Canzano: No blinking yet in Comcast standoff with Big Ten Network
"This will take a little bit of time."
There were no uplifting updates on Friday to the week-long staring contest between Comcast and The Big Ten Network.
No resolution on Saturday, either.
No blinking so far, folks.
The whole thing is absurd and ironic. Also, frustrating for some Oregon and Washington football fans who find themselves unable to watch their teams unless a late agreement is reached.
As one source told me on Friday: “This will take a little bit of time.”
On Saturday, the Big Ten Network issued a statement: “Despite our efforts, Comcast Xfinity maintains its position as the only distributor that declined to expand with the newest members of the Big Ten Conference.”
Currently, fans in large swaths of the Big Ten’s newest territory remain blacked out and unable to watch live sports programming on the Big Ten Network involving the Ducks and Huskies. It also impacts viewers in Southern California.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
• The Big Ten Network is a joint venture between Fox Sports and the Big Ten. Fox owns 61 percent. The network is doing the negotiating with Comcast.
• Every Big Ten football team will appear on the Big Ten Network at least twice each season. The “Oregon vs. Idaho” and “Washington vs. Weber State” games drew a Week 1 assignment on the conference’s network.
• Comcast believes the Big Ten TV schedule-makers (Read: Fox) were strategic in how they assigned those two Week 1 games. UO fans and UW fans are not happy.
• As one Comcast source put it: “Fox stacked those football games on the Big Ten Network in Week 1 on purpose.”
• The two sides talked on Thursday and Friday but did not come to a resolution. I’d hoped for some good news, but one source said the blackout could “take weeks” to resolve. Another wondered if there might be an eleventh-hour reprieve on Friday night.
• There was not one — on Saturday, the Big Ten Network issued a statement: “Despite our efforts, Comcast Xfinity maintains its position as the only distributor that declined to expand with the newest members of the Big Ten Conference. We regret the impact on our viewers and sincerely appreciate their patience. In the meantime, Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington live events will continue to be available on every other distribution partner of the Big Ten Network.”
• That was of no comfort to fans of Oregon and Washington who lived through a decade-plus of distribution issues with the Pac-12 Network. The move to the Big Ten was supposed to alleviate that and give the programs maximum exposure.
• Customers who use Hulu, YouTube TV, DirecTV, Dish, Fubo TV and other streaming platforms are not affected by the blackouts. They only apply to Comcast customers.
• I asked Oregon AD Rob Mullens about the Comcast issue this week. Mullens pointed out that there are lots of cord-cutting options available to consumers and hoped a deal would be struck.
Mullens told me: “Unfortunately, there’s one distributor who is in this position and it’s in our footprint. Hopefully, it will get there, but we do have (UO radio broadcasters) Jerry, Jorgy, and Joey, as well.”
• In August, Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC officially joined the Big Ten. Those four new markets were previously considered “outer markets” by Comcast. The distributor paid a monthly carriage fee to the Big Ten Network (estimated to be somewhere around 25 cents per subscriber) to carry live games.
• Comcast put the Big Ten Network on its “More Sports and Entertainment” tier in those four markets. It charged customers a $10 upgrade fee and bundled the network with a bunch of other sports stations.
• The Big Ten Network now views those schools as being located in an “inner-market” just like the other 14 conference schools. That triggers a substantially higher monthly carriage fee (estimated at $1.25 per month).
• Fox’s distribution deal for the Big Ten Network on DirecTV, Dish, YouTube TV, Hulu, and all other platforms has the channel as part of the basic tier. Nobody pays extra for the channel on those platforms, but Fox is paid $1.25 per month for every subscriber.
• The other carriage agreements include a “most favored nations” clause. If the Big Ten Network allows Comcast to distribute “inner-market” live games at reduced “outer market” rates the other distributors are contractually entitled to the more favorable terms. It would trigger a small fortune in rebates.
• Fox did the math on adding USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington using the “inner-market” rate to support their additions. It doesn’t pencil at the “outer-market” rate.
• Similar carriage issues with Comcast happened when Nebraska, Rutgers, and Maryland joined the Big Ten. Those were eventually resolved.
• The Big Ten Network offered a statement:
“The Big Ten Network is proud to present an expanded slate of live sporting events featuring the newest members of the B1G conference, however, most Comcast subscribers will not see these games. As the one distribution partner that declined to expand along with us, Comcast Xfinity viewers in many areas will not have access to live broadcasts of the highly anticipated inaugural B1G season games for Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington.”
• Comcast said in a statement:
“We’re sensitive to the impact these costs have on our customers and have been in discussions with FOX and The Big Ten Network to find a solution to make certain former Pac-12 games available to the people who want them while not forcing others to pay for content they don’t want to watch.”
• A Big Ten source told me: “Football has a way of moving the needle.” Also, the Big Ten Network set up a website that allows fans to check their zip codes to see if they’re subject to the blackouts.
• Patrick Crakes, a former Fox executive and long-time media consultant, told me that he thinks complaining to Comcast helps.
“I do think complaining (and canceling) registers with them,” he said. “They understand this could hurt them. They’ve made calculations about how much pain they can take.”
• A Comcast source told me: “I will deny I ever said this if anyone asks, but yes, there’s more in play here.” A long-term deal between Fox and Comcast is coming up for renegotiation and the Big Ten Network thing may be getting sucked into the negotiation.
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"who want them while not forcing others to pay for content they don’t want to watch.” And yet here I am paying for Fox News lol
A big "neener, neener" to the B1G teams from WSU and OSU which are on the national CW network and enjoying nationwide audience access which greatly exceeds anything the Pac-12 network ever did!