Comcast-Big Ten Network impasse with West Coast schools part of realignment headaches

Fans of Washington, Oregon, Southern California and UCLA thought their viewing headaches would end with the move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten.

Not so fast.

Huskies and Ducks fans who subscribe to Comcast might not be able to see their team’s openers on Saturday due to a carriage dispute with the Big Ten Network.

Comcast is blacking out live events involving the four new Big Ten schools in their home markets. The root of the problem is that Comcast wants to keep BTN on an expanded tier instead of basic while also not agreeing to pay the in-market rates with the four West Coast schools moving to the conference.

Oregon’s opener against Idaho is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT with Washington-Weber State kicking off at 11 p.m. EDT. USC and UCLA’s games will be nationally televised and not affected this weekend.

Comcast owns NBC, which has the conference’s Saturday Night package. However, Fox owns the majority of BTN.

The Big Ten said in a statement: “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.”

Comcast said in a statement that, “We’re sensitive to the impact these costs have on our customers and have been in discussions with Fox and the Big Ten Network to find a solution to make certain former Pac-12 games available to the people who want them while not forcing others to pay for content they don’t want to watch. We hope to be able to reach a fair agreement with Fox and the Big Ten Network to be able to offer these games to our customers.”

Among other things of note going into the season:

The Saban Factor

Nick Saban’s decision to join ESPN’s “College GameDay” is a natural transition. While coaching Alabama, Saban made frequent appearances on the show and also served as a guest analyst during the College Football Playoff championship games when the Crimson Tide was not involved.

GameDay host Rece Davis thinks Saban’s familiarity already working with the crew was a big factor in Saban deciding to join the show.

“I think it helped a lot. I really do because here’s a trust factor that goes with being on television with someone on shows like this, and some of that was already established,” Davis said.

Davis also lauded Saban’s preparation for the upcoming season, almost to the level he is still coaching.

“He’s going to bring something to the show from a recent coaching actual standpoint that the show hasn’t had in quite some time,” Davis said. “We’re going to put our spin on with his segment of the (Alabama) coaches show, where we take one play and show you what happened. We’ll do it more in a forward looking way, but we’re going to take his ability to explain football at a high level in a highly understandable level.”

Realignment Fever

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt thinks the buzz from conference realignment won’t be confined to only this season.

“I do think that the novelty excitement of these new matchups has some staying power,” he said. “It will take a while for all those fan bases to either travel west or host one of these teams in their stadium, which I think provides a bit of runway for that novelty.”

NBC analyst Todd Blackledge has called games in all of the Big Ten stadiums, but also noted that fans from the established Big Ten teams going to Washington’s Husky Stadium or Oregon’s Autzen Stadium for the first time will be in for a unique experience.

“I think fans are in for a treat. And even the teams coming the other way (from West to East), it’s going to be an incredible experience for the fan bases, not just the coaches and players,” he said.

When it comes to the new-look conferences, Klatt considers the Big 12 to be the deepest.

“I think that there are seven teams that could probably win that conference,” he said. “I picked Utah. I think that’s a good pick with their track record over the last couple of years, in particular, when you look at the years in which they’ve had a healthy Cam Rising at quarterback all year. I think Oklahoma State, Kansas State could also win all the down to Colorado, who I think has a darkhorse chance.”

SEC’s Game of the Week?

The 3:30 p.m. SEC game has long been considered the conference’s premier matchup. But with ABC taking over the spot from CBS, there are some weeks when that might not be the case.

With ABC and ESPN having the entire SEC package, there are some weeks when the top matchup in primetime will make more sense.

The 3:30 p.m. game on ABC will have an enhanced graphics package and be called by one of ABC/ESPN’s top three crews.

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