4 new B1G teams blacked out on Comcast over dispute with BTN

[short ornery norwegian]

ran across this story. Comcast/Xfinity is having a dispute with BTN involving the four new members of the conference - and as of now, that means games involving those schools could be blacked out. found this account from (of all places) Oregon Public Broadcasting:

Fans of Washington, Oregon, Southern California and UCLA thought their viewing headaches would end with the move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten.

Not so fast.

Huskies and Ducks fans who subscribe to Comcast might not be able to see their team’s openers on Saturday due to a carriage dispute with the Big Ten Network.

Comcast is blacking out live events involving the four new Big Ten schools in their home markets. The root of the problem is that Comcast wants to keep BTN on an expanded tier instead of basic while also not agreeing to pay the in-market rates with the four West Coast schools moving to the conference.

Oregon’s opener against Idaho is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT with Washington-Weber State kicking off at 11 p.m. EDT. USC and UCLA’s games will be nationally televised and not affected this weekend.

Comcast owns NBC, which has the conference’s Saturday Night package. However, Fox owns the majority of BTN.
In a statement, Comcast said: “We’re sensitive to the impact these costs have on our customers and have been in discussions with Fox and the Big Ten Network to find a solution to make certain former Pac-12 games available to the people who want them while not forcing others to pay for content they don’t want to watch. We hope to be able to reach a fair agreement with Fox and the Big Ten Network to be able to offer these games to our customers.”

(context: this is similar to the fight Comcast had with Diamond/Bally. Comcast wants sports channels on a higher-priced sports tier, while the channels want to be on the basic tier to reach more customers.)

 

[Ope3]

So BTN will be just as available as the PAC10/12 Network was which helped lead to the Conference disintegrating.

Also a flashback to 2007-08 when hardly anyone had the BTN in their infancy.

 

[GopherGrit]

This is interesting.

The PAC Network was a disaster because it could get carriage on basic channel package tiers out West. (Because people out West don't care about college sports.) Granted, it the conference thought they could go it alone without a major TV partner.

Now Comcast is trying to stiff BTN in the same way.

The Big Ten/BTN "should" threaten to pull the channel off Comcast altogether, in all Big Ten states, if they won't treat basic tier carriages in at least LA, Bay Area, Portland/Eugene, and Seattle the same way they do for current Big Ten states. I say "should", because I don't know if that's a worthwhile battle or one they can win.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

Cut the cord. It’s time. Just Do It.

 

[1983]

Greed.

 

[Gopherbro47]

Looks like you can check if it effects your service on this site.

Don't Miss Your Games!

www.allbtngames.com

Can’t guarantee the accuracy since idk how they got the info, but seems like it doesn’t alter the service in Minnesota much from what I can tell

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Looks like you can check if it effects your service on this site.

Don't Miss Your Games!

www.allbtngames.com

Can’t guarantee the accuracy since idk how they got the info, but seems like it doesn’t alter the service in Minnesota much from what I can tell

no, it has nothing to do with MN. it's only impacting the 4 new B1G Teams in their home markets - so USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, etc.

this has to do with the per-subscriber fee that Comcast pays to BTN. when BTN is shown in the home market of a B1G team, like MN, Comcast pays a higher monthly fee to BTN for each subscriber. But when BTN is shown out of market, it's a lower fee. So Comcast is trying to avoid having to pay the higher fee when showing the 4 new teams in their home markets, and Comcast also wants to put BTN on a higher-priced sports tier.

the cable and satellite providers are really starting to push back on the Networks. the old cable TV model is slowing falling apart with cord-cutting and the transition is getting really messy.

 

[Gopherbro47]

no, it has nothing to do with MN. it's only impacting the 4 new B1G Teams in their home markets - so USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, etc.

this has to do with the per-subscriber fee that Comcast pays to BTN. when BTN is shown in the home market of a B1G team, like MN, Comcast pays a higher monthly fee to BTN for each subscriber. But when BTN is shown out of market, it's a lower fee. So Comcast is trying to avoid having to pay the higher fee when showing the 4 new teams in their home markets, and Comcast also wants to put BTN on a higher-priced sports tier.

the cable and satellite providers are really starting to push back on the Networks. the old cable TV model is slowing falling apart with cord-cutting and the transition is getting really messy.

Got it, you’re right, the other article I saw on the topic didn’t say where those blackouts would be so I thought that site was helpful, but I see that the article you posted is much more informative about all of that. Good call and that makes a lot more sense.

The TV disputes are always so crazy to me that these brands don't want to get as many people as possible watching to build up fans, but instead they prefer a few extra dollars. Such a shortsighted plan and idk what the future of all of this looks like.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

no, it has nothing to do with MN. it's only impacting the 4 new B1G Teams in their home markets - so USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, etc.

this has to do with the per-subscriber fee that Comcast pays to BTN. when BTN is shown in the home market of a B1G team, like MN, Comcast pays a higher monthly fee to BTN for each subscriber. But when BTN is shown out of market, it's a lower fee. So Comcast is trying to avoid having to pay the higher fee when showing the 4 new teams in their home markets, and Comcast also wants to put BTN on a higher-priced sports tier.

the cable and satellite providers are really starting to push back on the Networks. the old cable TV model is slowing falling apart with cord-cutting and the transition is getting really messy.

Comcast literally has more money than they know what to with. The sad part for many consumers is they still have to pay comcast for internet even if they drop cable. Options for streamers these days would be Starlink (more money) or Hughes (Houston, we have a problem), or cellular.

Figure something out, guys. This is dumb and hurtful. Compromise, move on.

 

[GopherGrit]

no, it has nothing to do with MN. it's only impacting the 4 new B1G Teams in their home markets - so USC and UCLA in Los Angeles, etc.

this has to do with the per-subscriber fee that Comcast pays to BTN. when BTN is shown in the home market of a B1G team, like MN, Comcast pays a higher monthly fee to BTN for each subscriber. But when BTN is shown out of market, it's a lower fee. So Comcast is trying to avoid having to pay the higher fee when showing the 4 new teams in their home markets, and Comcast also wants to put BTN on a higher-priced sports tier.

the cable and satellite providers are really starting to push back on the Networks. the old cable TV model is slowing falling apart with cord-cutting and the transition is getting really messy.

I think more precisely the issue is that Comcast networks in LA, Bay Area, Seattle, and not sure how Oregon is handled if it's just the Eugene area or Portland too, right now only offer BTN on an extra sports package that customers have to opt-into, instead of putting the channel on the basic tier that all of their customers have.

Point being the payments are per subscribing customer, which would likely push that number up by several million of such people in those markets if BTN suddenly was put on the basic tier of those networks.

They (Comcast) want to avoid that at all costs. (Literal costs!)