 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United States Canada Puerto Rico Caribbean Spain |
| Headquarters | Chicago,Illinois |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) Downconverted toletterboxed480i forSDTV feed |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Sports Media Group (Fox Corporation) (61%)[1] Big Ten Conference (39%)[2] |
| Sister channels | Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 2 Fox Soccer Plus Fox Deportes |
| History | |
| Launched | August 30, 2007 (2007-08-30) |
| Links | |
| Website | btn |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Fox Sports app(requireslogin from eligible pay television provider to access content) | Watch live |
| B1G+(requires separate paid-subscription to access content) | Watch live |
| Fox One | fox
|
| Service(s) | DirecTV Stream,FuboTV,Hulu + Live TV,Sling TV,YouTube TV |
Big Ten Network (BTN) is an Americansports network based inChicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage ofcollegiate sports sanctioned by theBig Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs, and other content focusing on the conference's member schools. It is a joint venture betweenFox Sports and the Big Ten, withFox Corporation as 61% stakeholder and operating partner, and the Big Ten Conference owning a 39% stake. It is headquartered in the formerMontgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House building at 600 WestChicago Avenue in Chicago.[3]
Big Ten Network is carried by most major television providers and as of 2022, had an estimated 50 million U.S. subscribers.[4] By June 2023, this number has dropped to 48.7 million households.[5]
Big Ten Network was the second U.S. sports network to be devoted to a single college sports conference, having been preceded by theMountainWest Sports Network one year prior to its launch. BTN was later followed by rival cable channels by thePac-12,SEC andACC with a similar array of programming.
The network's foundation traces back to 2004, following negotiations between the Big Ten andESPN on an extension of the conference's broadcast contract with the network. With three years remaining in the existing deal, the conference sought a significant increase in rights fees. ESPN, however, balked, causing Big Ten commissionerJim Delany to begin exploring the creation of his own network.[6]
The launch of the Big Ten Network was announced on June 21, 2006, as a 20-year joint project between the Big Ten Conference andFox Entertainment Group.[7] At launch, the conference owned 51% of the network, while Fox owned a minority interest and handled its operations. The network was positioned to be the first ever cable channel dedicated to a single collegiate conference.[8] The network also has a commitment to "event equality", stating it would produce and distribute an equal number of men's and women's events across all platforms, within three years of its launch.[9] The deal was meant to replace the Big Ten's television contract with ESPN'sESPN Plus regional television package. ESPN Plus games were typically only seen on onebroadcasttelevision station in a team's local market (for example, theIllinois Fighting Illini aired its games onChampaign,IllinoisCBS affiliateWCIA (channel 3)).
Big Ten Network was launched at 8:00 p.m.Eastern Time on August 30, 2007, withBig Ten Tonight as its inaugural program. The network aired its first live telecasts two days later on September 1, which included afootball game betweenAppalachian State andMichigan – the game gained national attention for its upset victory; being the first win by aDivision I FCS team over a rankedDivision I FBS team since Division I was split into two subdivisions by theNCAA in 1978.[10][11] On September 2, the network aired its first women's sports event (asoccer match betweenSyracuse University andMichigan State) and its first men's non-revenue sports event (a soccer match betweenUCLA atIndiana).
The new network suffered from limited carriage on its launch, as it was only carried by two major television providers. By the following year, the network had reached its goal to attain carriage on the "extended basic" tiers of cable providers in all Big Ten markets.[12] While no specifics were revealed, Fox increased its stake in the Big Ten Network to 51% in June 2010, acquiring majority control, using a provision in its contract with the conference.[13] To coincide with the 2011 college football season, the network unveiled a new logo that made "BTN" the primary name of the channel, and introduced a newTV Everywhere service known as "BTN2Go," which offers live streaming of BTN telecasts and other programming through a web browser ormobile app. The service was initially available to subscribers of Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, DirecTV and Dish Network.[14]
BTN and Dish Network were involved in a dispute leading up to the expiration of the satellite provider's contract with the network in August 2012, a day before that year's college football season began.[15] The network was temporary blacked out for eight days beginning on September 14,[16] giving way to a new agreement that restored BTN on Dish Network on September 22.[17]
In July 2017, as part of a new six-year agreement that made Fox the primarytelevision rightsholder of regular season Big Ten football games, Fox's contract to run BTN was extended through 2032.[18] Concurrent with these agreements, BTN became thede jure owner of the Big Ten's media rights, with all future media rights deals officially being sublicenses of these rights to other broadcasters. This aspect of the agreement became relevant upon the conference's next round of media rights in 2023, when it was discovered that the conference could not sublicense the Big Ten football championship without paying compensation to Fox.[19][20]
On December 14, 2017, 21st Century Fox announced it would sell a majority of its assets toThe Walt Disney Company, owners of ESPN,SEC Network and the then-upcomingACC Network, in a transaction valued at over $52 billion. 21st Century Fox's stake in the Big Ten Network was not included in the deal and was spun off to the significantly downsizedFox Corporation, along with theFox network,Fox News,Fox Business,FS1, andFS2.[21] The deal was approved by Disney and Fox shareholders on July 27, 2018, and was completed on March 20, 2019.[22][23]
The network introduced a new logo on October 23, 2020, coinciding with the start of the delayed2020 football season. The new logo returns to using "Big Ten Network" as the primary name of the channel, and incorporates the conference's "B1G" wordmark.[24] In 2021, the Big Ten sold part of its stake to Fox. As a result of the sale, the Big Ten's ownership stake decreased to 39% while Fox's increased to 61%.[25]
Big Ten Network holds national broadcast rights to all of the conference's home football games and televises approximately 35-40 football games each season. Each team is guaranteed to appear a minimum of two times annually on the network, one of which must be a conference game.
