Breakthrough Seen for BTN

Comcast might soon hike the ball on a new carriage deal with sports service Big Ten Network, according to executives close to both companies.

Executives close to Comcast and BTN — which is co-owned by the Big Ten Conference and Fox National Cable Sports Networks — say that the two sides are close to signing a deal that would put the sports network on Comcast's highest-penetrated level of service in systems within the footprint of the conference's 11 member schools.

Comcast has about 6 million subscribers in the Big Ten region, including 900,000 in Indiana. The company also covers much of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Conference schools within the footprint include the University of Michigan, Indiana University and the University of Minnesota.

A Comcast spokesman would only say that the operator “would continue to negotiate with the Big Ten for an agreement that's fair to our customers,” without putting a time frame on a potential deal. BTN launched last August and still lacks carriage deals with Comcast and another big operator in the region, Time Warner Cable.

Sports Business Journal reported last week the two sides had agreed on key sticking points, including allowing Comcast to offer BTN on digital basic — not its highest-penetrated tier — in the Philadelphia market, even though that region is technically within the Big Ten footprint.

Comcast previously has balked at offering Big Ten Network because of the breadth of distribution required and the cost. BTN has been reported to be seeking a $1 monthly subscriber fee for customers within the eight-state BTN footprint (although Comcast would likely pay less) and 10 cents each for customers outside of that territory.

Some observers believe Comcast's motivation to do a deal could be influenced by a desire to start college-conference networks in which it would own a stake and which would also seek broad distribution.

Even if a deal is completed soon, the expectation is that Comcast is unlikely to launch the network (and start paying license fees) until late summer or early fall, when BTN offers its strongest programming via college football and college basketball games.

BTN currently has carriage deals with DirecTV, Dish, AT&T, Verizon Communications, Insight Communications, WideOpenWest, RCN, Service Electric and many smaller operators.