July 27, 2007
Did you know that thirty locally-owned and locally-operated cable television operators in the state of Iowa and the nation’s No. 1 satellite television company – DirecTV – have already agreed to make the Big Ten Network available to Iowans on their basic level of service?
Why? Because they agree that the Big Ten Network will offer Iowans quantity, quality and depth, and that their customers should not have to pay an additional fee above and beyond the cost of their basic cable television service for programming that is of significant interest to the communities they serve.
In Iowa and for Iowans, the Big Ten Network is really “The University of Iowa Network”
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Did you know that thirty locally-owned and locally-operated cable television operators in the state of Iowa and the nation’s No. 1 satellite television company – DirecTV – have already agreed to make the Big Ten Network available to Iowans on their basic level of service?
Why? Because they agree that the Big Ten Network will offer Iowans quantity, quality and depth, and that their customers should not have to pay an additional fee above and beyond the cost of their basic cable television service for programming that is of significant interest to the communities they serve. |
The Big Ten Network’s programming lineup will include 400 total live intercollegiate athletic events, a lineup that will include up to 60 events featuring teams from the University of Iowa including football games (as many as 4*), men’s basketball games (16 to 18), women’s basketball (5 to 6), wrestling meets (3 to 4), volleyball matches (3) and baseball and softball games … University of Iowa coaches shows, highlights shows, “Replays,” “Classics,” nightly news and features … more programming about UI students and student-athletes, UI coaches and professors, UI sports teams and academic units, and all that is unique and remarkable about the University of Iowa than ever before available anywhere at any time.
And, in addition to being available in the Heartland, the “University of Iowa Network” will be available from coast-to-coast for the enjoyment of everyone from the elementary school-aged fan of the Hawkeyes living in West Des Moines to the graduate of the UI who lives in Seattle and wakes up on Saturday morning humming the Iowa Fight Song.
Will they watch it? It’s the Hawkeye State…of course they will!
Will the Big Ten Network offer quality programming of interest to a significant number of Iowans? Yes! Half of the people in central Iowa watching television last November when the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing football were watching the games…60 percent of the people watching television in eastern Iowa last November when the Iowa Hawkeyes were playing football were watching the games. There’s a reason why Iowa is known as the “Hawkeye State” — Iowans love the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes.
24 varsity sports programs and one remarkable university
Does the programming have depth and breadth? Yes. All 24 sports programs at the UI and the coaches and student-athletes who make them go will have a place on the Big Ten Network. The UI will also benefit from 60 hours of programming 100 percent dedicated to everything on the UI campus that is not intercollegiate athletics…everything that makes the UI the leader that it is academically, culturally, and as a source of ground-breaking research.
Financial stability bolsters academic opportunities
The UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics has been charged by the leadership of the UI to be 100 percent self-sustaining – To generate every dollar it needs to successfully operate its 24 varsity sports programs. Annual revenue attributable to the Big Ten Network will allow the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics to meet this obligation to the UI, its faculty, its staff, its students, its alumni and other friends of the UI. By remaining 100 percent self-sustaining, Iowans can take pride knowing that 100 percent of the General Fund support provided the UI annually will be directed to the academic mission of the institution.
To learn if your local cable television provider is making the Big Ten Network available to you, click HERE
*–During the eight seasons that Kirk Ferentz has been head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Iowa Hawkeyes would have averaged four appearances on the Big Ten Network had the network been in operation. One year, eight Iowa games would have appeared on the Big Ten Network; two other years three games would have appeared. During this same eight-year period, Iowa would have had games televised on the Big Ten Network against every Big Ten opponent except Purdue and against intrastate rivals Iowa State and Northern Iowa.
Click HERE to learn more about the Big Ten Network.