BTN on my TV? That's Comcastic
It's official. The BTN & Comcast have reached a deal to make the channel available on basic cable in the seven Big Ten states (Comcast does not serve Iowa) and on a digital tier for the rest of the country. While I'm certainly happy that this deal is done, it kind of screws up my plan to call my cable provider and threaten to switch or bargain for a lower rate when my stupid six month promo is finished. Oh well, hopefully the money I'll save in bar tabs will equal it all out.
A cool feature about this partnership is the addition of BTN On Demand. I'm sure there will be some pretty lame stuff on here, but it will be very cool if they archive games from the previous week/season and throw in some classics.
An interesting stipulation in the deal is that Comcast only has to make it available on basic cable in the Big Ten states until Spring of 2009, and then they can move it wherever they want.
Seems to me cable company got the upper-hand in these negotiations. Imagine that, Comcast wins again.
Will we be able to get it in Fla? Real tired of sec stuff
Posted by: Sparten | June 19, 2008 at 06:50 PM
Do you have Comcast in FL? Are you on a digital tier? If not, switch to DirecTV. I watched Big Ten Network all last winter in Ft. Myers.
Posted by: johoedeman | June 20, 2008 at 07:12 AM
I moved and switched to dishnetwork from comcast. I can't even imagine going back. The picture clarity and programming value is so much better on dishnet than with Comcast not to mention the customer service is miles ahead. The DVR feature is great too. There are a couple downfalls though. In the storms that we had a couple weeks ago it went out for about 15 minutes--which sucks when you are trying to check the weather channel. Also, I have a new nemesis in at&t with my dsl service versus cable internet. All in all though, much better this way.
Posted by: tlh | June 20, 2008 at 08:34 AM
The agreement between the BTN and Comcast specifies that Comcast CANNOT move the BTN from basic to digital in those cities that are home to Big Ten teams (i.e. Ann Arbor, East Lansing, etc.). So, to all my fellow East Lansing residents, enjoy watching the BTN on basic cable!
Posted by: Hollis | June 20, 2008 at 08:51 AM
This thing would not have taken so
long it BTN had not been so greedy
in wanting $1.10 per subscriber and if Comcast had not been so married to that pathetic "digital
sports tier" idea that has been a bust anyway.
Posted by: JRS | June 20, 2008 at 09:23 AM
Hollis, from reading the official release and all the press clippings, my understanding is that in Spring 2009 Comcast can move the BTN to a digital tier or to a sports package regardless of location. It does not matter where you live. Comcast reserves the right to move it whether you live in East Lansing or East Grand Rapids.
The good news is they likely would move it first to their digital tier, which a vast majority of Comcast cable customers already subscribe to. (The only way you don't have digital service is if your cable goes right from your wall outlet to your TV and not through a cable box). But they could eventually move it to a sports-tier as well.
I agree with Feather: Comcast won this battle hands-down. All the things BTN said they wouldn't do as they forced people to go to bars or get a dish they caved in on anyway. This deal should have been done last year.
Posted by: max8700 | June 20, 2008 at 09:34 AM
TOO LATE... I already switched to AT&T U-verse and LOVE it... No more pixelated signal scramblomg or hitches on demand or that annoying music when you go to VOD guide... And I am saving quite a bit
Posted by: Nick from Detroit | June 20, 2008 at 09:45 AM
Yeah Nick, we're still waiting for both AT&T's U-Verse and Verizon's FIOS to hit in the Lansing-East Lansing area. But I've heard nothing but great things about both. According to Verizon we should be wired here by the end of the year; not sure on AT&T.
Do you get DVR capability with U-Verse?
Posted by: max8700 | June 20, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Max- Absolutely on the DVR. Works just like Tivo (which also went Bye Bye). The High Speed internet is excellent as well. Individual line and no loss of bandwidth when the neighbors kids jump onto the computer/Xbox live around 8pm.. They went door to door selling this stuff. I was hesitant, at first but I was sick of the BTN/Comcast BS.
Posted by: Nick from Detroit | June 20, 2008 at 10:31 AM
You mean that I could avoid having Comcast if I lived in Iowa?!
So on the one hand, you have to deal with devastating floods and you have to live in, ugh, Iowa. But on the other hand, you don't have to have Comcast... That might be a draw.
Posted by: Some guy who went to MSU | June 20, 2008 at 11:00 AM
i wish they had come to this agreement last year so i could have seen App State crush scUM. althought that also would have meant punching a hole in the wall watching us lose to Northwestern. oh well at least this year win lose or draw we can see all the games.
Posted by: Rexrode (evil twin) | June 20, 2008 at 11:11 AM
Go to Dishnetwork. I live in the Northwest, and watched every game last year.
Heck, on the really slow days of summer, I'm watching the greatest games of the Big Ten.
