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Does the DC and New York market really give you more exposure

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it would be if it was remotely true, the extra cost of the BTN would be minimal in some sports package and there will be an SECN soon as well.

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those are professional towns that swallow up any real college broadcasts

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The Big 14 (and counting) Ever play "Risk?" It's a board game (remember those?) where the object is to conquer the world. It's a lesson in strategy, geography and choosing your battles. The Big Ten looked at the college football (and basketball) map and realized it was in danger of being outflanked. So it rolled the bones and added Maryland on Monday and Rutgers on Tuesday. The Terrapins and Scarlet Knights aren't sexy choices, but they're effective ones. True, there is nothing Midwestern about the two newest members of the Big Ten. They're the plaid shirt to the Big Ten's striped pants. But this wasn't about finding the perfect eHarmony date. It was about finding the perfect safe harbor. Rutgers and Maryland give the Big Ten geographical protection. They give the conference entry into the New York and mid-Atlantic cable markets.

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The Big 14 (and counting), Part II Think of the Big Ten as Five Guys. It just opened a franchise directly across the street from McDonald's (the ACC) and Burger King (the Big East). In essence, the Big Ten just told the ACC, "You want to brawl, we'll brawl." It told the Big East, "We didn't start this, but we'll finish it if we have to." The expansion and realignment arms race has begun again. The Big Ten had watched the ACC use the Big East as its own personal chop shop and decided it had to act. It couldn't allow Penn State to be isolated by ACC members Boston College, Pittsburgh and Syracuse (and maybe UConn soon enough). The ACC's alliance with Notre Dame certainly had an effect on the Big Ten's strategy, as did the collapse of the Big Ten/Pac-12 collaboration. There's a turf war going on in college sports. It is survival of the fittest and right now, the Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Pac-12 and, OK, the Big 12 look pretty healthy. The Big East? On its last legs.

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inside much (or all?) of the current Big 10 footprint, the BTN has managed to get on basic cable. Thus, everybody with basic cable is paying for it.

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That's not the same as it being "in some sports pacakage" (which is where the BTN is currently in my viewing area

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And by the way, an SECN will not end up on basic cable in Maryland. Not a good comparison.

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inside much (or all?) of the current Big 10 footprint, the BTN has managed to get on basic cable. Thus, everybody with basic cable is paying for it.

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how much? a few cents at most probably.

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Who cares? The BTN won't end up on basic cable in Louisiana or Alabama or Florida.

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I don't remember the exact rates, but it's something like $0.03 per subscriber for a state without a Big Ten team and significantly more, like $0.20 per subscriber, for a state like Ohio or Michigan with a Big Ten team.

$0.20 per subscriber adds up quickly when you're talking about large cable systems in New Jersey and Maryland.

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Whether anyone watches is irrelevant. Conferences used to chase eyeballs. They still do only now it doesn't matter if the eyeballs are even open. The genius of the Big Ten Network (or any cable channel like it) is it is essentially a Big Ten tax.

The passion of the Superfan, who actually may watch, forces providers to make every cable home in a state dole out maybe 50 or 75 cents a month to the conference, whether or not they know a football is inflated or stuffed.

Nearly every citizen is essentially taxed for living in a state with a Big Ten athletic department. Big programs like to boast they're self-sufficient and don't use public money that goes to the general university, but this is an end-around that accomplishes the same thing.

You don't pay on April 15 via the state. You pay every month via Comcast.

It's genius. It's absolutely fabulously genius. So genius the Pac 12 is now trying it, the SEC is going to try it and the University of Texas is trying it all by itself (with few buyers thus far, though).

It's genius unless home entertainment goes a la carte one day, but you won't see that concept in the revenue projections.

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The genius of the Big Ten Network (or any cable channel like it) is it is essentially a Big Ten tax.

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Adding: Va Tech and North Carolina

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I didn't realize until yesterday the impact on cable subscribers of having a B1G team in their market vs not having a team in the market. It's about 8X the money in the pockets of BTN.

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