In this era of record mortgage foreclosures, with families being forced from their homes and onto the streets, the Big Ten Network will be taking food from the mouths of hungry Central Ohio families who will now be turned away from the mid Ohio Food Bank when the supplies run out sooner rather than later.

The squalid irony of the situation is that you might see these unfortunate people in the dumpters behind certain restaurants showing the OSU Spring Game on tape delay.  These families are not a priority of the Big Ten Network.  They are the victims of it.

It is time for reporters to ask hard questions of the Big Ten Network’s representatives.  It is time for the fans of Big Ten Football to question the moral costs of loyalty to their teams.  It is time for fans, even of rival teams, to come together and ask whether they want to be further associated with this rancid cabal of bottom feeders known as the Big Ten Network. 

There are 11 institutions holding the key to returning things to the way it was.  You remember the way it was, right?  Just a few years back when you could watch almost every single OSU football and basketball game from the comfort of your own couch?  Sadly, the 11 schools in the Big Ten stand silent.

The Big Ten Network spokesperson Elizabeth Conlisk said: 

“We have distribution partners in Columbus in Insight, WOW!, Direct TV and Dish TV.  To put that on over the air in Columbus, that is one of the key issues.  Then Time Warner would get that (as well) and they’re not a partner.”

The Big Ten Network is so concerned about the welfare of its partners that it will not allow those partners to show the game live.  Rather, it will be available only on tape delay to be played later that night.

The Ohio State University would rather the game be shown live.  OSU Administrator Steve Snapp asked the Big Ten Network to show the game live, but this request was denied.  Thus the welfare of the Ohio State University does not appear to be high on the list of the Big Ten Network’s priorities either.

Big Ten Network Spokesperson Conlisk explained:  “There’s eight games going on at exactly the same time and if we made the decision to broadcast the Ohio State game live and not any of the other ones…?” 

Apparently no one at the press conference asked why the Big Ten Network was so ill-equipped with television broadcast technology that they could not air the eight games on different channels, allowing the consumer to choose.  No one asked why the games could not be shown locally in the geographic areas in which the universities are located.  No one asked what will happen when Michigan plays at the same time as OSU this fall.  Will both games be shown on tape delay?  Perhaps the Big Ten Network might pull the press passes of such reporters.

With such bumbling leadership at the Big Ten Network, it is unclear what its priorities are. 

But it has become crystal clear exactly what the Big Ten Network’s priorities are not.  They don’t care about the fans; they don’t care about their distribution partners who for some strange reason would like to show athletic events live; and they don’t care about the universities in the Big Ten.

And they don’t care about the homeless and hungry either, as you will see in the next article.

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The Columbus Dispatch ran a story stating that the Big Ten Network would be available to all student dormitories.  The quote from Steve Snapp ran as follows:

“It was a high priority for us that our students got the games,” said Steve Snapp, OSU associate athletic director for broadcast services.

Hey Steve, I don’t know if you were aware, but OSU is on the quarter system, that means classes don’t start until after the Akron game.  So your “high priority” (and the Big Ten Network) is a bad joke.  Even if OSU were on the semester system, what about all of the “high priority” students who live off campus?  Another bad joke, told badly.  Perhaps “the games” he was referring to were contests like MSU v. Purdue in baseball. or PSU v. Illinois in mens gymnastics.

So congratulations to the gang that couldn’t (or more to the point, wouldn’t) shoot straight.  You’ve taken a multi-million dollar opportunity, and squandered it.  But don’t worry, the geniuses at the Ohio General Assembly will raise our taxes to make up for the lost revenue the next time OSU’s lobbyists come to them crying about a shortfall from expected television revenue.

Were Warner Cable to take them up on this offer, the Big Ten would firk $237 million dollars out of Big Ten fans per  year.  The Big Ten’s greed knows no end.  It is my fervent hope that no cable companies pick up those games, that they lose millions in what they would have received from simply using the highly profitable arrangement for showing the games last year, and that those within the Big Ten who have insisted upon this extortionate situation lose their jobs.

On August 30, a new television network dedicated to showcasing the Big Ten will be launched nationwide.

The Big Ten Network will broadcast an unprecedented number of Big Ten sporting events, and it will bring the
University of Michigan increased regional and national exposure.

The best way you can support the team you love is to contact your cable provider or satellite company and ask that the
Big Ten Network be added to your BASIC package.

CALL 1-866-WANT-B10 and tell your cable operator you want the Big Ten Network!

We believe the University of Michigan is an important part of the fabric of this great state of Michigan.
If you live in the state, the Big Ten Network belongs on your basic level of service!

Programming featured on the BTN includes:
• 60+ live events this season
• At least 3 football games including the opener vs. Appalachian State
• 15+ Men’s Basketball Games including 8 Big Ten Games
• Hockey games featuring match-ups between Big Ten teams
• More women’s athletics and Olympic sports than ever before
• A nightly studio show including segments from each campus
• Big Ten Championship events, classic games and coaches’ shows

Here is how the Big Ten is supposed to make money off college football (and basketball).  It’s not hard.  It’s not complex.  It’s not new.  It’s simple.  It has a proven track record of having worked for years.  You sell the right to broadcast your football games to the various broadcast networks and cable networks who want to show them.  Those broadcast and cable networks pay the Big Ten big money for the privilege, and then they sell sufficient advertising to cover the costs. 

