kyleslamb
Scout Team
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- Aug 31, 2011
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I respectfully disagree. Even if it were true it's negotiated by state (though again, I strongly renew my objection to that), there is nothing stopping the network from being on a basic tier outside of the state. In fact, the Big Ten Network is on basic tiers in various markets around the country with some multi-systems operators. It just depends on the individual negotiations. I can tell you that at least one cable operator has the BTN on basic tier in Atlanta already. There's no regulation against channels being put on basic tier as long as they don't infringe on OTA "must-carry" rights of local terrestrial stations.
That said, again, it starts with the FCC. The FCC draws out markets... there are just over 200 of them nationally. In each market, every cable operator that broadcasts in that market is required to broadcast specific local over-the-air affiliates. These OTA requirements are called "must-carry." This means if Verizon FIOS, for example, chooses to service customers in the New York City market... it must carry all NYC terrestrial stations, commercial and "public access" alike, in both New York and the portion of New Jersey that is within the NYC market. That means everywhere it negotiates with local regulators to service an area within the market will generally carry the same tier/pricing/lineup structure.
States have nothing to do with the regulation and structure of cable operators. It's all about markets that are defined by the FCC. As it is, the FCC has adopted the Nielsen markets as the official regulated markets. This essentially means that when channels negotiate New York City with Time-Warner, for example, they're negotiating to be put on everywhere in the Nielsen-defined NYC market, including homes in New Jersey. So if Time-Warner has a franchise agreement with New Brunswick, NJ to service those customers, it has must-carry obligations to carry NYC over-the-air stations.
Honest-to-goodness, states have nothing to do with it, though it's possible an MSO could negotiate different subscriber fees for two states in a multi-state market (like New York City). But the agreements are made for the stations to be broadcast in the market as a whole, not based on state boundaries.
One last thing: if you want a good example... go to Comcast.com and play around with "channel lineup." Find a random address in Philadelphia, then find another random address in Medford, NJ or another Southern New Jersey town. What you'll find is that the Big Ten Network is on the same channel (715) and same tier (Digital Preferred) in both places, despite the fact that Pennsylvania is a Big Ten state whereas New Jersey currently is not. This is because Medford, for instance, is in the Philadelphia TV market so when the BTN was negotiated with Comcast, the entire market was negotiated even though Penn State is not in New Jersey. This is what would happen if Rutgers joined the Big Ten. The network would be able to negotiated for the entire New York City market, including New York City, despite the fact it's in New Jersey. It's certainly possible the subscriber fees could vary by state, but the availability would not.
