| No matter what your obsession is-whether it's | | | | Midwest on their expanded basic service. |
| knitting, animation, pets, ethnic cooking or | | | | "These universities are part of the fabric of these |
| kayaking-chances are you can find a television | | | | communities, and so programs airing on the network |
| channel that corresponds to your interest. | | | | will have very broad appeal to their fans and |
| Sports programming in particular, with the introduction | | | | followers," said Big Ten Network president Mark |
| of channels that feature golf, soccer, hunting and | | | | Silverman. "And it will enable those fans to see their |
| fishing, continues to grow in popularity. | | | | favorite teams anytime and anywhere. If you live in |
| Now, fans of the Big Ten-the oldest and one of the | | | | these eight states and receive 50-60 channels as part |
| most prestigious Division I college athletic | | | | of your expanded basic service, the Big Ten |
| conferences in the country-will join the club. They will | | | | Network should be one of them." |
| have a television network they can call their own. | | | | Recently, in another first, Big Ten commissioner Jim |
| Called the Big Ten Network, the channel will offer: | | | | Delany announced that the Big Ten Network will |
| • More than 35 conference football games | | | | become the first national sports network to commit |
| this season | | | | to "event equality" for men's and women's sports on |
| • At least two games aired from each school | | | | all network-controlled media by the summer of 2010. |
| (at least one of which will be a conference game) | | | | "The Big Ten has a long history of supporting gender |
| • More than 105 regular season men's | | | | equity," said Delany, "and this effort demonstrates |
| basketball games | | | | our continued dedication to women's athletics." He |
| • More than 55 regular season women's | | | | added that the additional television exposure for |
| basketball games | | | | many sports will be unprecedented and will greatly aid |
| • Big Ten championship events | | | | future recruiting efforts for all sports. |
| • Archived Big Ten events | | | | Silverman said the network will produce more than |
| • More than 170 NCAA championship sporting | | | | 1,000 hours of event and studio programming in |
| events; and | | | | state-of-the-art high definition (HD) and will be the |
| • Coaches' shows. | | | | most prolific producer of original HD content of any |
| The channel will also carry more than 600 hours of | | | | new network in television history. Content will also be |
| school-produced programming-approximately 60 hours | | | | made available through the Internet, mobile devices |
| per institution-dedicated to topics other than sports, | | | | and video on demand. |
| covering the most creative, entertaining and | | | | Founded in 1895, the Big Ten Conference is home to |
| interesting features of members' programs, including | | | | the University of Illinois, Indiana University, the |
| alumni. | | | | University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, |
| The network is available to all cable and satellite | | | | Michigan State University, the University of |
| providers across the country. Currently, the network | | | | Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State |
| reaches millions of viewers nationwide through | | | | University, Penn State University, Purdue University |
| DirecTV's Choice package, AT&T's U-verseSM | | | | and the University of Wisconsin. |
| service and more than 80 cable operators in the | | | | |