Let me be the 437th person to congratulate the Big Ten Network and Comcast on their pending nuptials.

The Aug. 15 wedding is right around the corner, so if anyone has a good gift idea — or wants to meet me at Target to chip in on something appropriate — you know where to find me.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't think these guys would ever find their way to the altar.

For more than a year, the two have sounded like Clint Eastwood and Spike Lee. All that bickering and name-calling. All those potshots in the media.

Now look at 'em.

I guess when two kids really love one another and want the same things out of life, they can find common ground.

Now, if only we could get a look at that pre-nup.

The ground-breaking BTN-Comcast union announced this week is welcome news for cable subscribers who have an allegiance to a Big Ten Conference school.

If you have Comcast, you're happy because you'll be able to see BTN programming in all its glory.

If you have Time Warner or Charter — which describes nearly 1 million cable subscribers in Wisconsin — there is hope the Comcast deal will nudge the other dominoes.

Hope is more than what many University of Wisconsin followers in the state have had since the BTN was launched last August, but not much has changed.

Badgers fans still don't know if Charter will pick up the fledgling network. They still don't know how many UW football games will be televised on BTN. They still don't know if the impasse will be resolved in time for the men's basketball season, when it's almost certain a majority of Badgers games will be on the BTN.

The prevailing question — Should I dump cable for a dish? — continues to be asked in households from Fox Point to Stevens Point.

I'll bet there are fewer families up in arms over the lack of access to the BTN, though. These are the folks who learned last season that there are other things in life besides reclining on the sofa, remote control in hand, watching UW games.

Key specifics of the contract between Comcast and the BTN are as yet unknown — including its length and the amount Comcast has agreed to pay per subscriber to BTN — but reports that the latter will be between 70 and 80 cents suggests Big Ten schools will get sizeable dividend checks starting next year.

After the 2008-09 basketball season, Comcast has the option to move BTN to a "broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in the Big Ten states," according to a joint news release. Reports say that won't be a sports tier where subscribers will be asked to pay more.

Something else that hasn't changed from last year: UW officials still have a public relations fight on their hands because many fans in the state remain on the outside looking in at the BTN. At least now there is some leverage with Charter.

Weddings like this can be fun, but UW fans are probably sick of being the bridesmaid.