DIRECTV to discontinue the Big Ten network?

[Playadlc]

I am hearing that DIRECTV will discontinue the Big Ten network come October 15th. A friend of mine called and asked and he was told by a rep that this is true.

Anyone else hear anything like this?

[mole44]

WHY would they do that in the middle of the college football season, the only reason anyone wants the channel to begin with?? If this is true, I'll be very unhappy.

[*BaseClogger*]

This would be a PR disaster and a huge hit for their rep...

[Unassisted]

Originally Posted by *BaseClogger*

This would be a PR disaster and a huge hit for their rep...

Or maybe it's a clear sign that the league is charging more than the market will bear?

[Caseyfan21]

Originally Posted by Unassisted

Or maybe it's a clear sign that the league is charging more than the market will bear?

Hopefully every cable service drops the BTN and we can go back to watching all our favorite Big Ten team's on our regular channels. That network trying to strong arm cable companies was garbage from the beginning and I hope it goes belly up when TV companies realize that people only watch and care about this network for a few college football games a year.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Caseyfan21

Hopefully every cable service drops the BTN and we can go back to watching all our favorite Big Ten team's on our regular channels. That network trying to strong arm cable companies was garbage from the beginning and I hope it goes belly up when TV companies realize that people only watch and care about this network for a few college football games a year.

Those of us who lived out-of-market would wholly disagree with that...

[KronoRed]

I wouldn't understand them dropping it, moving it to a premium tier would make sense but not dropping it completely.

Anyway I haven't seen anything mentioning this on the usual DirecTV forums and they always have info like that early.

[Caveat Emperor]

On one hand, seeing the Big 11 fail at things warms my heart.

On the other hand, as a DirecTV customer, I'm certain that if they cancel the Big 11 Network, it'll be replaced by another useless shopping channel.

Bottom line is -- I don't know how to feel about this.

[Playadlc]

Something weird is going on here...someone from DIRECTV told my friend what I posted above, but I am seeing nothing about DIRECTV dropping the BTN at dbstalk.com.

I am starting to think I got faulty information. The funny thing is though, someone on another site posted the exact thing that I heard tonight. He even mentioned the same October 15 date. If you really think about it though it doesn't make much sense. DTV has realigned a ton of channels, including BTN. I mean, DTV (via its parent, FOX) owns a large part of the BTN. Why in the world would they drop it now?

[KronoRed]

I wouldn't trust DTV phone reps to tell me anything.

[jmcclain19]

I am not a Big Ten fan, but it is pretty sweet to have extra football available on Saturdays thanks to the BTN.

I've actually grown a soft spot for Wisconsin last year because of it.

I can't see them cutting back like this, it just wouldn't make any business sense. I remember when they pretty much held fans hostage to get DirecTV in the 1st place because they were one of the only places you could see certain games. Going back now would be a suicide move for a business that solely depends on customer retention.

[ochre]

Directv, effectively, has partial ownership of the big10 network. I'd be surprised if they dropped it.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content...1_7I7MC2O.html

DirecTV's partial owner, News Corp., is the parent company of Fox Cable Networks, which owns a 49 percent stake in the Big Ten Network.

[KronoRed]

Actually News Corp no longer owns any part of DirecTV, Liberty Media bought them out earlier this year.

[Blimpie]

With the eve of college football upon us, are we sure that this isn't just Direct TV posturing for a bigger piece of the subscription revenue?

[SeeinRed]

If I had to guess, this may be DTV trying to hardball BTN into re-negotiating a contract to either lower the price per subscriber or move it into a different tier of programing. TWC still hasn't signed up to the BTN because the BTN won't budge on wanting to be part of the basic package instead of an add on tier. Their asking price is way to high and DTV is probably having problems making it profitable. This could mean movement on the TWC front because DTV is a pretty huge market for BTN to lose. This may force them to move from their stance and get something done with TWC if indeed true.