BTN Inspires Neutral Valence in NY, NJ, DC. Also: New BTN Payout Estimates

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December 12th, 2012 at 5:17 PM
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Zone Left
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BTN Inspires Neutral Valence in NY, NJ, DC. Also: New BTN Payout Estimates

Via Tom Fornelli at CBS Sports

As is standard, the BTN is expected to threaten Maryland and Rutgers TV areas with not carrying Rutgers and Maryland games to extort cable providers to put the BTN on basic cable, which likely inspires zero interest outside of other Big Ten fans living in those areas. 

After playing with the numbers a little, full BTN penetration in NY, NJ, Maryland, and DC would create about $70.8M in additional BTN revenue, which would result in about $4M additional payout per team from the BTN. That's about a 36% increase in BTN money and a 16% increase in total revenue sharing per team. 

It's all John Navarre's fault.

 

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December 12th, 2012 at 5:29 PM | Whether it works or not (Score:5 Normal)
AAB
Joined: 01/14/2009
MGoPoints: 7196

the notion of extorting New York cable providers by threatening to take away Rutgers football is hilarious.  

There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter.

December 12th, 2012 at 5:36 PM | There's probably more than a (Score:3 Insightful)
Run 2 Daylight
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Joined: 09/01/2009
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There's probably more than a few customers excited that one of their ESPN channels is freed up to show a "marquee" Big Ten game or an SEC game instead of Rutgers. 

Go Blue!

December 12th, 2012 at 5:42 PM | BTN (Score:5 Normal)
Engin77
Joined: 07/02/2008
MGoPoints: 2095

carried 4 Michigan games this season, IIRC: (UMass, @Purdue, MSU, @Minny). Availability of those games (and games involving 11 other existing Big Ten teams) is a larger factor than just Rutgers Football. Penn State has a huge fanbase in the areas described in the article.

Taking it one week at a time

December 12th, 2012 at 5:49 PM | So is the idea that adding (Score:2 Normal)
Indonacious
Joined: 01/03/2012
MGoPoints: 514

So is the idea that adding rutgers pushes BTN over the edge in terms of giving them the leverage to do this. Those fans from psu, us, etc. are there now and btn isn't on the standard package...so the only thing that is changing, from my understanding, is that rutgers is in the conference. Rephrased, if showing our games or games for psu fans was the driving force, would we really needed to of added rutgers? It seems that they are under the impression that these 2 additions will provide the ability for this to happen, but that conclusion doesn't seem as sound to me. I think delany probably reasoned that it was worth a shot and that adding these 2 teams would kill the conference but that the upside is potential penetrance into these markets (the degree to which can be debated).

December 12th, 2012 at 11:14 PM | the idea is that now those (Score:1)
Brodie
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Joined: 11/19/2008
MGoPoints: 3454

the idea is that now those teams aren't from some remote part of the country, they're part of the same conference as the local teams. Michigan is now playing 50 miles outside of New York instead of 500 miles away. 

And Rutgers brings a huge, if not passionate, alumni base. Mobilize them and in combination with existing B1G fanbases you have a powerful block. 

When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing. -- Bo Schembechler

December 12th, 2012 at 5:52 PM | They're not threatening to take away the BTN (Score:5 Normal)
Erik_in_Dayton
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MGoPoints: 6784

They're just threatening not to show Rutgers and Maryland. 

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. -- Yogi Berra

                         

December 12th, 2012 at 6:18 PM | umm Yankees? (Score:3 Normal)
Gameboy
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They may not care for Rutgers football, but they will certainly care about the Yankees.

December 12th, 2012 at 6:32 PM | You Comment is Just... (Score:2)
TheOtherOneGoes...
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Joined: 12/01/2008
MGoPoints: 663

...hilarious! And spot on.

Adams Axiom: The major difference between something that might go wrong and something that can not possibly go wrong is that when a thing that can not possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.

December 12th, 2012 at 5:34 PM | Saw the words neutral and NY (Score:0 Overrated)
December 12th, 2012 at 5:37 PM | I don't get where the btn (Score:1)
Indonacious
Joined: 01/03/2012
MGoPoints: 514

I don't get where the btn really has the leverage to do this. rutgers in nyc does not equal michigan in the greater detroit area. If I was a local provider there, I would just refuse to put it on the standard package and keep it on the sports plus or whatever. I doubt the outcry from rutgers fans would be so deafening that it would force them to reconsider. 

December 12th, 2012 at 5:45 PM | Time Warner is a big player in NYC (Score:1)
danimal1968
Joined: 07/13/2008
MGoPoints: 118

wonder if the BTN will try to put pressure on them by threatening to take the BTN away from them in the midwest if they don't give them the same deal in NYC?

December 12th, 2012 at 5:51 PM | The primary stake holders (Score:3 Informative)
oHOWiHATEohioSTATE
Joined: 11/22/2010
MGoPoints: 1371

of the YES network also holster majority shares in BTN. They will probably put them in a package deal at least in the NY and NJ market. For those that don't know, The YES network carries the Yankee games.

