Four days from the start of a new era, fans of the new Big Ten schools are facing an old problem.
Ladies and gentlemen, may we present the Great West Coast Carriage Dispute of 2024.
As of Tuesday morning, Big Ten Network broadcasts of events involving USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington were not available on Comcast systems in the local markets.
If the impasse isn’t resolved by Saturday, the Oregon and Washington football games won’t be available on Comcast systems up and down the West Coast.
A spokesperson for the Big Ten Network issued the following statement to the Hotline:
“The Big Ten Network is proud to present an expanded slate of live sporting events featuring the newest members of the B1G conference, however most Comcast subscribers will not see these games.
“As the one distribution partner that declined to expand along with us, Comcast Xfinity viewers in many areas will not have access to live broadcasts of the highly anticipated inaugural B1G season games for Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
“If you are an Xfinity subscriber and cannot find the Ducks, Huskies, Bruins or Trojans on the Big Ten Network in your area, please contact 1-800-Comcast or go to ALLBTNGAMES.com.”
Details are few, but we know this much: Once a school joins the Big Ten, that state becomes part of the Big Ten Network’s core territory, with distributors providing the Big Ten Network on an expanded basic tier.
The West Coast schools entered the conference on Aug. 2. So far, Comcast isn’t playing along.
Subscribers on the West Coast who have paid for the Big Ten Network on a sports tier still have access to events involving the other 14 schools, but UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington events are blacked out.
Washington’s soccer game against Oregon State on Monday night was the first competition impacted, and there are more Olympic sports events scheduled this week that, barring a resolution, will be unavailable on Comcast.
And then there’s Saturday.
Oregon-Idaho is scheduled for the Big Ten Network at 4:30 p.m., followed by Washington-Weber State at 8 p.m. Unless Comcast and the Big Ten Network reach an agreement, those games will be blacked out on all Comcast systems on the West Coast.
(The UCLA-Hawaii and USC-LSU games this weekend are on CBS and ABC, respectively.)
“These things typically get resolved before a major event,” an industry source said. “Or they don’t, and there’s a backlash.”
But there’s good news for Oregon and Washington fans: The Big Ten Network is available on all other major cable and satellite distributors.
Including DirecTV.
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