The network holds national television rights to all men's basketball conference home games; all non-conference and exhibition games are either televised or streamed on bigtennetwork.com. Each of the conference's men's basketball teams appear on the network approximately 10-20 times a season; it carries approximately 60–65 in-conference match-ups, as well as selecttournament contests.
Big Ten Network also televises approximately 50-60 regular season women's basketball games annually, along with approximately nine Big Ten Basketball Tournament games. Each Big Ten team appears on the network approximately 8 to 10 times during the season. The network streams dozens of games live on its website, giving Big Ten women's basketball the most exposure of any conference in the country. The network maintains a set on-site during the Big Ten men's andwomen's basketball tournaments inIndianapolis,Indiana with anchors providing coverage and analysis of each day's game action during the event.
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Big Ten Network televises approximately 25 of the conference'sbaseball games each spring, with each team making approximately 5 to 8 appearances annually. In 2009, the network televised the entirety of theBig Ten baseball tournament.
In the 2013–14 season, Big Ten Network expanded its coverage ofcollege ice hockey due to the Big Ten Conference beginning to officially sponsor the sport, broadcasting 27 games as well as theBig Ten tournament, and adding associated studio programs.[27] The Big Ten Network televises more than 170 NCAA-sponsoredOlympic events in both men's and women's sports such as hockey, soccer, volleyball, track and field, swimming and diving.
In April 2016, it was announced that BTN andRiot Games would organize a collegiateLeague of Legends event, theBTN Invitational, between teams representing Michigan State and Ohio State. The event was held atPAX East inBoston, alongside the semi-finals and finals of Riot's own college championship. Michael Sherman, head of Riot's collegiate competitions, stated that "there was actually a student group at Penn State that was looking to run a Big Ten tournament, and the Big Ten Network got word of it and through that we actually connected to each other and saw that we had a lot of interest in sort of building an event together."[28]
In January 2017, BTN and Riot announced that it would hold a season of conference competition between teams representing 12 Big Ten schools, culminating with a championship whose winner would receive an invite to Riot's college championship. The competition was primarily streamed online, but later rounds were televised on BTN.[29] In January 2018, Riot and BTN announced an extension of the partnership through 2019, complete with scholarship funds for teams ($35,000/team yearly) and the addition of Penn State and Nebraska, bringing all full conference members to the partnership.[30]ESL became a partner with BTN's competition for 2019.[31]
The Big Ten Network televises 21 Big Ten Championships and Tournaments, including baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women'scross country,field hockey, men's and women'sgolf, men's and women'sgymnastics,rowing, men's and women's soccer, men's and women'sswimming anddiving, men's and women'stennis, men's and women's indoor and outdoortrack and field, andwrestling.[32]
In February 2017, theNCAA announced that Big Ten Network had acquired rights to theWomen's Frozen Four—the NCAA national championship of Women's ice hockey, beginning in 2017 under a four-year deal. BTN broadcast the finals in 2017, and began airing the semi-finals beginning 2018.[33] ESPN (who televises all other NCAA national championships outside of men's basketball) took over the rights in 2021.[34]
Big Ten Network launched in bothstandard definition and a720phigh definition simulcast. All of its original programs and studio shows are broadcast in HD, as well as nearly all of its sports telecasts and some of its university-produced coaches and campus shows. The channel has produced all of its football games in HD since 2009.[36]
In September 2017, BTN revealed plans to televise selected games from the2018 Big Ten men's basketball tournament in4K.[37] Every tournament from then on has included 4K coverage.
BTN2Go was Big Ten Network'sTV Everywhere service, which offers online streaming of BTN programming to subscribers on qualifying television providers.[14] Beginning in the 2017–18 season, BTN2Go content became available within Fox Sports' main TV Everywhere appFox Sports Go.[38][39]
In July 2019, due to the Fox Sports Go platform being divested with theFox Sports Networks as part of theacquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, BTN content moved from Fox Sports Go to the mainFox Sports website and apps.[40][41] The BTN2Go app was replaced byBig Ten Plus (B1G+), a subscription over-the-top streaming service for non-televised Big Ten events, in August 2019.[42]
In September 2025, Big Ten Network became part of Fox Corporation's new subscription over-the-top serviceFox One; Big Ten Plus is also available via the platform as an add-on.[43][44]
On many Saturdays during the football season, the Big Ten Network produces multiple games that air at the same time. The network designates one game as its national game, which is shown on the main channel on satellite providers. The remaining games air on the main channel in the local markets and on the extra overflow channels in the remaining markets. Most cable systems inside the Big Ten's eight states offer these Big Ten Network overflow or "out-of-market" feeds to provide additional football games. All of the additional overflow feeds for the network's various football telecasts are available nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network; and regionally on AT&T U-verse, many Comcast systems, and several other cable providers. Some providers only carry the overflow feeds in standard definition, and providers outside of the U.S. provide them in out-of-market subscription packages. Since 2019, all Big Ten Network football games are also available via the Fox Sports app, regardless of geography and wireline restrictions.
