Michigan 2010 TV Schedule

Submitted by Zone Left on

There have already been a few questions about this today, so to try and alleviate confusion about the TV situation early, I thought I'd throw the TV schedule as listed on mgoblue.com and talk a little about the ABC/ESPN contract.

Game                 Network

UCONN             ABC/ESPN2

ND                      NBC

UMass               BTN

Bowling Green TBD

Indiana              TBD

MSU                   TBD

Iowa                   ABC/ESPN

Penn State       ABC/ESPN

Illinois               TBD

Purdue             TBD

Wisconsin       TBD

OSU                  TBD

The number of to be determined isn't odd.  Every game without a network also doesn't have a kickoff time yet, and the networks will work with the Big 10 to maximize exposure for the good games.  All the Michigan games in recent memory have been on TV, it's just a matter of whether or not you get the right channels.

The Big 10 and Disney have an awesome deal, which basically guarantees that any Big 10 game shown on one channel (ie ABC) will be broadcast nationally on some ESPN channel.  UMass, the game least likely to be on TV, is already on BTN, and there will be at least one conference game on the network as well.  Expect 2-3 BTN games and 9-10 ABC/ESPN games.

What this means for UConn is that anyone with ABC/ESPN2 is going to get the Michigan game on one of them.

Edit: I must have written 2011 instead of 2010 in the thread title.  Mea culpa and thanks to the mods for editing the title.

Sean@MATW

August 30th, 2010 at 7:47 PM ^

(Sorry to nitpick, but the title confused me since I thought you had a TV schedule from the super-far future)

 

EDIT: Title has since been corrected, good stuff.

bklein09

August 30th, 2010 at 7:55 PM ^

This is good to hear for someone like me who is going to be living in Pac-12 country for the forseeable future. 

$6/month for the BTN is well worth those 2-3 football games per season, add in all the basketball and some hockey and its a steal! 

Mitch Cumstein

August 30th, 2010 at 8:34 PM ^

Has anyone seen a coverage map for this weekend?  I'm in the mid-atlantic area and I'm curious if I get the game on ABC (I don't have cable).  The only other game I could see getting the spotlight is UK-Louisville, but I still don't think that will.

Gordon

August 30th, 2010 at 8:53 PM ^

According to The506.com's forums, here's a letter from ABC's affliate in Tampa:

"WFTS will air the Connecticut vs. Michigan game on Saturday, 09/04 at 3:30 p.m.  The Kentucky-Louisville game should be available on ESPN or with the ESPN Game Plan Package; check with your local cable or satellite provider for more details. 



Zannie Mount 

WFTS-TV "

If the Tampa market, a relatively neutral one in this case, is showing Michigan/UConn, it's safe to assume that most other neutral markets will also show Michigan, and that our game is the primary game for the whole country.

willywill9

August 30th, 2010 at 9:45 PM ^

I just found out today that my dad got us tickets to go.  He's a proud ND alumnus, so I'll have to behave myself.  I may have mentioned this before, but I have two baby siblings (one is 2 years old, one is 2 months old.)  The older one was baptized at ND ('08 game... horrible.)  The newer one is going to be baptized this year at ND.  I'm hoping this new one changes our luck!

FGB

August 30th, 2010 at 8:36 PM ^

I have Directv which gets alternate ESPN2 feeds, so I was ok, BUT I live in Pac-10 country and there was an instance either last year or the year before where the ABC game was a Pac-10 game and the ESPN2 main feed was a non-Michigan B10 game.

I'm not trying to scare anyone, but when you're in a galaxy far, far away from Ann Arbor, just double check. Although I would think ESPNU will start to get a few more games now that that's in HD, which could alleviate some of the logjam.

Shelton

August 30th, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^

The abc/espn reverse mirror does not apply to night games. It's possible that people outside the Midwest would need to find a bar or have gameplan for the psu game (unless their contract has changed; msu-cal from 2008 was almost not shown in Chicago).

