[NU Sports] There is no joy in Mudville

[Dennis W. Brandt]

Or York, Pennsylvania, either - except maybe WildElk and me.  Comcast is 
having difficulty negogiating with The Big 10 Channel, which means three 
Penn State games may not be seen in the area this season.  The Big 10ers 
want $1.10 from every subscriber on the cable in states that have a Big 10 
team and $.10 per from customers in other states.  They insist on putting 
their broadcasts on extended basic packages rather than select sports 
packages.  That is incredibly naive - and greedy - in my opinion because if 
fails to recognize that Big 10 alumni and football interest are all over the 
place.  Their monopolistic demands are yet another example of placing a 
financial imposition on cable customers, especially given that 10 of the 
teams are state schools residents pay for with their taxes.  The cable 
company rightly objects to upping the price of the extended basic service to 
every customer when a sizeable percentage of them will never turn on the 
channel (not that you can't make the argument for most other channels, and I 
believe there will be an increase in tiered packages in the not-too-distant 
future, possibly forced by Congress).  If they are that insistent on adding 
the channel to extended basic packages, then charge $.20 everywhere.

P.S.  On a different but related matter, Joe Paterno insists that Penn State 
cannot make a profit without seven home games.  Doesn't seem reasonable to 
me that you must have 700,000+ fans to go into the black in college 
football.  What's the matter?  Players' salaries too high?