BTN = Fail

Submitted by Zone Left on

So, I just got DirecTV--great fight with the fiancee when the dude set up cinderblocks on my new lawn...

So I finally got around to turning it on, and "Greatest Games in Big Ten History" was on; Purdue v Indiana is apparently one of them.  I can't believe I didn't know what they'd run over the summer to fill the endless hours until the first Saturday in football season.  Up next, Bio 101??  

Is this typical?  I really only got the dish for the BTN, I just moved to a new place here in SoCal and didn't trust a deal would get done with Time Warner prior to the season.  Why'd I think that?

gmbblue

July 5th, 2008 at 9:13 PM ^

They are just spreading around the games for all the BTN teams, not every game can be a Michigan/OSU game. Honestly I have not watched BTN after Michigan got eliminated from the tourney.

mjv

July 6th, 2008 at 12:29 AM ^

I watched the CCHA playoff games on the BTN at my inlaws (they have a dish, while I have comcast). They did a reasoonable job of it. BTN had some quality baseball and softball coverage. Right now is difficult since all of the sports are done for the academic year.

Pizza Bob

July 6th, 2008 at 12:06 PM ^

Not much variety from BTN on classic games so far.

They have been showing:

1) 2007 Michigan State game

2) 2008 Capital One Bowl beat down of Florida

3) 1997 Ohio State

4) '08 Purdue baseball and '08 Miami hockey

I was able to cap and seed the 1999 Wisconsin win (as TS linked above). Pizza Bob = awol42 on mgovideo.

They have also showed the 1999 home loss to Illinois. The 1991 Michigan State (Desmond Howard mugging) game is available "on-demand". I will keep my DVR set up to capture any new stuff they show.

Season 1 link: http://www.bigtennetwork.com/greatest/index.asp#season1FB

hat

July 6th, 2008 at 6:47 PM ^

All sports channels (ESPN included) air random crap at various times of the day/year. Frankly, I'll take an Indiana/Purdue football game (whose outcome I probably don't know) over bass fishing and the like.

formerlyanonymous

July 6th, 2008 at 10:48 PM ^

Its genuinely awful.  I was hoping post comcast/timewarner deals that it would get better as more revenue comes in.  That's yet to be seen.  I had some major complaints when instead of the 1st two days of the baseball tournament, shows like "Campus Programming:  Purdue - Big Animal Hospital" were airing instead.  Or reruns of the Big10 track championships. 

 

Don't even get me started on how many times Greatest Game: 2007 Motor City Bowl, Purdue vs Central Michigan has played in the last 7 months.  Please god may more revenue == more coverage (and better quality). 

hat

July 8th, 2008 at 1:50 AM ^

It's a network devoted to Big Ten sports. What is it supposed to air right now? Its reason for being is football and basketball season.

formerlyanonymous

July 8th, 2008 at 7:52 AM ^

They ran much of this stuff during football/basketball/hockey season. Hell, even during the spring sport time when there are 10 or so sports going on, very, very little was shown. Like I said, I'm hoping the new revenue will kick in for better coverage. The campus programming, at least from what Tim @ Varsity Blue said in a post a few weeks ago, is here to stay even during peak sports seasons.

Heisman Epstein

July 8th, 2008 at 10:34 PM ^

Even "Big Ten Tonight" or whatever it's called is bad. It's like SportsCenter, but it only covers (at most) 11 games. I really don't need to hear a 15 minute breakdown of Northwestern's performance against Duke. I'm happy to watch the games, and that's all I need the channel for.