Big Ten Network - Page 91

jlb1705 · #**1351** (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 06:03 PM

The BTN has one job: Show the games. How do you screw that up?

I've been behind the idea of BTN and have found ways to get by as a TW customer - but stuff like this makes it difficult. I know the BTN could be a great thing for the conference and the institutions, but as a fan, I want to see the games and I want a quality product. Today, I did not get that.

I went to BW3 to watch this game, and they were showing the pregame show on BTN. They're showing the band doing Script Ohio and they get down to the best part, and right as the I-dotter breaks away from the "o" they cut away and go back to the f-ing studio!!! What the hell is that? Once again, I can understand a move like this from an ESPN or ABC - but the BTN - who has pretty much "planted the flag" and said that they're all about highlighting those kind of things at member institutions? They should know better!

I know it would suck for out-of-market fans, but I think at this point I would be happier as a local fan if they just reverted to the old model. I got a better product from ESPN+

buck1973 · #**1352** (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

DirecTV's "intelligent" HD DVR won't even let me start recording just in case the broadcast suddenly starts...it assumed since the channel is "unavailable" there's no use in recording it.

So now I have sit and stare at the screen and push the record button as soon as the program starts. Nice...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thump

Hope DirecTv is ready to have their phone lines blown up!!

The fact that it never showed that a game was to be played on this channel should have been the first tip off something was wrong. I can't DVR it when it says "To be announced" for what's coming up on the channel!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LongwoodBuck

We just got the game. OSU already scored a touchdown. And I can't get the game to record because it's not officially on the guide (I tried the Michigan game and that works fine). Grrr

Quote:

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

[censored]...game's finally on but I can't record it because they haven't changed the program listing from "To be announced".

In case this happens again, you can record on a Directv DVR when it says "To be announced," just not with the record button.

Here's how you do it on the HR20:
1. Push the List button.
2. Push the yellow button to bring up the to do list.
3. Scroll down to manual and set up a manual recording.

I recorded the game this way today because I had drill at my Air Guard unit. Of course I [censored]ed when I realized I had missed the first drive.

MililaniBuckeye · #**1353** (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by buck1973

In case this happens again, you can record on a Directv DVR when it says "To be announced," just not with the record button.

Here's how you do it on the HR20:
1. Push the List button.
2. Push the yellow button to bring up the to do list.
3. Scroll down to manual and set up a manual recording.

I recorded the game this way today because I had drill at my Air Guard unit. Of course I [censored]ed when I realized I had missed the first drive.

I've already scheduled to record the HD rebroadcast tomorrow night, but I'll keep your post in mind for future reference...thanks.

heisman · #**1354** (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

I've already scheduled to record the HD rebroadcast tomorrow night....

Good choice!

Thump · #**1355** (**permalink**) 10-13-2007, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlb1705

The BTN has one job: Show the games. How do you screw that up?

This screw up wasn't on the BTN, but DirecTV.

It worked on other systems, DirecTV was the one who didn't get the game early on.

BuckeyeFlorida · #**1356** (**permalink**) 10-14-2007, 10:19 AM

DREW SHARP: Big Ten Network is failing by not helping teams crack Top 25, plus U-M, MSU picks

October 13, 2007
BY DREW SHARP
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
The Big Ten Network has failed one of its primary objectives -- broadening the product brand.

The diminished television distribution of Big Ten football has cost the conference in the national rankings. You could always count on one or two Big Ten teams filling out the bottom of the Associated Press media and USA Today coaches polls, but there isn't one Big Ten team ranked 20th through 25th in the AP poll.

How is that possible when you've got a 5-1 Purdue and 5-1 Indiana? It's primarily because voters don't have as much access to those games as previously under the conference's old cable arrangement with ESPN. The Big Ten had the exclusive national window noon-3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN or ESPN2. That window is now shared with the Big East and the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Mid-American Conference has taken over the noon ESPN regional network position that weekly put Michigan or Michigan State on a local non-cable channel.

That's valuable exposure that the Big Ten willingly -- and foolishly -- sacrificed for the sake of exerting more control over product distribution.
As a former AP football voter, I remember the value of that noon national game because you'd rather watch teams perform as much as possible rather than merely relying on the Sunday morning summaries for your pertinent information. When you're looking for teams to fill out your ballot, you're more inclined to vote for the team that you saw play -- even if it was only for a half.

The Big Ten's broader exposure compensated for its periodically poor on-field quality. The BTN, with its limited access, doesn't provide that benefit. The conference insists the BTN has been a rousing success -- despite the Big Ten's ongoing distribution feud with Comcast, the largest cable provider in the Big Ten states. The BTN is only available to 30% of Detroit-area households.

It took ESPN2 several years to build the 30 million subscribers that the Big Ten Network has accrued since its debut two months ago. The Saturday football ratings are strong relative to other cable programming. But exactly what are the BTN numbers when there isn't live football programming? What are numbers for the other fall sports, archival game footage and institutional propaganda that basically comprises 90% of BTN programming?

The Big Ten won't say.

The conference inevitably loses the longer this grudge match among the greedy between it and Comcast continues. An early casualty of this stalemate is the conference's presence at the bottom of the national rankings.

sandgk · #**1357** (**permalink**) 10-14-2007, 10:27 AM

Poor Drew Sharp - evidently he needs to switch from cable, and see that he can then watch 3 Big Ten games on the prime and rollover channels.

All kidding aside though, there is a kernel of truth to his screed. What is written between the lines is that sports journalists are, for the most part, lazy MFs who would rather be spoon-fed content fodder than actually go out and seek the same. Thus clowns like Wilner in California can opine about the weakness of the Big 10 without bothering to see a single game.