Big Ten TV

I also missed the boat on this, but the Big Ten inked a big TV deal recently.

According to the Press Release, "The conference has signed a new 10-year national rights contract with ABC/ESPN and has reached a landmark deal with Fox Cable Networks to create the Big Ten Channel, a national network devoted to Big Ten athletic and academic programs. The ABC/ESPN contract takes effect, and the Big Ten Channel is expected to launch, in August 2007."

The details of the ABC/ESPN contract include:
*Up to 41 Big Ten football games will be televised – up to 17 on ABC and up to 25 on ESPN or ESPN2;

*All regional afternoon football games aired on ABC will be aired by ESPN/ESPN2 in outer-markets, making these games nationally available;

*Approximately 60 men’s basketball games will air on an ESPN network (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN360), including games on each Tuesday and Thursday of the nine-week conference season, plus up to eight Saturday games during conference play;

*A total of 100 women’s basketball and volleyball events on an ESPN network, including the championship games of the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament, over the course of the agreement;

The Big Ten channel will include:
*35-plus football games, with each school having at least two games aired (at least one of which will be a conference game);

*At least 105 regular-season men’s basketball games;

*At least 55 regular-season women’s basketball games;

*Big Ten championships and tournaments;

*170 Olympic sporting events; and,

*Coverage from the conference’s vast library of historic sporting events, including bowl games.

In addition, each school will have the right to provide 60 hours of its own content annually


The full press release is here.