Big Ten Cuts Fox TV Deal

by Andrew Marchand, NY Post

The Big Ten is the latest sports entity to jump into the television sports business as an owner.

On June 21, the conference announced that it will team with Fox Cable Networks to launch a network devoted entirely to Big Ten Sports. The deal is for 20 years, and the network is set to debut in August of 2007.

The Big Ten also had agreed on a 10-year deal with ABC/ESPN for its networks to continue broadcasting Big Ten basketball and football games.

While the biggest Big Ten football and basketball games will still appear on ABC/ESPN and CBS (for college basketball until 2010), the new network will have a schedule of basketball and football games plus a lot of the less-televised sports.