Charter Suits Up

Big Ten Net extended its recent cable success yet again Wed, announcing a carriage agreement-in-principle with Charter. The pending deal includes distribution on the MSO’s systems in WI, MI, MN, OH and IL, according to a joint statement. It wasn’t clear if it would include carriage of the net outside the conference footprint as Comcast and Time Warner Cable have the option to do. Charter said it hopes to add Big Ten to its lineup before Sat’s conference openers, a schedule that includes Ohio St, Minnesota, Indiana, Wisconsin, Penn St and Iowa all playing on Big Ten. Mediacom is expected to announce a Big Ten deal shortly, but neither party is talking publicly. It should be noted that Mediacom is set to televise a live broadcast Thurs night of the Iowa State-South Dakota State game—and praised its longstanding relationship with Fox Sports when announcing carriage on its Connections Channel, available to subs in IA and SD. Last year, Mediacom accused Fox of "anti-competitive" tactics in denying its request to air Iowa State’s opener (airing on Fox College Sports) after assenting in ’06. The MSO said it was being penalized for not carrying Big Ten Net, of which Fox’s News Corp is a majority owner. Fox denied the assertion and apologized for any misunderstanding. No such trouble this year.