If an OSU fan divorces his wife are they still brother and sister?

December 12th, 2012 at 5:46 PM | Well, it is a good thing (Score:2)
wile_e8
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Well, it is a good thing Maryland and Rutgers have large and vocal fanbases that will let their cable providers know their need to see the teams on cable. I'm sure the thought of all the Rutgers and Maryland die hards switching to DirecTV scares the cable providers way more than the thought of losing customers due to increasing cable fees thanks to yet another sports channel they don't watch.

December 12th, 2012 at 5:49 PM | News Corp. (Score:3 Normal)
Sleepy
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Didn't News Corp. recently "buy" the YES Network?  Package them together & all of a sudden NYC fans "care" about the BTN.

December 12th, 2012 at 5:50 PM | 49% (Score:2)
Erik_in_Dayton
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They bought a 49% stake.

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. -- Yogi Berra

                         

December 12th, 2012 at 6:12 PM | What was the link between (Score:1)
Indonacious
Joined: 01/03/2012
MGoPoints: 514

What was the link between news corp/yea network deal and the btn again? I remember seeing something but can't find it.

December 12th, 2012 at 6:18 PM | News Corp. owns a share of the BTN (Score:4 Normal)
Erik_in_Dayton
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As another poster implied above, they could potentially tell East Coast cable providers that they have to take the BTN if they want the Yankees. 

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. -- Yogi Berra

                         

December 13th, 2012 at 4:43 AM | That's revolting. (Score:1)
BlueDragon
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It makes me feel almost unclean to think of Rupert Murdoch bundling BTN with the evil empire.

Abort, Retry, Fail?

December 12th, 2012 at 5:49 PM | This has to happen for adding Maryland and Rutgers to make sense (Score:2)
Erik_in_Dayton
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Joined: 12/03/2008
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As the article says:

So that means for every 1 million cable subscribers in those markets -- subscribers, not people actually watching the Big Ten Network, just those with cable -- the Big Ten will make an additional $650,000 a month, or $7.8 million a year. 

My understanding/belief is that adding those two schools was mostly about adding cable dollars, which doesn't really require people to watch the BTN...Whether this ploy will work is another story. 

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future. -- Yogi Berra

                         

December 12th, 2012 at 6:14 PM | Interesting Take... (Score:2 Informative)
LSAClassOf2000
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The York Dispatch has an interesting take - (LINK)

It talks about the competition in the New York market a bit. When the YES Network launched, it was two years before Cablevision opted to carry it. Time Warner was stuck in neutral with the MSG network, which carries the Knicks, for a  few months after the season began. 

Something interesting to note here is that while New York has the highest concentration of CFB fans, in surveys they account for only 14% of the population, and the number of people who would list Rutgers as their primary team is about 607,000. 

Indeed, the author here says something that I have thought about and wondered if the BTN would do it, in the end anyway, just to get a foot in the door if the threats weren't working - waive the carriage fee on the first contract and build the viewership to a decent level first, then go back later and discuss prices for continued coverage. 

 

"Funny isn't it, how naughty dentists always make that one fatal mistake."

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December 12th, 2012 at 6:23 PM | Full penetration (Score:3 Normal)
Greg McMurtry
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Uh huh huh huh.

...confidence is the stain they can't wipe off...

December 12th, 2012 at 9:08 PM | I lol'd (Score:2)
FreeTheFabFivePlz
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I wonder when I'll grow up sometimes.

So hot.  Milk was a bad choice.

December 12th, 2012 at 7:27 PM | They'll tell the operators (Score:2)
chisf
Joined: 09/27/2009
MGoPoints: 38

to move BTN to basic, as required in their contracts when a school in that state joins the B10, or they withhold that school's games in those areas or sublicense them out.  

December 12th, 2012 at 10:02 PM | If the whole TV deal with NYC/D.C. doesn't work out... (Score:1)
Rage7
Joined: 05/15/2012
MGoPoints: 172

If the whole TV deal with NYC / D.C. doesn't work out, can we kick Rutgers and Maryland out of the B1G?  Please?

December 13th, 2012 at 9:36 AM | What I'd like to know is: How (Score:1)
Coach Kyle
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What I'd like to know is: How much money is going to the football program? I'm sure money is directly related to how well a football team does. 

http://www.youtube.com/user/CoachKyleMlinek?feature=mhsn

December 13th, 2012 at 10:53 AM | If I wasn't a Michigan fan, (Score:3 Normal)
Anonymosity
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MGoPoints: 2057

If I wasn't a Michigan fan, I'd be willing to pay extra to my provider to NOT carry BTN and keep this conference's garbage football off my television.

Ann Arbor: now the permanent home of the Little Brown Jug

67-22-3 all-time

December 13th, 2012 at 1:29 PM | it doesnt matter if rutgers is any good (Score:1)
canzior
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Joined: 05/28/2010
MGoPoints: 128

they could still try to get on in any markett they want, but the BTN makes more money if there is a school in the footprint.  There might be enough demand now in the NY area, but with a school in the footprint, the cost per subscriber goes up a dollar

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