Big Ten Network Announces Early Schedule

June 19, 2007

IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa is part of the Big Ten Network’s early season schedule in the inaugural season for the network. The Hawkeyes home game against Syracuse at 7 p.m. (CDT) on Sept. 8 will be televised by the BTN. It’s part of a 17-game schedule announced for the first three weeks of league football.

Fans of the Wolverines, Buckeyes, Nittany Lions and Wildcats can tune in to the Big Ten Network on Sept. 1 to see their teams kick off their seasons. The Big Ten Network earlier announced six games that will air in prime time, including season openers for Minnesota and Indiana and home opener for Iowa on Sept. 8th.

“All eyes are on the Big Ten this year, and we are thrilled to air a total of 17 football games during the first three weeks of the season,” said Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman. “We’re also excited to offer more in-depth analysis and complementary programming which fans of these and every other Big Ten university will want to watch. We’ll be getting off to a great start with these games, and we know that fans will want to see them.”

All games produced by the Big Ten Network will be available to cable and satellite operators nationwide as part of their agreements to carry the network. Whenever the Big Ten Network is producing more than one game airing at the same time, the network will split the feeds regionally among cable operators to allow Big Ten fans to watch the game with the most regional interest. In addition, cable and satellite providers that have agreed to carry the network will be offered the chance to carry the additional games via “overflow” channels.

The conference’s remaining home games will be selected as the season progresses. The majority of the games airing on the Big Ten Network will be shown in high definition (HD).

The football games that will air on the Big Ten Network include:

Saturday, September 1
Appalachian State at Michigan, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTYoungstown State at Ohio State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTFlorida International at Penn State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTNortheastern at Northwestern, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTBowling Green at Minnesota, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDTIndiana State at Indiana, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 8
Akron at Ohio State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTNevada at Northwestern, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTBowling Green at Michigan State, Noon EDT/11a.m. CDTMiami (Ohio) at Minnesota, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTEastern Illinois at Purdue, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTWestern Illinois at Illinois, 7 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. CDTSyracuse at Iowa, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT
Saturday, September 15
The Citadel at Wisconsin, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTBuffalo at Penn State, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTAkron at Indiana, Noon EDT/11 a.m. CDTDuke at Northwestern, 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT

The Big Ten Network is a national television network, available to all cable and satellite providers nationwide, that will allow fans to see their home teams regardless of where they live. The network currently has national agreements in place with DirecTV and AT&T and also a local agreement with Buckeye CableSystem in Toledo, Ohio, for more than 150,000 subscribers in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan. Additionally, the network has agreements pending with more than 40 other cable operators within the eight states of the Big Ten. In total, the network currently is available to viewers in 16 million homes. The Big Ten Network announced last month that ESPN veteran Dave Revsine will be its lead studio host. Other programming, including pre-game and post-game shows, will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Click HERE to learn more about the Big Ten Network.