As for the implication that we air some basketball games in one region and other games in other regions, that’s not correct. The Extra Football Game Channels you see during the football season are only available to us during the 13 football Saturdays of the season because of capacity issues with our cable and satellite providers. The non-conference basketball season overlaps with dozens of other sporting events, including NHL, NBA and other regional football and basketball games. Therefore, our cable and satellite partners are unable to offer this space to us, even though our Extra Football Game Channels may still continue to appear on your channel guide.

When games happen at the same time, we generally get them on the Big Ten Digital Network. Remember: BTN covers home games only. We still get a little bit of confusion on that as well from viewers. I know the Purdue game was a home game, but I mention that here to be entirely clear. During the conference portion of the basketball season, the Big Ten schedules games in such a way where there is no need for “Extra Football Game Channels.”

Our FAQ covers that here.