The agreement puts an end to prolonged frustration for Badgers fans and Charter subscribers, who weren't able to watch games shown on the network since it launched last August.

The agreement — the terms weren't announced — allows Charter to carry BTN on its expanded basic cable package until the end of the upcoming men's basketball season.

After that, Charter has the option of moving it onto its digital cable service "as long as the vast majority of its subscribers already get that," BTN spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk said.

"So in other words, it still has to be widely available on a level of service that most people already get, so that people won't have to pay extra for it," she said.

The channel's placement had been a major point of contention during the standoff, with Charter wanting to place BTN on its sports tier — interested subscribers would have to pay extra to get it — and the network demanding it be included on a basic package.

Charter also operates in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Northern Illinois. Minnesota and Ohio State's openers also are being televised on BTN.

UW's first two football games are on BTN, and broadcast information for all eight of its Big Ten Conference games has yet to be announced.

Last year, four UW football games were broadcast on BTN. The UW men's basketball team had 21 of its games carried on the network.

Charter spokesman Jonn Miller said there wouldn't be any immediate hike in Charter's cable rates, but there likely would at some point in the future.

"There's no specific price adjustment that is at the same time as Big Ten Network, but obviously the service comes with a cost," he said. "That will be factored along with all the other increases we receive from other programmers over the last year, and I'm sure at some point in time there will be a pricing adjustment done."

The deal comes on the heels of an agreement between Time Warner Cable and BTN, which was announced Monday night. The network also reached a deal with national cable giant Comcast earlier in the summer, but Miller said he didn't think either of those deals played any role in Charter's negotiations with the network.

"I think the key was that both entities (wanted) the product on the cable lineup, and I think both entities decided that they didn't want to miss this season," he said, "and so both sides probably got a little more reasonable in the cost and some of the other parameters, and came to an agreement."