BTN signs deals with Cablevision & Time Warner in NY/NJ market. Close with Comcast

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BTN signs deals with Cablevision & Time Warner in NY/NJ market. Close with Comcast

Big Ten Network strikes deals with Time Warner, Cablevision for local distribution

The Big Ten is one big step closer to putting its flag in the New York/New Jersey television market.

Mark Silverman, president of the Big Ten Network, confirmed Monday that the network had reached deals with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision to broadly distribute its channel to the millions of homes in the market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Silverman also said he is optimistic that a deal will be reached with the third cable giant -- Comcast -- before the football season.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersbasketball/index.ssf/2014/05/big_ten_network_strikes_deals_with_time_warner_cablevision_for_local_distribution.html#incart_flyout_sports
 

Big Ten Network To Get Millions

Lot of people didn't want Rutgers or Maryland added to the Big Ten. Completely understandable for a lot of reasons. There were also however, more than a few people skeptical about the major reason why they were added, getting increased exposure for the the BTN. Could Rutgers in particular have enough pull to get more coverage in the NYC area?

The answer is yes they can.

"BTN has gained clearance on Time Warner Cable and Cablevision in New York and New Jersey. Here’s more from NJ.com:
Mark Silverman, president of the Big Ten Network, confirmed Monday that the network had reached deals with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision to broadly distribute its channel to the millions of homes in the market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Silverman also said he is optimistic that a deal will be reached with the third cable giant — Comcast — before the football season..


Let’s do a little quick “back of the napkin math” on this massive victory for BTN. At last check, the channel charges a $1.00 fee per subscriber per month for those customers within the conference footprint, which NY/NJ now falls into thanks to Rutgers. Much like the “Is Andy Murray British or Scottish debate,” New Jersey gets to be a part of the NYC metropolitan area seemingly only when it’s convenient to someone looking to make money.
Cablevision has 3.1 million subscribers in the area. Time Warner has a little more than 2.6 million subscribers in New York state, many of them concentrated in the city. New Jersey has a fraction of that at just over 40,000. Let’s just be extra conservative and put the total number of subscribers that will now get BTN at 4 million.
Just from this deal alone, the Big Ten just pocketed an extra $48 million per year.
Forty. Eight. Million. Dollars. Per. Year. "

http://awfulannouncing.com/2014/big...ackpot-worth-tens-of-millions-of-dollars.html
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"And that’s just from one carriage agreement in New York City. Let’s not forget Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and the rest of the I-95 corridor that BTN will look to expand into. Back in 2012, Sports Illustrated prophetically estimated that the Big Ten could make $200 million annually from television money on the east coast. And that number may now be on the low end of the spectrum."
 

So you're saying the Big Ten will be able to pay its players? :)
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
So you're saying the Big Ten will be able to pay its players? :)
Click to expand...

"Rutgers and Maryland may never win any New Year’s Day bowl games for the Big Ten, but that doesn’t matter. It never did and never will. Rutgers and Maryland are in the Big Ten so everyone involved with the Big Ten can make an obscene amount of money. Well, everyone but the athletes of course."
 


What these articles don't make clear is that BTN has been available in NYC on Time Warner and Verizon FIOS for many years (since shortly after it launched). It's available in the sports package for Time Warner, which probably costs an extra $5-$10 per month, and in one of the mid to high packages on FIOS. I assume from these articles that it will now be included in a lower tier on Time Warner, but it would be interesting to know those details. Anyone in NYC who is a diehard fan of a Big Ten school has likely had BTN for years, so the market they're now going after is general sports fans who pay to get ESPN but wouldn't pay for BTN (or Golf, Tennis, etc.) as well as non-sports fans who pay for non-sports packages that would now include BTN. It will be interesting to see some hard numbers in a year or two.
 

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute...you mean this move was actually all about money???
 







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