESPN network, including the championship games of the Big Ten women's tournament. Those events will be available through a variety of outlets, including the ESPN networks, and digital and Internet options, like ESPN360, Mobile ESPN, ESPN.com and ESPN Video on Demand.
"We met our objectives, which in part were to continue these long, successful relationships with incredibly successful media companies and partners, and while doing that, we diversified a bit," Delany said during a teleconference Wednesday.
Delany said the conference decided to work with Fox Sports to launch the Big Ten Channel because of its recent track record of successful channel launches -- four of the last six channels launched on television have been backed by Fox.
The Big Ten, according to ABC demographics, has a foothold in about 25 percent of the country, mainly because of its alumni base of four million. With that in mind, it seemed a no-brainer for the networks to maintain such a deep tie with the conference.
It also seemed the Big Ten Channel, which will not allow alcohol or gambling advertising, was an obvious evolution for the conference.
"We have a chance of distributing the channel beyond the confines of the eight states (where the Big Ten schools are located)," Delany said.
This is the first conference to develop its own channel on such a national scope.
The Big Ten Channel will have at least 35 football games a season, at least 105 basketball games, about 55 women's basketball games, Big Ten tournament championships and 660 hours each year for programming from each of the 11 institutions.
Perhaps overlooked is the fact the conference retained ownership of tapes of about 4,000 football games that have been played since 1960. That will factor into "classic" game programming on the Big Ten Channel. The "classic" games will still be available to ESPN.
Big Ten Channel aside, ESPN and ABC feel like they have made significant inroads with the Big Ten in this 10-year agreement.
"What this is, this deal is ground-breaking in many ways," said John Wildhack, senior vice president of programming, ESPN, Inc. "It's ground-breaking in terms of the length, the 1,100 events, the significant increase in basketball, so I think in totality and then all of our media and networks and how we'll deliver Big Ten content, I think this mix is the most far-ranging agreement in collegiate sports today. This deal eclipses all those other deals."
Delany would not reveal financial details of the deal, but the funds generated will be equally divided among the 11 schools. It has been reported that the current deal with ABC/ESPN, which ends next summer, is worth $50 million.
Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, chair of the Big Ten athletic directors for nearly two years, was extremely active in the television negotiations. Martin expects the new deal to produce about $3 million more in funding per school.
In a release from Michigan, the athletic department said it estimates receiving an increase of $7.5 million the first year of the new TV agreements.
The Big Ten Channel already is assured of being part of DirecTV's Total Choice package (rack this for me), which reaches 15.4 million homes. Fox's parent company, News Corp., owns a large share of DirecTV. Fox, which plans to open an office and studio in Chicago, from where the Big Ten Channel will be operated, will handle negotiations with cable distributors such as Comcast and Time Warner.
Martin said he feels confident the Big Ten Channel will be available around the country.
"Comcast is the big player in many states, in our eight-state region, certainly here in Michigan," he said. "We're very confident that there will be an arrangement made with Fox."
ANN ARBOR -- The Big Ten has hatched a ground-breaking approach to nationally televising its intercollegiate athletic contests while maintaining a strong tie with two networks -- ABC and ESPN -- that have such a stranglehold in sports broadcasting.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany unveiled on Wednesday a 20-year agreement with Fox Cable Networks to launch a 24-hour Big Ten Channel that will carry a number of football and men's basketball games beginning in August 2007. It also will carry nonrevenue sports, coaches shows and nonsports programming. The Big Ten Channel will be available to satellite and cable distributors across the country and be part of DirecTV packages.
The conference also announced a 10-year deal with ABC/ESPN that will include televising up to 41 football games, with up to 17 on ABC, and an estimated 60 basketball games a season, including one game every Tuesday and Thursday of a nine-week conference schedule on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Six-to-eight Saturday conference games will appear on ESPN/ESPN2 each season.
There will be 100 women's basketball and volleyball games on an ESPN network, including the championship games of the Big Ten women's tournament. Those events will be available through a variety of outlets, including the ESPN networks, and digital and Internet options, like ESPN360, Mobile ESPN, ESPN.com and ESPN Video on Demand.
"We met our objectives, which in part were to continue these long, successful relationships with incredibly successful media companies and partners, and while doing that, we diversified a bit," Delany said during a teleconference Wednesday.
Delany said the conference decided to work with Fox Sports to launch the Big Ten Channel because of its recent track record of successful channel launches -- four of the last six channels launched on television have been backed by Fox.
The Big Ten, according to ABC demographics, has a foothold in about 25 percent of the country, mainly because of its alumni base of four million. With that in mind, it seemed a no-brainer for the networks to maintain such a deep tie with the conference.
It also seemed the Big Ten Channel, which will not allow alcohol or gambling advertising, was an obvious evolution for the conference.
"We have a chance of distributing the channel beyond the confines of the eight states (where the Big Ten schools are located)," Delany said.
This is the first conference to develop its own channel on such a national scope.
The Big Ten Channel will have at least 35 football games a season, at least 105 basketball games, about 55 women's basketball games, Big Ten tournament championships and 660 hours each year for programming from each of the 11 institutions.
Perhaps overlooked is the fact the conference retained ownership of tapes of about 4,000 football games that have been played since 1960. That will factor into "classic" game programming on the Big Ten Channel. The "classic" games will still be available to ESPN.
Big Ten Channel aside, ESPN and ABC feel like they have made significant inroads with the Big Ten in this 10-year agreement.
"What this is, this deal is ground-breaking in many ways," said John Wildhack, senior vice president of programming, ESPN, Inc. "It's ground-breaking in terms of the length, the 1,100 events, the significant increase in basketball, so I think in totality and then all of our media and networks and how we'll deliver Big Ten content, I think this mix is the most far-ranging agreement in collegiate sports today. This deal eclipses all those other deals."
Delany would not reveal financial details of the deal, but the funds generated will be equally divided among the 11 schools. It has been reported that the current deal with ABC/ESPN, which ends next summer, is worth $50 million.
Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, chair of the Big Ten athletic directors for nearly two years, was extremely active in the television negotiations. Martin expects the new deal to produce about $3 million more in funding per school.
In a release from Michigan, the athletic department said it estimates receiving an increase of $7.5 million the first year of the new TV agreements.
The Big Ten Channel already is assured of being part of DirecTV's Total Choice package (rack this for me), which reaches 15.4 million homes. Fox's parent company, News Corp., owns a large share of DirecTV. Fox, which plans to open an office and studio in Chicago, from where the Big Ten Channel will be operated, will handle negotiations with cable distributors such as Comcast and Time Warner.
Martin said he feels confident the Big Ten Channel will be available around the country.
"Comcast is the big player in many states, in our eight-state region, certainly here in Michigan," he said. "We're very confident that there will be an arrangement made with Fox."