Carriage negotiations with several major cable providers were stalled for several months due to their interest in placing the channel on a sports tier, with the providers only wanting to charge customers who wanted to subscribe to it; Big Ten Network, however, wanted providers to carry it on their extended basic tiers so that subscribers would not have to pay an extra fee to receive the network. Comcast, the largest cable provider in the U.S., reached a deal to carry the network on June 19, 2008,[45] and began adding the channel to its systems on August 15, 2008; other major providers in states with universities in the Big Ten Conference (including Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable) would soon follow suit. Additionally, the Big Ten Network is an associate member of the Caribbean Cable Cooperative.[46]
DirecTV and AT&T U-verse were the only major television providers to carry the channel at launch;[47] however, 250 smaller cable systems (including those that are members of the National Cable Television Cooperative) also carried BTN at launch.Dish Network added the channel one week later in early September 2007.[48]
During the late summer and early fall of 2008, several larger cable companies within states where a Big Ten university was located reached agreements to carry Big Ten Network, expanding its carriage to every major cable provider in those areas. On August 23, 2008,Mediacom (which services most ofIowa, includingIowa City, where Big Ten member, theUniversity of Iowa, is located) was reported byCedar Rapids newspaperThe Gazette to have reached an agreement in principle to carry the network according to sources close to negotiations; the deal was announced on August 28.[49][50]
On August 25,Time Warner Cable and the Big Ten Network announced in a joint statement that the two parties had reached a carriage deal. Time Warner Cable carries the channel on its expanded basic service in the eight states where Big Ten universities are located.[51][52] These deals were later followed by carriage agreements withCharter Communications on August 26[53] andCox Communications on August 28.[54] Also on August 26, 2008,The Indianapolis Star reported thatBright House Networks was "very close to a deal" to carry the channel.[55] On September 30,Broadstripe added the channel to its systems in Michigan.[56]
On June 23, 2009,Cablevision added the channel in standard and high definition to itsOptimum systems.[57] The following month on August 25, the network reached a carriage agreement withAtlantic Broadband, which added the network's standard and high definition feed on September 1, 2009, to its systems in central and northern Pennsylvania.[58] On December 28, 2009,Charter Communications reached an agreement to provide the network to its systems inSt. Louis and SouthernIllinois on the provider's expanded basic-digital tier.[59]
On July 24, 2017, the Big Ten Network announced they would be available on Hulu Live TV andYouTube TV.[60]
On April 11, 2018, Comcast'sXfinity dropped Big Ten Network in a number of "out-of-market" states that fall outside of the conference's direct geographical footprint, with other selected markets dropping the network on May 10, 2018. This notably included the 23,000 Comcast customers in New York,[61] despite the recent addition ofRutgers University in New Jersey having been used to market the conference and BTN in neighboringNew York City.[62][63] On August 24, 2018, Comcast reached an agreement to renew its carriage of BTN, and stated that the channel would be reinstated on its sports and entertainment tier outside of the Big Ten's footprint.[64]
In August 2024, issues between BTN and Comcast would emerge again with the Big Ten's expansion to the west coast. With California, Oregon, and Washington now part of the conference's in-market footprint, Fox sought higher carriage fees and basic tier carriage for the channel. However, Comcast wished to continue offering the channel on its "More Sports and Entertainment" tier.[65][66][67] As a result, BTN began toblack out event telecasts involving theOregon Ducks,UCLA Bruins,USC Trojans, andWashington Huskies for Xfinity subscribers in the regions.[65] The blackout ended on October 10, 2024, when Fox reached an agreement for in-market carriage of BTN on Comcast's basic tier in western markets.[68]
In September 2008, theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved a request byShaw Communications to allow carriage of BTN inCanada on its specialty television services. WhileCTVglobemedia filed a concern that it would create undue competition (which is prohibited between foreign and domestic services) with its mainstream sports channelTSN, the CRTC determined that Big Ten Network'sspecific scope in coverage did not create undue competition with domestic mainstream sports services such as TSN.[69] The network became available to Shaw Cable customers on December 3, 2008. The channel became available onRogers Cable systems inOntario andNew Brunswick on October 22, 2009.[70]
As of 2020 the channel is carried byCogeco,Eastlink,Rogers Cable,Shaw Cable,Shaw Direct andVMedia.
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