Get excited, because what was used to be free is now free again. Maybe. Well, probably not even maybe, but hey, it's a start. According to this and this, it looks like the Big Ten Network will be on Comcast Digital basic in time for football season, but only in the Big Ten footprint. This seems to me to be screwy because...well...the B10 footprint was (before the BTN) already getting their local games.
However, congratulations are in order for Comcast and the BTN for successfully reinventing the wheel. Big Ten footprint dwellers - you can now watch your local teams with the added benefit of terrible camera angles, worse announcing, and the probability that a commercial will cut into the first play upon returning from a time out.
This is a good sign for Comcast users, but it's not exactly a reassuring sign for those who like to practice common sense. The BTN is just offering (only to those living in the footprint) a service that was once offered for free - namely being able to watch your local B10 team in your living room. If the BTN truly wanted to be innovative and new, why don't they branch out and say...offer the network to people who never got the local coverage? Wouldn't that make more sense? I live in Boston, and I never got local coverage of Big Ten football. Why not go out to markets that hold a big contingent of B10 grads and fans, but don't have any local coverage?
It doesn't make sense to me, but the whole network is generally baffling, so I guess it's par for the course. I will (not living in the footprint) continue to go to sports bars to watch BTN games, because the BTN seems convinced that reinventing the wheel and offering the same service for local teams + headache is the way to go. If you're living in the footprint, you can now enjoy the shoddy broadcasting from your couch. If you live outside the footprint, and never got the local coverage to begin with...well...umm...you're still screwed.
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