This is the tried and true method.  This is the way it has always been done.  This is the way that has made the Big Ten a fortune over the past few years, and with the advent of more night games and even Thursday night games, and with spacing the BCS bowls out over four days instead of showing them all on January 1,  said fortune increaseth.

But that isn’t good enough for the Big Ten.  Nope.  They figure they have to expand beyond the college sports business and get into the business of creating and running their own cable channel, and then insisting that cable companies like Warner Cable (or whoever else) must carry that new channel, whether they want to or not.  They hold the Youngstown State and Akron games hostage, along with a bunch of other early season games from other Big Ten teams.

Why do we need this change?  Why do we need yet another channel on our cable system?  Because there is a prejudice against football and basketball among the higher up powers that be in the Big Ten.  Football and basketball are the two sports that make money.  Every other sport loses money.  Football and basketball make enough money not just to pay for themselves, but also make enough to pay for all of the other sports that few people care about, like gymnastics and field hockey and swimming.

But the busy bodies at the Big Ten can’t stand the fact that you aren’t interested in watching gymnastics and field hockey and lacrosse.  They can’t stand the fact that nobody comes to watch the women’s softball team’s games, and ESPN2 isn’t covering men’s volleyball.  So they figure if they have their own network, they can televise these sports and then… what… people will be forced to watch them?  Wrong. 

I will go out into my backyard and watch the grass grow before I watch a men’s or women’s lacrosse match.  I will spend an afternoon cleaning out the garage rather than watching OSU wrestling matches or swim meets.  I don’t care about that stuff.  I have nothing against these other sports.  I even play some of them.  I play golf, I played varsity tennis in high school, and I play soccer even now.  But while I like watching Tiger Woods take on Ernie Els, while I like watching Andy Roddick take on Roger Federer, and while I like watching Liverpool play Man U., I don’t enjoy their college equivalents.

It is the height of arrogant ignorance for a supplier of a product to attempt to dictate to the consumer what the consumer wants and the way that the consumer will get it.  This is the stuff that bankruptcies are made of. 

Some may say that it is the Big Ten’s product, and if they want to run themselves into the ground, lose viewership and revenue and fans, then that is their business and it is none of our buisness how they run theirs.  Were they IBM, GE, or Ford, I would agree.  But the Big Ten is made up of public universities, which are supported by our tax dollars.  Every dollar that is wasted on a stupid new channel showing sports programming that no one wants to see and every dollar that the Big Ten would have made off the old tried and true system but which under the new system these schools now have to live without, affects me.  It affects me because my tax dollars will have to make up the difference, and when I look to send my kid to college, the tuition is going to be higher because of it.

So three cheers for the arrogance of the Big Ten.  They don’t know crap about running a sports channel, but that won’t stop them from learning costly lessons on our dime.  Or maybe they will remain true to form and learn nothing at all. 

The Big Ten Network, which will launch August 30th, is a first-of-its-kind partnership between the eleven Big Ten universities and a major television provider. Through the network, fans will get to see an unprecedented number of Big Ten sporting events, including football and basketball. The University of Michigan and the other Big Ten universities will receive increased regional and national exposure while also establishing a stable source of funding to supplement our existing Big Ten contracts with CBS (basketball) and ABC/ESPN (football). Please click the following links for more information:

* Free video replay of Delany/Silverman town hall meeting
* Big Ten Network frequently asked questions

As a supporter, the most important thing you can do to get the network is to contact your cable or satellite company to ask that the Big Ten Network be added to your basic package. Please call 1-866-WANT-B10 to tell your cable operator that you want the Big Ten Network on your basic cable package.

The wide appeal of U of M sports calls for widespread distribution of the Big Ten Network. If you live in the state of Michigan, then you should receive the Big Ten Network among the 70 or so channels included with your standard or basic level of service. That service typically includes channels such as the Travel Channel, the Jewelry Channel, the Food Channel, the Golf Channel, Versus and a regional sports network. Many cable operators own these regional sports networks and all of them are carried on the basic level of service.

The network is in discussions with all cable and satellite providers nationwide. National agreements have been reached with DirecTV and AT&T, and regional agreements are in place with more than 75 other cable providers. All agreements call for the network to be offered on the standard or basic level of service. DirecTV has designated 220 as the Big Ten Network’s channel, and also has committed “overflow” channels at no additional charge to subscribers to accommodate the many occasions when the network produces multiple games simultaneously.

As a strong supporter of Wolverine sports, it’s important that your voice be heard. Call 1-866-WANT-B10, and then go to www.BigTenNetwork.com to join Fans First, our fan loyalty program, to receive regular updates on the Big Ten Network.