Big Ten Network (BTN)

[BuckeyeNation27]

I sure hope TW can get a deal in place some time after the Akron game.......so they can show games I couldn't care less about.

[jenkinswoody]

"OSU Sports" Not trying to start a fight here, but 36 of your last 39 posts (i'm a stalker now) have been on this topic. They have always defended the BTN or provided us with updates re: BTN. Do you have some kind of personal interest in this venture? Honest question.

FWIW. I'm on the record as thinking that the BTN and TWC are both greedy and will reap what they sow.

[OSU SPORTS]

Originally Posted by jenkinswoody

"OSU Sports" Not trying to start a fight here, but 36 of your last 39 posts (i'm a stalker now) have been on this topic. They have always defended the BTN or provided us with updates re: BTN. Do you have some kind of personal interest in this venture? Honest question.

FWIW. I'm on the record as thinking that the BTN and TWC are both greedy and will reap what they sow.

I'll save you the trouble of counting my posts, they will all be in favor of the BTN. Do I have a personal interest, yes, I'm an OSU fan that lives out of state. I don't have a sense of entitlement because I live in range of the OSU broadcasts. I frankly find it hard to understand any logic associated with an opposing view. I said logic, not emotion. For the most part I have stayed out of the inane disputes on here. I don't work for any party involved, unlike Comcast and their merry bunch of PR imposters. Here are some of my favorite complaints about the BTN

MONEY GRAB-Considering the profits go back to OSU and the member schools, that is a shallow complaint. Money from the cable companies go in their pocket.

It wasn't broke, we didn't need the BTN-The contractual demands made by ESPiN were becoming more unacceptable. The games now on the BTN would probably have been on ESPNU or eventually ESPN 360. Some games in the Big Ten weren't even televised, in recent years. And Thursday night and maybe even Wed was a possibilty for future games.

My favorite one, I don't want to help News Corp/Fox/Murdoch-I could care less who the BTN chose to be a minor partner. When you buy milk at the store, do you run home and google the distributor of the milk to see if you like the company? BTW, if you do any research on Comcast, you will find a very sleazy, unethical company.

The BTN does not serve the best interest of the fans-Actually there is some merit to that claim, if you confine it to the short term. Yes a lot of fans will not see the games IF they don't make other arrangements to see them. Most will find a way, if they are interested enough. But the interest of the fans will be best served with the BTN over the long term. We wouldn't have paved streets if people whined about the incovenience of putting up with construction. I'd much rather have the B-10 conference control the athletic destiny of OSU than the overlords in Bristol. One thing you won't have to ever endure on the BTN, is a repeat of the Alamo Bowl OSU bashing.

The campaign of mis-information by the cable companies was amazing. Comcast with it's "fake" internet posters. Time Warner with it's fake preview. Comcast coming back with the "logo" reserved for the BTN(my favorite deception). The $1.10 figure that was constantly thrown out there by the cable companies, even after if was publicly denied at a later time by the BTN. The withdrawal of funds to Minnesota by Comcast for a Chamber of Commerce luncheon(great PR move there). It's classic stuff.

I won't be making many more posts, because most people know what the issues are now. Some people will never change their minds, and that's fine with me. I just wanted to get some of the facts out there, especially in the early months. I don't think you are a stalker, at least I hope not, LOL(just kidding).

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Dish Network, Big Ten reach deal

Friday, September 7, 2007 6:50 AM

The Big Ten Network reached an agreement yesterday with satellite TV provider Dish Network, expanding the reach of the new channel.

Continued....

[Wells4Heisman]

I love how smoothly Dish Network is handling business and how hard all the other companies are making it so difficult.

[haueyman]

I was channel surfing this morning @ 5:30 am and found that ch 439-443 are the B10 network channels for Dish.

What [censored]es me off is that I have a company picinic that I have to be at so I won't be able to see my beloved Buckeyes.

Go Bucks

[jwinslow]

They reair the games late at night, and sometimes during the day throughout the weekend/week.

Do you own a dvr or vcr?

[haueyman]

Do you own a dvr or vcr?

No unfortunately i don't have a DVR but a VCR so it looks like I will be setting that up.

[MaxBuck]

I'm amused by all the rhetoric that suggests the dish companies and cable companies are essentially similar. They are not.

1. Cable is a two-way communication medium; satellite is one-way only. I have cable and would not switch to satellite for this reason alone.

2. TWC, WOW, Comcast and the others are nationwide companies that would be establishing a serious precedent for other regions and other special-interest groups if they were to acquiesce to BTN on this. Can you see the hue and cry by, e.g., animal lovers who would demand that "The PETA Network" be added to basic expanded cable for an added charge of $1.10 a month for all subscribers, including those who care FA about such stuff? Dish networks have a lot of flexibility that cable companies do not in this regard, since each subscriber is his/her own entity that is not "buying from the pipeline."

