Aug. 16, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; August 16, 2007 -- A crowd of Penn State alumni and fans approaching 240 attended a dinner in State College tonight to hear more about the Big Ten Network. The new national network will launch on August 30.
The crowd filled the Ramada Inn Conference Center ballroom and two lucky fans won a pair of tickets to the Nittany Lions' football games with Florida International and Buffalo, both of which will be televised by the Big Ten Network. Twenty more fans won Big Ten Network shirts.
Kevin Weiberg, network Vice President of University Planning and Development, spoke and answered questions from the crowd. Also addressing the Nittany Lion fans were Tim Curley, Director of Athletics; Susan Delaney-Scheetz, Senior Woman Administrator; Nittany Lion Basketball Coach Ed DeChellis and Lady Lion Basketball Coach Coquese Washington.
Weiberg, who joined the Network last month after serving as Commissioner of the Big 12 Conference for nine years, told the audience that 70-75 Penn State events will air live on the Network during its inaugural year. At least three football games, approximately 20 men's basketball games, several women's basketball games and numerous Olympic sport events will air on the national network. Fifteen Nittany Lion Basketball conference games are set to air on the Big Ten Network, in addition to two appearances on ESPN networks.
"There has been tremendous growth in college sports and opportunities for more exposure," Weiberg said. "We have an opportunity to provide meaningful programming to Big Ten fans across the nation. You will still be able to watch Big Ten programming as you have in the past, but what is changing is that we are building a new network.
"We are taking inventory that was not being exposed and putting it on the network," he added, "as well as inventory, like football and basketball, that was on other networks and putting it on the Big Ten Network."
The Big Ten Network will televise 350-400 events during its inaugural year, including at least 35 football games, more than 100 men's basketball games, including 64 of the 99 intra-conference games, women's basketball and more than 170 Olympic sport events.
The Big Ten Network is a national television network, available to all cable and satellite providers nationwide, that will allow fans to see their home teams regardless of where they live. The network currently has national agreements in place with DirecTV and AT&T and also a local agreement with Buckeye CableSystem in Toledo, Ohio, for more than 150,000 subscribers in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan. Additionally, the network has agreements with more than 90 other cable operators within the eight states of the Big Ten. In total, the network currently is available to viewers in more than 16 million homes. The Big Ten Network is a joint venture between subsidiaries of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks.
The network is dedicated to covering the Big Ten Conference and its 11 member institutions. The Big Ten Network will provide unprecedented access to an extensive schedule of conference sports events and shows; original programs in academics, the arts and sciences; campus activities; and associated personalities. Sports programming will include live coverage of more major men's and women's events than ever before, along with news, highlights and analysis, all complemented by hours of university-produced campus programming.
"We think the network should be carried broadly; on expanded basic cable in the eight Big Ten states," Weiberg said. "We feel there is more compelling programming on the network than can found on some other networks that are on expanded basic."
The official launch of the Big Ten Network comes at 8:00 p.m. ET on Aug. 30, two days before the kick-off of the 2007 Big Ten college football season. Big Ten Tonight, a nightly studio show, will preview the upcoming season and closely examine all of the weekend's conference teams in action.
The Big Ten Network will air more than 600 hours of Penn State programming during its inaugural year. The vast majority of Penn State's 29 varsity sports, if not all, will be featured on the Big Ten Network in 2007-08, in addition to at least 60 hours of institutional, non-athletic programming.
To get the Big Ten Network, fans should call 1-866-WANT-B10 and record a message or be patched through to their cable operator. Fans who want to receive the Big Ten Network also can visit www.BigTenNetwork.com and enter their zip code, which will then provide a link to the cable or satellite providers in their areas so that they can request the Big Ten Network directly.
For more information regarding the Big Ten Network, visit www.BigTenNetwork.com.