Who Says Academics Aren't in Touch with Reality?

Jim Delaney thinks this is TV Gold

Evidently, Big Ten (Eleven) Commissioner Jim Delaney was smacked in the face with reality by Comcast this past week and now wants an apology for the truth. Yes, it is not politically correct in court of public opinion to be referring to women's sports as "second and third tier sporting events". However, those statements weren't meant to denigrate institutions of higher learner as Delaney accused of Comcast on Thursday, but merely to speak the truth.

The Big Ten (Eleven) Network, was birthed last year and is having a hard time finding a home. Comcast, which dominates the Midwest cable market doesn't want to pay the big bucks that the Big Ten (Eleven) is requesting and feels that it should either be placed on a smaller distribution or as a subscription channel. I have no problem with this-- just like I'd get mad if some new channel that I had no interest in jumped into my basic package and up my monthly bill, I don't think forcing sporting events on the subscribers is necessarily a good thing.

The other big problem is simply the content of the channel. The Chicago Based Network will show all the Big Ten (Eleven) football games not picked up by ABC, ESPN, ESPN 2, or other places. The channel makes its money broadcasting 155 men's hoops games, 70 women's hoops and 170 'other events' like cross country, volleyball, etc. They can also throw in the occassional Big Ten (Eleven) Classic game, since they own the right to all broadcasts going back to 1960. Let's focus on these items:

• The football games. Since ABC & the ESPN networks control the better games, this means at best, the subscriber gets the 3rd-4th best matchup that week (assuming none of the Big Ten (Eleven) are playing AT Notre Dame). THIS BY THE VERY DEFINITION IS 2nd- 3rd TIER PRODUCT.
• The men's basketball games. Again, it doesn't cover the Big Ten(Eleven) championship and ABC-ESPN controls the top games. It does mean that the lesser teams will get on TV more.
• The women's basketball games. 70 games. see above. Yet, they can't even justify giving the same number of games broadcast on their own network to women that they do the men. Talk about Second Class Citizenry.
• The 170 'other events'. Yes, those 170 other events that are so popular that they don't get on TV as of now. These games are literally 2nd and 3rd tier sporting events in the eyes of broadcast executives (and that's being kind). Most likely they would rate below Ice Hockey, Gymnastics and ESPN's coverage of Professional Bowling in Neilson ratings.

Yes, it would be nice to allow Mom & Dad in Dayton a chance to see their daughter on the Minnesota diving team, but in reality-- THIS IS A NICHE PRODUCT, which is exactly what got Jim Delaney's feelings hurt in the first place.