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BTN adds deals with major cable firms in Iowa, Ohio

Jeff Richgels  —  8/29/2008 7:56 am

The Big Ten Network continued to add deals with cable companies on Thursday, giving it deals with all the major providers in the eight Big Ten states.

BTN confirmed that it has a deal with Iowa's major cable company, Mediacom, which also has some subscribers in less populous areas of Wisconsin, including the Mauston, New Lisbon and Camp Douglas areas.

Multichannel.com had reported last Friday that BTN and Mediacom had reached a deal, but neither side would confirm it until they issued a joint press release on Thursday.

According to the release, Mediacom will launch BTN in phases on its expanded basic level of service in Big Ten states and will alert customers via messaging on its Web site, www. mediacomcable.com. Customers will be able to type in their zip code and find out when BTN is scheduled to launch and on what channel.

Mediacom vice president of legal and public affairs Tom Larsen told Multichannel.com that the operator may open up temporary channels at first to make sure the game action is as widely available at first, before establishing permanent locations. 

Mediacom's agreement also includes HD and VOD programming.

And BTN announced that it has a deal with Cox Communications, which has nearly 150,000 subscribers in the Cleveland area.

BTN will be on Cox Channel 62 and on Channel 724 in HD. The channel position may change later this fall to align the network with other sports programming.

BTN is expected to broadcast three of the first five Ohio State games this season, including this Saturday against Youngstown State, Sept. 20 against Troy and Sept. 27 against Minnesota.

Deals were announced earlier this week between BTN and Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, the two dominant cable providers in Wisconsin.

And BTN and Comcast, the largest cable company in the nation and the Big Ten states, reached a deal earlier this summer.

BTN also has deals with satellite providers DirecTV and DISH Network and the TV services of phone companies AT&T and Verizon.

Jeff Richgels  —  8/29/2008 7:56 am