the Big 10 Network

[jasonpeoria911]

Granted most of these games don't include Bradley but I saw on Week that Comcast is in negotations to bring the Big 10 Network along with a few other unnamed channels to normal cable starting in April. Comcast was also expected to hire 30 new employees in the Peoria area if anyone is looking. It would be nice if they added ESPNU.

Jason

[it's boogie time]

It would be nice if they added ESPNU.

I have ESPNU on Comcast in Peoria. Channel 514. It had about 10 Valley games this year. The best part of the channel is that it shows replays of games when no other channel has games on.

[PeoriaLou]

We are lucky we have it here in central Illinois. Chicago Comcast subscribers don't have ESPNU.

[IlliBraves]

I hate the Big Ten Network. What a stupid idea. Why should those of us who live within "Big Ten Country" as it has been dubbed, have to pay to see the games we used to be able to see for free? I see that the early afternoon quarterfinals will be televised by ESPN2, but not the night games. So, if I want to see the Illinois game, I guess I have to go elsewhere to watch it. Thanks, Big Ten Network.

[Murph]

The greedy pigs sent me a letter saying they were raising their rates, I better get something in return like more HD channels or it's Dish Network/Direct TV for me.

[jasonpeoria911]

I meant on the normal comcast cable, not the digital edition.

Jason

[ph]

I meant on the normal comcast cable, not the digital edition.

Jason

Now you would have a point to have the B10 on the most basic digital package.

You do realize that 1 analog channel takes the same bandwidth of 10-12 digital SD channels, or 1 analog channel uses the bandwidth of 2-3 HDTV channels.

If you see a blank analog channel, say 84, that is probably providing the 10-12 digital HBO channels, or providing some HDTV channels, or giving the system the bandwidth for cable modems. Most cable systems have the capacity for 100-125 analog slots, but can get a lot more channels using digital.

The next problem with B10 on analog is football games. At times on football Saturday, the B10 network is using the primary channel and 2-3 additional overflow feeds. If you are an Illini fan, you'll probably get the Illini game here on analog, but what about the other games?

Eventually cable providers will have to go all digital just to provide enough channels to stay competitive with satellite. (The 2009 FCC ota mandate means nothing to cable companies, cable companies are not using FCC airways)

The current future direction of the industry is essentially all VOD, even live channels. It is easy to get a cable headend 1000 channels, but delivering all at the same time to every house is really expensive. Newer technology would allow cable companies to just send, say, 1-12 individual channels to your house for each of your home's tuner boxes.