TV4US at cable's throat again over Big Ten, NFL Network

After pushing through the "Video Competition Act", the AT&T-backed lobby group TV4US is punching cable below the belt again -- this time over Big Ten Network and NFL Network.

With the August 30th home opener of the Wisconsin Badgers football team rapidly approaching, TV4US has issued a press release (PDF) titled "Suffering Continues For Wisconsin Football Fans," which is already being picked up by news outlets like Milwaukee's WISN-TV.  In the release, the group blasts Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications explicitly for not yet carrying the Big Ten Network.  BTN is a joint venture of the conference and Fox Cable Networks, and is carried on both satellite carriers and AT&T's own U-Verse service.  The network recently sealed a deal with the nation's largest cable provider, Comcast, and is expected to be added to their lineup Friday.

"After a 9-4 season in 2007, a lot of Badger fans might be happy with a return to last year’s form,” Thad Nation, Executive Director of TV4US Wisconsin stated in the release, “but with the Big Ten Network still showing Badger games, and Wisconsin cable companies still not offering the channel, there’s at least one part of last year’s season that fans would rather leave behind.  “The good news for consumers is that while some Wisconsin cable providers continue to stall on providing the Big Ten Network to their customers, new alternatives are emerging as a result of cable competition legislation, but until the benefits of competition reach everyone in Wisconsin, it’s going to be like 2007 all over again – for better and for worse."

The press release is undoubtedly a masterful piece of publicity akin to those the group issued during the heated cable competition bill dustup in the Wisconsin Legislature, and will undoubtedly stir up the furor among Wisconsin sports fans when their local news outlets pick up on the story.  It's becoming clear that TV4US is branching out from a pro-consumer legislation lobby group into a staunch anti-cable marketing machine.  While I am no fan of TV4US, especially after the whole cable competition flap, I have to admit that I agree with them on this. 

All indications are pointing towards talks between Big Ten and the big two cable operators in the state breaking down yet again, from what we've heard from both sides in the press from various Big Ten regions in the past weeks.  How this could be is totally beyond me, if Comcast's recent deal is to be believed as a template for future cable company deals.  Alledgedly, Big Ten lowered their asking price from over a dollar to around 70 to 80 cents per subscriber, and offered leighway on placement of the channel in Comcast's lineup in future.  The price is still a pinch to their bottom line, no doubt, but something of a bargain compared to many regional sports networks like FSN Wisconsin which took a reported $1.70 per sub last year.

Time Warner was expected to meet with Big Ten Network officials today, and to give its assessment of the negotiations, according to Columbus, Ohio station WBNS-TV.  As of 11:00 PM, I have not seen any first-hand response.  Mark Silverman, president of the Big Ten Network, had told the station yesterday that "we need to make significant progress in the next couple of days and I think we will know in the next week or so whether the likelihood of the network and deal getting done with Time Warner or not."

I'm no full-time sports fan, but I will watch football on occasion.  Last season, my father went out to a local bar to watch Wisconsin games on Big Ten Network because Time Warner Cable didn't offer it.  That's something I've rarely ever seen him do.  This season, after over twenty years as a Time Warner customer, he switched to U-Verse, in part because he could get his Badger games at home again.  This isn't a unique, isolated case.  Many have already jumped ship with him.  If a deal isn't reached by Friday, fans may want to make the call to get a satellite or telco TV installation scheduled in time for opening day kickoff on August 30th. 

This could be the year Time Warner and Charter learn the hard way -- Badger fans are loyal to their team, not their cable company.

EDITOR'S NOTE, 8/14/08:  One day after its press release about Big Ten, TV4US has surfaced again with a similar release about cable's lack of NFL Network.  While there are no Green Bay Packer games scheduled on the channel this year, they are seizing the opportunity to jab cable over NFL Network's coverage of Brett Favre's first game as a New York Jet. 

In a press release titled "Wisconsin cable companies black out Brett," TV4US Wisconsin Executive Director Thad Nation says "For Brett Favre fans, it was hard enough to watch him leave the Packers.  Now, just to twist the knife a little further, Wisconsin’s big cable companies won’t even be offering his first game as a Jet.  Comcast, which offers cable services in several Wisconsin cities, has already reached a deal with the NFL Network to carry the channel,” Nation said.  “If the nation’s largest cable company can do it, there’s no reason why Time Warner or Charter can’t."