Big Ten Network (BTN)

[Buckeye89Fan]

I have friends who have satellite here and I've seen the quality of both when the weather is bad out, and I wasn't impressed.

[roadstonowhere]

Originally Posted by smith288

The BTN was pretty lame. I dont seem to have an HD option on insight yet and their ingame updates sucked. Their studio rivals the ESPN+ studio with Cooper. Lame.

I'd say I agree with that. I have TW, but my parents have Insight so I was able to watch the game their. They only have the classic service, so we watched the game in standard def.

The announcers for the BTN are, with the exception of Thom B., pretty bad. Even Tomczak is not real great. One thing that I did find out was the second channel on insight that's on the digital channels is not encrypted. We picked it up on channel 128-1. So that was pretty cool.

Personally, I'd like to see TW and BTN work out a deal that works for everyone. They're all in it for the money and we can't say that we blame them. So why not make it so they can show one channel on the "classic" service that includes all the Buckeyes games. Then, they can pick up some of the other channels as part of their digital package or sports package or whatever.

This way, the Buckeye fans get their games and if someone wants to see the other games, they can get them too.

Oh...the other thing I didn't like was the lack of in-studio updates (I agree about the look). There were a few, but not many. That and there was almost no ticker at the top or bottom of the screen. Occasionally, sure. But very little. Often, I found myself flipping over to ESPN or ABC to check on scores for the other games.

And finally, you'd think they would have had time to already secure some ads other then their own. By the end of the first quarter I was already sick of all the Big Ten Network and Fox commercials.

Anyhoo..we have a family picnic next week so no biggie if TW doesn't get a deal done.

[coastalbuck]

My biggest complaint is the camera personnel. They flat sucked. Good thing it wasn't close because a bunch of times they couldn't even find the ball. A few times they did find it but the camera couldn't follow the ball carrier. Really shoddy work IMO. Oh, and Thom needs to change the spelling, that's just ridiculous!

[heisman]

Originally Posted by Buckeye89Fan

I have friends who have satellite here and I've seen the quality of both when the weather is bad out, and I wasn't impressed.

We don't have TWC in Chicago. We have Comcast. It is a horrible company that consistently delivers horrible picture quality, constant outages, and inflated bills. I've had Dish Network since last year, and I just got Directv last week. I've probably had less than 20 mins. of outages during bad weather all year, and remember that I live in Chicago, you don't get worse weather!

[buckiprof]

Originally Posted by heisman

We don't have TWC in Chicago. We have Comcast. It is a horrible company that consistently delivers horrible picture quality, constant outages, and inflated bills. I've had Dish Network since last year, and I just got Directv last week. I've probably had less than 20 mins. of outages during bad weather all year, and remember that I live in Chicago, you don't get worse weather!

I live in the snow belt of NE Ohio and when winter rolls along, I think many here would disagree with that statement.

[LitlBuck]

Originally Posted by smith288

The BTN was pretty lame. I dont seem to have an HD option on insight yet and their ingame updates sucked. Their studio rivals the ESPN+ studio with Cooper. Lame.

Insight does not have their equipment yet to broadcast the Big 10 Network in HD. The same thing happened last year when they brought on Sports Time Ohio. It took them a couple weeks to get their HD equipment.

The entire broadcast reminding me of a high school game being broadcast on ONN. Roger Twibell is way past his prime and Tomzcak really didn't provide much insight. Also, I don't know if they had any crowd mics but you could really not here the crowd at all. I was happy to see the game but hopefully they will get their act together.

[Best Buckeye]

Is their any way we can get a BTN code like the Youtube code? If we can I can provide some BTN video clips.
Here is the site URL at bigtennetwork.com

Big Ten Network

[MaxBuck]

BTN's self-righteous spin that they want to be on basic cable is absurd. Is it better to have no coverage than to have coverage only on a sports tier?

Like it or not, this is a niche product, and niche products do not wind up on basic cable. Put it on the digital tier, or on a special sports package, and have those folks pay more to get BTN. But get off your high horse, BTN; it doesn't suit you.

By the way, the BTN spots got huge boos from the crowd in the Shoe on Saturday. Nobody likes BTN, and few people in Columbus are blaming this snafu on Time Warner or its cable colleagues.

[jlb1705]

There are already plenty of niche products on basic cable. And yes, for the time being at least for the BTN, no carriage is better than being slotted into a premium digital tier. Once they get slotted into that, there's NO chance of them moving up. If they can leverage into the basic service, then they have guaranteed revenue.

[buckeyefool]

I think the boos were for the whole mess just not the BTN anyone who blames just one side or the other isn't thinking. Both sides have an equal amount of blame to this whole situation.

As far as putting it on a sports teir so only those who want it have to pay the "small" amount". what about those who only have a basic package now who would them have to upgrade to digital first and then pay the sports teir packages thus costing them and extra 30 or so dollar for the upgrade and then the 5 or so dollar for the sports teir.

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

BTN's self-righteous spin that they want to be on basic cable is absurd. Is it better to have no coverage than to have coverage only on a sports tier?

Like it or not, this is a niche product, and niche products do not wind up on basic cable. Put it on the digital tier, or on a special sports package, and have those folks pay more to get BTN. But get off your high horse, BTN; it doesn't suit you.

By the way, the BTN spots got huge boos from the crowd in the Shoe on Saturday. Nobody likes BTN, and few people in Columbus are blaming this snafu on Time Warner or its cable colleagues.

[BuckeyeFlorida]

The commercials TW is putting out on this deal are brutal (and hilarious). It's like the final three weeks for the presidential election... You'd think BTN went postal in a crowded mall or something.

Either way, they need to get this [censored] resolved. I spent Saturday in a bar with a bunch of scantily-clad college girls who couldn't tell you the difference between FOOTBALL and a bleach bottle, but all managed to have OSU gear. It was fun for the first quarter, but by the half they'd lost interest and we more interested in talking very loudly about the drunk girl who [censored]ed on the bathroom floor then even trying to watch the game.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

Is their any way we can get a BTN code like the Youtube code? If we can I can provide some BTN video clips.
Here is the site URL at bigtennetwork.com

Big Ten Network

It's just a flash video player.....I don't think we'll have that on here for a while yet....

[Best Buckeye]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeFlorida

The commercials TW is putting out on this deal are brutal (and hilarious). It's like the final three weeks for the presidential election... You'd think BTN killed went postal in a crowded mall or something.

Either way, they need to get this [censored] resolved. I spent Saturday in a bar with a bunch of scantily-clad college girls who couldn't tell you the difference between FOOTBALL and a bleach bottle, but all managed to have OSU gear. It was fun for the first quarter, but by the half they'd lost interest and we more interested in talking very loudly about the drunk girl who [censored]ed on the bathroom floor then even trying to watch the game.

Struck out huh?

[BuckeyeFlorida]

Originally Posted by Best Buckeye

Struck out huh?

No such luck... was there with my girl and even she wanted to punch them in the face. I tried to encourage, everyone loves a good chick fight, but no dice.

[Buckeye89Fan]

Originally Posted by heisman

We don't have TWC in Chicago. We have Comcast. It is a horrible company that consistently delivers horrible picture quality, constant outages, and inflated bills. I've had Dish Network since last year, and I just got Directv last week. I've probably had less than 20 mins. of outages during bad weather all year, and remember that I live in Chicago, you don't get worse weather!

Well, apparently were going with TWC, hopefully they can work out a deal quick. I just want the Big Ten Network and HD service!