From the Sioux City Journal comes a familiar story regarding the Big 10 Network:
Basketball, football and all other Big Ten Conference
sports on the Big Ten Network, or BTN as the network prefers to refer
to itself, can't be seen by Cable One cable television subscribers in
Sioux City, South Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff because the two can't
reach an agreement. With the start of college football season just
weeks away, emotions are reaching a new high.
Chief among
frustrated fans are the parents of two newly minted University of Iowa
athletes -- Bishop Heelan High School grads Brandon Wegher (football)
and Brennan Cougill (basketball) and East grad Ashley Vanderloo
(softball). Heelan senior-to-be Zach McCabe is committed to join
Cougill on the Hawkeye basketball roster next year.
...Ness said Cable One wants to carry the Big Ten Network
on the digital tier of sports package offerings, with channels like Fox
Sports North. That way, he said, people who like sports would pay for
the network, while sparing the rest of Cable One subscribers a price
increase.
But the network has demanded that cable companies
place BTN in the full basic lineup. Ness said the network sought
roughly a dollar for each of the subscribers, which totals about 24,000
in the metro area, and higher in subsequent years.
"The Big Ten's position has been that they will only agree to launch if it is on our full basic lineup," he said.
I find it interesting how the "behavior" of management in not-for-profit enterprises such as college athletic departments is so similar to the often demonized for-profit sector of our economy.
