Fail For the Victors?

Also from my hometown's newspaper, looks like the Big Ten Network isn't going to be on Comcast this fall. Which means, basically, I'm not going to be able to catch Michigan's first few nonconference games unless I shell out for some premium satelite package which, you know, I'm not going to do.

This is a fight that's been brewing for a while but one that probably hasn't registered even for many people in the midwest. But, the gist of it is that the Big Ten conference has decided to start up their own cable channel which is going to feature...well, I'm not sure exactly what beyond some third tier, non-revenue sports and the few Big Ten football and basketball and other games that aren't picked up for national broadcast. Like, for example, Michigan's sure to be a barn burner of a season opener against Appalacian State.

The station's all set up and ready to launch, the sticking point is the cable provider which, in the midwest, is Comcast's game. The Big Ten wants the network to be part of the basic cable package, complete with a hefty subscriber fee (Cable channels make their money from these fees. They charge cable networks a fee for each subscriber which is somewhere, on average, 50 cents to a dollar per person. And you thought phone companies were bad.) of somewhere around $1.10. Comcast, on the other hand wants to put the Big Ten Network on a premium tier – one of those packages you have to pay more for to get – and, of course, a lower subscription fee. It's a big fight and both sides have started to play to the court of public opinion. The Big Ten going on the news and holding press conferences telling people they won't be able to see their favorite teams unless they have this channel. While Comcast has started some websites and astroturf campaigns to support their point of view. It's a mess, really, and it looks like the clock is running out and there's not going to be a deal.

I, to put it bluntly, could care less. And it's not just my growing apathy about sports in general. So I don't get to watch the Wolverines take on Cupcake U. Not a big deal. I mean, I'd watch it if I was on and I had nothing better to do, but I'll find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon. So will other people, I'll wager, because the game will still be on the radio and in the paper the next day and on my phone and everywhere else I can get the information. The games I actually (kinda) care about like MSU and OSU and Notre Dame, will be on the networks. If Michigan does well, a lot of others will be, too, if the game against Oregon is any judge, and if they're not, then I probably don't want to watch in the first place.

No, my interest here stems from the existence of the Big Ten Network in the first place. And the hissy fit its executives are throwing since they're not getting their way. It's part of a larger trend, I think. As the costs of owning and operating a network get smaller and the monopoly of the broadcast networks that have traditionally filled the coffers of sports leagues get narrow, it makes a lot of sense for these teams to have control over the distribution of their content. They're cutting out the middle men and, theoretically, raking in that profit for themselves. But they're also continuing the fracture of the viewership base. A channel like the Big Ten Network is the definition of niche. It only appeals to fans of the Big Ten league. And while the Big Ten is a big enough name brand to support its own network, probably, I have to ponder how long that's going to continue to be the case if and when we ever get to the day when sports are broadcast not on a nationally televised day game but on a bunch of Balkanized, regional, private cable channels with a significant barrier of entry – namely, you have to pay for the content, not just flip on the tube. Sports exist as such a huge business because the various leagues and networks have managed to convince people of the importance of that content. A sporting event is just that, a big event that people want to see and experience. But I wonder if, by narrowcasting, these sporting leagues might just be doing themselves more harm than good. If they choke off that flow of new fans and interest they build up with these sorta freely, kinda publicly available programs by charging more and more for it, in an effort to maintain their popularity and wanning profits (Viewership of sports is trending downward, historically speaking. Ratings are down, etc, etc. The upshot being there's less of the pie to go around and that's when people start fighting the hardest for their pieces.) they might just be starving the golden goose.

The Big Ten has, to me anyway, been acting out of a misplaced sense of privilege. Out of a sense of superiority, as if it was their right to have someone pay them to broadcast their third rung games. That arrogance is a harbinger of things to come, if you ask me. And not a good one.