Three more distributors have reached new deals with BTN in the state of Nebraska.
Charter Communications, which has been offering BTN as part of its Sport View package, has added BTN to expanded basic digital within the Cornhusker State. BTN, remaining on channel 425, is now available to expanded basic digital and Sports View customers in Nebraska. BTN is also accessible at no additional cost for high-definition customers, where available, on channel 768.
Meanwhile, Cox Communications said it has reached a pact for continued carriage in the state, while Cable One, which did not return calls by presstime, has agreed to carry BTN on expanded basic by Sept. 1, according to the Associated Press.
The three MSOs join Time Warner Cable and Dish Network as providers that agreed this week to increased penetration of BTN within the state.
The University of Nebraska has joined the Big Ten Conference, which requires that BTN -- a joint venture between the conference and Fox Networks -- have a comparable distribution threshold there with the other states in the circuit's footprint. At that point, the conference will assign the rights to Nebraska football games - between two and four during its inaugural campaign in the Big Ten - to BTN. Nebraska opens its season versus Tennessee Chattanooga on Sept. 3.
BTN president Mark Silverman, speaking at the conference's Media Day in Chicago on July 28, said the service had reached agreements with all major cable operators in Nebraska, before the new trio of deals were disclosed. DirecTV was already on board with the requisite level of carriage.
The BTN upgrade in Nebraska is part of a broader deal, terms of which were not disclosed, Charter reached with the programmer. The MSO is also debuting BTN in homes and businesses in many undisclosed Charter markets outside Big Ten Conference markets, where the service had previously not been available. Charter first launched BTN in Big Ten Conference states in the summer of 2008.
The pact also enables Charter to launch BTN2Go, a live 24/7 multiplatform extension of BTN. The authenticated service, providing a simulcast of BTN, as well as video on demand and archival games, will be available on computers, iPhone and iPads.
A Cox spokesman also told Multchannel News that the company will bow BTN2Go.
Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and Dish Network will also launch BTN2Go, according to BTN officials
Expected to be available before the kickoff of the upcoming college football season, launch dates for the authenticated service have not yet been announced.
In addition to BTN, Charter's Sports View package, which retails for $10 monthly, also sports ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, NHL Network, Tennis Channel, World Fishing Network, Fuel, Discovery Fit & Health, Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, Mav TV, Fox College Sports- Atlantic, Fox College Sports- Central, Fox College Sports-Pacific and Fox Soccer Channel.
