Report: Comcast, Big Ten Network deal near

Jeff Richgels  —  8/23/2008 5:56 pm

More than three months after the Big Ten Network and Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable company, were reported to have agreed on the framework of a deal, the deal is essentially completed, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

"For all intents and purposes, it's done," one source close to the negotiations said Sunday, the Tribune reported Monday.

Sources expect the deal will be completed and unveiled this week, the paper said.

Such a deal is significant here because a BTN-Comcast deal is seen as providing a potential framework for deals between BTN and Charter Communications and Time Warner, Wisconsin's two major cable providers.

"It's Comcast first, Time Warner a distant second, and Charter third," UW-Madison professor of telecommunications Barry Orton said of the size and pecking order of major cable companies serving states in the Big Ten Conference.

Assuming the BTN-Comcast deal gets done quickly, it would provide a chance for BTN to sign deals with Charter, the dominant cable provider for the Madison area, and Time Warner, the dominant cable provider for the Milwaukee and Fox Valley areas, before next football season starts.

The key date for BTN and the cable companies here is Aug. 30, which is the first University of Wisconsin football game of 2008. That is the one-year anniversary of BTN's launch.

Orton, though, said he was "pessimistic" about BTN and Charter making a deal in time for football season, even if BTN and Comcast sign their deal this week.

"I would be very surprised if this deal gets done in time for football season for Madison," Orton said, "because even if you have a model for a deal, each company is different. I think we would probably look forward to the Big Ten Network for basketball season. Football season I think is going to be very tight."

Elizabeth Conlisk, BTN vice president of communications, told The Capital Times that "We can't comment on the specifics of the Chicago Tribune story other than to say we remain close to reaching an agreement with Comcast. The deal is not signed, however, and so we will have no further comment until we have a signed agreement."

Conlisk also said that there were no new developments to report in BTN's talks with Charter, and she declined to comment on speculation that a BTN deal with Comcast could provide a framework for BTN deals with Charter and Time Warner.

No one could be reached for comment at  Charter.

Recently, the behind-the-scenes talk is that Fox -- the co-owner of BTN with the conference -- was willing to renegotiate carriage for all of its networks in return for Comcast placing BTN on its most widely distributed tier, but no official source has admitted to any knowledge of such an offer.

BTN does have carriage deals with satellite providers DirecTV and DISH Network, as well as numerous smaller cable companies, including MHTC (formerly Mount Horeb Telephone Co.), which serves the areas of Mount Horeb, Blue Mounds and Dodgeville.

Comcast and the BTN are prepared to put nearly two years of bitter negotiations aside to announce a long-term partnership, the Tribune said.

The deal will nearly double the number of homes that can access the BTN, from 30 million to 55 million. In the eight-state Big Ten footprint, the number will surge from 6.5 million to about 13 million.

That still leaves out about 5.5 million homes in the Midwest, but officials hope the Comcast deal will provide a framework for negotiations with prominent cable carriers Time Warner, Mediacom and Charter, the Tribune said, echoing Orton.

The deal will be a boon to all parties, not to mention Chicago and its 1.8 million Comcast subscribers, the Tribune said, providing the following details:

-- Comcast, which had been losing customers to DirecTV, the Dish Network and RCN Cable, will have video-on-demand features that will allow customers to access their favorite team's greatest games and replays of condensed, "snap-to-snap" games.

-- The BTN completed the deal without caving on its central demand: that the channel be placed on expanded basic, rather than a sports tier, in the eight-state footprint. Only Philadelphia, which is not considered a Big Ten market, will be excluded from expanded basic, but it will be carried on a sports tier there. And Comcast can eventually move the channel to a more exclusive digital level of service in some other systems.

--The network's initial asking price was $1.10 per month per subscriber, but Comcast will pay 70 to 80 cents, which still will provide a huge cash influx for BTN.

For BTN, the deal will end what Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo called a "PR nightmare" -- at least in Comcast territories.

Jeff Richgels  —  8/23/2008 5:56 pm