When the Wisconsin Badger football team takes on the Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, it may be just as tough for Badger fans to watch the game as it may be for the Badgers to beat the top-ranked team.
Saturday's game will be aired live on the Big Ten Network with kickoff at 11 a.m., creating a blackout for Charter Communications customers who do not have BTN on their current cable listing.
Because the game is only on BTN, many popular game day Madison bars and restaurants who subscribe to the channel are expecting bigger crowds.
Jason Ducat, manager at State Street Brats, said they are expecting a bigger crowd only because it's on the Big Ten Network, and it's not something Charter carries.""
Ducat said all Badger games are busy at State Street Brats and they do reach capacity a few times a year, which might force staff to turn people away if the bar is too packed Saturday during the game.
Jim Luedtke, owner of The Stadium sports bar, said because it has BTN at the bar, he expects ""that it will be a full house for sure,"" Saturday for the game.
Marc Kennedy, Wisconsin Union's communications director, said both the Memorial Union and Union South would also air the game Saturday, as they have throughout the season.
With many friends who are not 21-years-old yet, Courtney Gussel, a UW-Madison junior, said she was upset when she heard the game was only on BTN.
""What am I going to do? Go sit and watch it by myself?""
Charter Communications, Madison-area cable provider, has tried to negotiate the network as part of its line-up, but no deal has been reached since the network's launch in August.
""Our position is that we are more than willing to carry the network, but due to the high cost of the network, we cannot put it on expanded basic where it goes to everyone and have everyone's bills impacted by it,"" said John Miller, a Charter spokesperson.
According to Miller, BTN ranks as the third highest costing service on Charter's lineup, which he said might be the reason Time-Warner and Comcast also do not have contracts with BTN.
Mike Vest, media relations manager for BTN, said there are currently more than 30 million households that receive BTN.
""We have more than 150 distribution agreements with cable providers, plus DirectTV and DISH Network,"" Vest said via e-mail, stressing these agreements are evidence that BTN is willing to negotiate and ""strike a deal.""
""It's not surprising that fans are beginning to wonder, if all these cable companies are carrying the Big Ten Network, why isn't Charter?"" Vest said.
Vest said BTN is guaranteed to televise at least one conference game for each of the 11 Big Ten schools.
Although one Wisconsin conference game already aired on BTN, an Ohio State conference game has yet to be aired, which Vest said was the reason Saturday's game was chosen.
