Column: Giving up channel surfing

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 4, 2007

I am a sports fan but I have decided my television doesn&8217;t want me to be one.

I watch the Super Bowl, I debate each March and April whether I should quit my job just so I can watch all the college basketball I can and I have even been known to turn on the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup Finals.

However, I may have to pull the plug on my TV this fall.

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The Big Ten is working on putting together its Big Ten Network which will launch this fall. ESPN and ABC will still carry many of the biggest games, but BTN plans to offer up to 400 additional live events and original programming focusing on the Big Ten. Unless BTN is picked up by major cable, millions of Big Ten fans will be shut out of that additional Big Ten programming.

BTN currently has national agreements in place with DirecTV, AT&T and Buckeye CableSystem in Toledo. BTN has agreements pending with more than 40 other cable operators within the eight states of the Big Ten. In total, the network currently is available to viewers in 16 million homes.

Some highlights of what BTN will offer: more than 35 football games each season, more than 105 regular season men&8217;s basketball games, a nightly studio show including segments from each campus, women&8217;s sports, including basketball, volleyball, soccer and softball, more than 170 Olympic sporting events including baseball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, swimming, diving and more, classic games and historical footage from ESPN and ABC libraries, original campus programming produced by Big Ten member universities showcasing their academic excellence, talented students and award-winning programs

and weekly coaches shows.

BTN wants the channel to be offered as part of basic cable on different systems. Cable wants to carry it but only on a special tier so it can charge more money to cover the expensive costs BTN is charging for the new channel.

Each side is dug in and refusing to give in. BTN is threatening to urge its huge alumni base to switch from their current cable providers to DirectTV if those providers don&8217;t agree to carry BTN on basic cable by August 1.

I am a big Iowa football fan, I enjoy Iowa basketball and wrestling too, but lemme get this straight. Last year, I couldn&8217;t watch games because my cable doesn&8217;t offer ESPNU and this year I won&8217;t be able to watch games because two giant corporations can&8217;t decide how to best fleece me. Excellent.

I give up. I hear curling is pretty cool.

Other random thoughts:

– Was anyone else hoping the drunken fan that ran onto the field after Barry Bonds&8217; latest home run would accidently trip him and end his season? Me either.

– The Twins are coming, the Twins are coming. Minnesota was a little offense away from making it a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. Even in a loss Scott Baker looked really, really good which is some of the best news Twins fans could have.

A second-half surge seems like a definite possibility, but even if the Twins do pick it up in the win column there is no guarantee that either Detroit or Cleveland will lose with any regularity.

– If you have a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach right about now you are probably a Minnesota Timberwolves fan. There is a decent chance that you liked the drafting of Corey Brewer, but the fact that Kevin Garnett has not been traded is not a good thing. He has to be traded but of all of the possible trades that have been speculated on exactly zero sound good to me.

– Enjoy the Fourth of July.

Sports editor Jeff Budlong&8217;s column appears each Wednesday.