Try compromise on Big Ten Network
The new "Big Ten Network" is quite an accomplishment for the Big Ten conference - a professional cable channel devoted to Big Ten sports, from football and basketball to wrestling, diving and volleyball. As a former college football player and avid sports fan, this kind of channel would be normally right up my alley.
Yet, even sports columnists have complained that the network's slate of games are largely "fifth-tier" leftovers and have claimed that the Big Ten is demanding that consumers pay far too high a price for what the channel offers. What went wrong?
In part, the Big Ten's existing media deals are to blame - the conference has already sold TV rights to its best football and basketball games to channels like ABC and ESPN for around $100 million, so the BTN gets, by definition, second- and third-pick games.
But the Big Ten is also demanding that their network be carried on basic cable, amounting to a back-door tax of hundreds of millions of dollars each year for consumers in Big Ten states. In fact, BTN is asking that all Pennsylvania consumers pay them the second highest rate of any national cable network - behind only ESPN.
According to Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, this Big Ten tax is justifiable, helping some institutions "sop up red ink" in their budgets. As a former president of a public university, I appreciate the challenges of keeping a school's financial ship afloat - and a for-profit BTN is not necessarily a bad thing. But forcing taxpayers to further subsidize college sports programs - many of which are well-funded through ticket sales, merchandizing and television deals - crosses the line.
Placing the BTN on a sports tier is perhaps the best compromise, protecting most consumers from unwanted rate hikes while gauging exactly how popular BTN will be with fans. Unfortunately, Delany rejected this compromise and is now blocking fans from getting BTN, attempting to force everyone to pay for it. Delany should make the channel available to those who want it instead of using it to open taxpayer wallets against their will.
Dr. Art Thomas Senior Manager
of Leadership National Association for
Equal Opportunity
In Higher education Washington, D.C.