[NU Sports] Interesting article ...

[Roy Lamberton]

Jeff Pilot has pretty good penetration into the local markets that make up the
SEC. They get their games on a local TV station in just about every SEC market
and have a pretty good product. They also produce many of the coach's shows. 

I think the issue is that the BTN thinks that their network should be on the
lower tiers in the Big 10 States and the cable guys would prefer to have ALL of
the future conference networks on a PPV style distribution.  Its comparable to
ESPN360 wanting to charge a per subscriber charge for everyone signed up on the
ISP instead of allowing individual to opt in to the coverage.

One of the big selling points about the 1000 channel cable was that subscribers
could tailor their own network and show access, I think it used to be called a
la carte? But the concept got lost when individual networks decided that if they
couldn't get wide coverage, they'd overrule the law of supply and demand and get
someone to pay them regardless of who watched.

Anyone who worked in broadcasting during the days of the [Un]fairness doctrine
remembers that radio and TV were pretty bland when it came to local issues. In
today's market, the idea is to either appeal to the mass audience [hard to do]
or become a niche broadcaster, selling your product to a specialty audience. 

Memo to the Big 10 Network - The BTN is a Niche product, even in the Big 10
states. The fans of the schools will pay good money, regardless of where they
live, to watch their team in action. Pretending that the AC/SEC/Big 12/Pac
10/WAC fans in Comcast or Time Warner markets will watch the BTN seems a little
foolish, and I know Comcast has the sales numbers from ESPN+ to back that up.

Its why our local cable channels have re-runs of Navy and Maryland games on
around here - people watch those games. Unless State Penn is playing on the BTN,
the number of other Big 10 school alums interested isn't enough to crack the
statistical minimums.

rsl 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Roy S. Lamberton - Senior Associate
Computer Applications & Support Associates
and Publisher of Purple Reign, 
The Scout.com Northwestern University Site
(http://www.purplewildcats.com)
AIM Handle: CoachRoy74
======== Go Cats -  Beat 'em All ===========
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> TV deal. We looked at the SEC a few weeks back and how
> some major clashes were only on Jefferson Pilot or
> ESPN Game Plan PPV ... out here in Arizona, the Pac 10
> situation is maddening as well.