Ultimately this is a business decision by each company. If you have cable and really want BTN, and you are willing to accommodate the many shortcomings of satellite in order to get it, you will switch and cost the cable company revenue. Enough folks do this and the cable company will re-evaluate. But don't expect them to make their decisions based on emotional appeals.

For my part, I plan to scout out the sports bars so I know where to go to watch any games I can't get at home. So my beer budget goes up; who cares?

[SparkyOSU]

Originally Posted by haueyman

I was channel surfing this morning @ 5:30 am and found that ch 439-443 are the B10 network channels for Dish.

What [censored]es me off is that I have a company picinic that I have to be at so I won't be able to see my beloved Buckeyes.

Go Bucks

[matcar]

Originally Posted by heisman

I apologize if I have wasted your time by educating you. Once again, if you have read what I have said, I never said they received an FCC re-classification, I said they allowed Dish to treat it like an RSN, which is what they wanted all along. It means they don't have to raise the price of AT100, they can just raise the price of the "plus" thus having total control in pricing of BTN without negatively affecting the rest of their customer base. If you would like to read more about it, I suggest heading over to the leading satellite technical forum and start with this thread.

Latest on the Big Ten Network - Page 21 - DBSTalk.Com

This post is spot on. Not sure why OSU_Sports cannot accept that. It IS being treated as an RSN, whether you wanna "classify" it that way or not. And frankly, it makes sense for this regional channel to be treated as such...whether BTN wanted it that way or not.

[buck1973]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

I'm amused by all the rhetoric that suggests the dish companies and cable companies are essentially similar. They are not.

I think you're correct in that the pressure to add BTN won't come from the dish companies. I feel the pressure for TWC and WOW (at least in central Ohio) will come from Insight and, in a few months, AT&T.

[JCOSU86]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

I'm amused by all the rhetoric that suggests the dish companies and cable companies are essentially similar. They are not.

1. Cable is a two-way communication medium; satellite is one-way only. I have cable and would not switch to satellite for this reason alone.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I order movies, pay-per-view event, download stuff, etc all the time with Dish. What do you mean by "two-way communication" vs "one way"?

[DaddyBigBucks]

Originally Posted by MaxBuck

I'm amused by all the rhetoric that suggests the dish companies and cable companies are essentially similar. They are not.

1. Cable is a two-way communication medium; satellite is one-way only. I have cable and would not switch to satellite for this reason alone.

2. TWC, WOW, Comcast and the others are nationwide companies that would be establishing a serious precedent for other regions and other special-interest groups if they were to acquiesce to BTN on this. Can you see the hue and cry by, e.g., animal lovers who would demand that "The PETA Network" be added to basic expanded cable for an added charge of $1.10 a month for all subscribers, including those who care FA about such stuff? Dish networks have a lot of flexibility that cable companies do not in this regard, since each subscriber is his/her own entity that is not "buying from the pipeline."

Ultimately this is a business decision by each company. If you have cable and really want BTN, and you are willing to accommodate the many shortcomings of satellite in order to get it, you will switch and cost the cable company revenue. Enough folks do this and the cable company will re-evaluate. But don't expect them to make their decisions based on emotional appeals.

For my part, I plan to scout out the sports bars so I know where to go to watch any games I can't get at home. So my beer budget goes up; who cares?

Originally Posted by JCOSU86

I'm not sure I agree with that. I order movies, pay-per-view event, download stuff, etc all the time with Dish. What do you mean by "two-way communication" vs "one way"?

With satellite, the upstream communication is via the phone-line. As this does not interfere in any way with phone communications, and as the phone line has plenty of bandwidth for any upstream signal; this whole line of reasoning is a non-issue.

While it is technically true, the fact that DirecTV has less upstream bandwidth than my former Comcast Cable service is completely irrelevant to my TV viewing experience. I have found that I like DirecTV better, hands down. Throw in the fact that I now have; 1) BTN (Buckeye Games), and 2) FSN Ohio, neither of which were available from Comcast at any price... DirecTV is vastly superior to my other options here in Tallahassee. If that's not the case for you where you are, I'm happy for you.

[SPowell42]

FYI, I called the Dish Network as soon as I found out about this last night. Unlike DirecTV, where I had to wait 3 weeks for installation, and then they screwed the whole thing up and wanted me to wait another 3 weeks, DISH was able to book me an installation date of Monday (I called on Thursday). Hopefully I'll have better luck with them then I did DirecTV.

Life without is

Go Bucks!
Scott

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

Dispatch