Gordon

August 30th, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^

What weeks does the Big Ten Network get the second choice of games?  From what I remember about the TV contracts:

- ABC always gets the first pick of Big Ten games.

- BTN, ESPN, and ESPN2 rotate among who gets the second/third/plus choices.

- Any remaining games go to BTN.

- (Not entirely sure on this, but...) Games are usually picked a couple weeks in advance, a couple weeks at a time.

Anyone know what weeks give which networks preferential treatment?

SFBlue

August 30th, 2010 at 8:50 PM ^

This schedule suggests that MSU-WMU will be on ESPN2, while Michigan will be on ABC.  Although if you link to the actual schedules, the ESPN2 slot is blank for the time being.

MichiganBlue91

August 30th, 2010 at 8:57 PM ^

I live in Northwest Indiana, about 20 minutes from Chicago, and in year's past I have had DirecTV with ESPN, Big 10 Network, etc. and I have had no problem getting any of the games. I now have Comcast this year, and while I still get all the sports channels that I did in the past, I haven't noticed any alternate channels for the BTN like I have with DirecTV. So. my question is, if anyone knows, will I get all the Michigan games televised in my area this season?

WolverineHistorian

August 30th, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^

Those guys really are terrible. 

Every commentator NBC has had for ND has been a joke.  I actually think Chris Collinsworth in the early 90's was worse than the guys they have now.  They spend more timing kissing Irish ass than actually doing the play by play. 

Who could forget Collinsworth doing our game in South Bend in 1994.  With 40 seconds left, ND takes a 24-23 lead with a Ron Powlus TD strike.  "Move over Joe Montana, move over Rick Mirer, there's a new sheriff in town, glory, glory, glory, ND is king, yadda, yadda, yadda."

Todd Collins leads us down the field, Remy Hamilton kicks the game winner with 7 seconds left.  Final: Michigan-26 ND-24. 

Now it's, "Let me stand up and applaud both these teams."  A 3 hour ND lovefest and we never got any credit until the game was won.  Funny and annoying at the same time.

Zone Left

August 31st, 2010 at 12:12 AM ^

I don't mind homerism, but I do mind professional announcers knowing nothing at all about the opposing team.

Tom Hammond, "Wow, this Jake Long kid sure is playing well.  I think he's poised for a breakout (midway through Senior year game)."

Or something like it...

Clarence Beeks

August 30th, 2010 at 9:46 PM ^

Does anyone know if DIRECTV will be continuing the God awful practice of showing the mirror game on ESPN2 (i.e. the out of market game not on ABC) not in HD?  I have no idea why they've done this, but it's one of the most ridiculous practices in all of sports broadcasting.

Dallas Wolverine

August 30th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^

I live just outside Dallas and every game was televised last year and the year before! I have ATT as my server, and I hate it but I keep it for that very same reason (BTN) My wife gets pissed everytime the bill comes and I don't care its MICHIGAN!

bigmc6000

August 30th, 2010 at 10:39 PM ^

Nebraska fans are going to LOVE being part of the Big 10 - I just looked up their TV schedule because I've got a Nebraska-fan friend and 2 of the first three weeks are PPV with a suggested retail price of $39.95 - WTF?!?!?!  Needless to say, as always, it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine :)  Go BLUE!!!! :)

NinjaDMM

August 31st, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^

I lived in Tyler, Texas last year and got every game on TV. A few Texas games were on PPV and Michigan games were national. Now I'm out in Las Vegas for this football season, so if I somehow can't get a game at my house, I always have the sportsbooks, plus a few Michigan Bars.

jmblue

August 31st, 2010 at 12:41 AM ^

I just realized that we play at ND on Sept. 11.  I remember we also did a few years ago.  A simple moment of silence wasn't enough.  They had to give us a lengthy pregame ceremony to tell us how ND is America's team, blah blah blah.  And of course it was all part of the NBC broadcast.