Of course they aren't, but I'm betting that none of those channels charges the cable operator (who, in turn, charges you on your bill) nearly the amount of money that the B11 Network is asking for. I wouldn't be surprised if all 5 of those channels cost the cable operator $0.00 per sub, with the network hoping to make the money up by charging advertisers higher rates due to increased market penetration.
As far as broad appeal goes, I'd be shocked if TWC and Comcast were in these negotiations without some notion of what customer demand was for these channels. I'm guessing they keep their finger on the pulse fairly closely -- either by monitoring e-mail and call volume from people asking for the channel, attrition rates to DTV and DISH since the network started, and perhaps customer surveys assessing demand for these channels. If there was really a massive outrage and customer revolt occurring, they'd have done the deal by now. Maybe it is a *slight* overstatement to say that demand for B11 content is huge just because you happen to live in a state that features a B11 school.
SeeinRed has this perfectly pegged -- if you're siding with B11 on this one, you're basically saying that they're right and every cable subscriber, regardless of their particular interests, should be forced to pay an additional $1.30 on their cable bill so that the subset of rabid college sports fans and B11 alumni can watch their games. Maybe if the price to customers was more reasonable, they'd have a legitimate argument -- but at that cost (~4% of a $40 cable bill), it seems quite ridiculous.