Charter Communications launched the Big Ten Network on Thursday afternoon, meaning its subscribers will be able to watch Saturday's University of Wisconsin football opener.

Charter spokesman Bob Pinter said BTN is on Channel 73 for subscribers with expanded basic and higher levels of service, and on channel 795 for high definition subscribers.

However, BTN said Thursday that it is producing Saturday's Badgers game only in standard definition, although its telecast of the following Saturday's UW-Marshall game will be in HD. Both games start at 11 a.m.  

After Charter and BTN announced Wednesday that they had a multi-year deal, Charter had to get the special receivers that enable it to pick up BTN signals, and then its engineers needed to install those receivers at the company's "head-end" equipment sites, of which there are 15 to 20 in just its Wisconsin territory. Charter engineers then had to get the receivers up and running and test them to make sure they were working.

"Our engineering team has done an incredible job in a short period of time to install and test the electronic equipment needed to bring BTN to our customers in time for this Saturday's kick-off," Charter spokesman John Miller said in a statement announcing the BTN launch.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Miller had called the work "a challenge for our engineering staff," adding  that "our engineering staff is the best group of guys I've dealt with in my 30 years in this industry, and they will move heaven and earth if we get that equipment in time."

The price Charter will pay for BTN is not being disclosed, Miller said.

He added that Charter customers will see "no immediate price adjustment" as a result of the deal with BTN, "but it should be understood that the cost of the service will be factored into the entire cost of expanded basic along with the increased costs of other programming we've been seeing. At some point there will be a price adjustment, but there is nothing immediately specific to Big Ten Network."

Charter last year announced its annual local price changes on Nov. 1 to take effect on Dec. 1. Its most popular digital cable package rose from from $54.99 to $59.99 per month, while expanded basic stayed at $49.99 per month, up from $31.02, when Charter took over here in 2000. The prices do not include taxes and fees.

Barry Orton, a UW-Madison professor of telecommunications who follows cable issues closely, said in an interview Wednesday, "The one thing I can predict with absolute certainty is that cable prices will go up and the Big Ten Network is a factor in that."

Charter also will have BTN's video on demand (VOD) package, Miller said.

One thing Charter will not have this season is BTN's "overflow" channels. Those channels, which typically are placed on digital service, are used when the network is telecasting multiple games at the same time.

Cable subscribers in local markets typically get their primary game on the primary BTN channel and the other games on the overflow channels, while satellite providers have one line-up for all subscribers. For example, Charter subscribers in Wisconsin would get the UW-Akron game on Channel 73 at 11 a.m. Saturday while overflow channels - if Charter had them - would show games such as Ohio State-Youngstown State also airing on BTN at 11 a.m. Saturday.