Posted by: Wes McKean | June 20, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Mass exodus to DirectTV nonetheless! It's apparent that Comcast will continue to look only for ways to run up higher prices for an inferior product.
Intriguing how they apparently pay off just the right guys in Washington and then brazenly stick it to us year after year. (Shades of AT&T/SBC and Texas in general.) I explored DirectTV online this week, despite an HOA that's dish antagonistic, and was amazed at what's available for a fraction of Comcast's cost. I'm off this weekend to talk with a neighbor who has a reasonably concealed dish that causes no squawking.
Posted by: West Coast Steve | June 20, 2008 at 01:39 PM
It is obvious that Comcast has been losing a lot of business to the Dish as the number of homes with them on the roof continues to rise.
Posted by: JRS | June 20, 2008 at 03:49 PM
Does this mean Charter is next?
Posted by: idiotSpartan | June 20, 2008 at 07:37 PM
All this means to me is that I get to watch it for one year, cause you can bet the farm that it will be going to digital next spring.
Posted by: shadowhawk72 | June 20, 2008 at 11:26 PM
Steve,
Tell the HOA where to go (I had to look up HOA)! If only satellite dishes were the main thing in the world that needed expunging . . . "reasonably concealed" . . . are these the same people who think that the front page of the newspaper should consist in a story about Girl Scout cookies?
You'll love DirecTV, especially if you get the SportsPack too! You'll be requiring this soon:
http://mattsarz44017.tripod.com/football2008.html
This come October: http://www.collegehockeylive.com/
And I will post the good men's and women's hoops TV guides as they become available in the autumn.
Also, I just now read that DirecTV made a deal with the mtn.(Mountain West sports), so that will also be on the SportsPack come football season.
I'm stoked for college sports to start back up! It's the only thing to look forward to after Summer Solstice!
Posted by: Michael Motta | June 21, 2008 at 12:53 AM
Now if only Charter would make a deal...
Posted by: jake | June 21, 2008 at 11:00 AM
DirectTV is the only way to go. Had it for 9 yrs. and have experienced very few service outages. You may have to go out with a broom and knock the snow off of your dish, but that's all it takes to restore service.
BTW Comcast gets their main feed from sattelites and then pipes it through cable and compresses too many channels onto one fiber resulting in poor picture quality.
Also, the Federal Communications Act of 1996 prevents any home owners assoc., Condo Assoc. or Apartment complex from prohibiting residents access to sattelite service regardless of where the sat dish needs to be placed.
If any Assoc. tries to bully you tell them, as someone above said, to "Stick it". They can't limit your access and that's the law.
Posted by: Herb Riedel | June 21, 2008 at 09:30 PM
My cable provider is Broadstripe. Does anyone know if this cable service will carry the Big Ten Network.
Posted by: mrdubbs | June 23, 2008 at 07:44 AM
Comacast and the BTN may have reached and agreement but you may have missed one key point about the BTN on Comcast/cable networks. You don't get all the feeds on Cable. Now MSU and U of M fans may not care as much about that but then again they might if there games run at the same time. See, this was the most important thing for me living in Indiana. What I figured out was that if the BTN was showing IU or Purdue - THAT was the game that would be shown locally on the BTN. That was NOT true under ESPN-Plus. If MSU was playing OSU and Purdue was playing Northwestern in football then The MSU game would be shown. You cant watch MSU vs. whomever even if it is U of M if the local teams are playing. You need to go to a bar to still watch it. So for me, in the past I had the ability to buy the ESPN package was better because all the ESPN plus games would show MSU regardless of what was shown locally. Not any more.
See this DOES apply for MSU fans as well. Who wants to watch U of M play basketball? Come on!
Ultimately I figured out that the only way I could get MSU sports locally was with ATT Uverse or Satellite. Those companies have multiple BTN feeds. There is a main channel and then supplemental channels for when multiple games are being played. After a long debate, I chose ATT Uverse...which by the way - its regular pictures are better than cables "hi-def" anyway...and its cheaper.
This is the way it works down here...maybe its different up there.
Jim Indy
Posted by: Jim in Indy | June 23, 2008 at 08:59 AM
DirectTv also lays on supplemental BTN channels during football season. I have noticed up to four different channels on at least one occasion.
Posted by: Herb Riedel | June 23, 2008 at 09:51 AM
I wanted so badly to switch to the dish last yr, but was stuck at a townhouse that didn't allow the dish...I just recently moved and got the dish, dishnetwork...Wow, I agree the quality is so much better on the dish...also the dvr can work in multiple rooms, and you get way more channels....only problem is if you don't get comcast cable, they charge you way more on internet...time to look at dsl!
Posted by: swiiggs | June 23, 2008 at 12:23 PM