Big Ten Network Not Showing Cross Country

that is such crap. i don't particularly want the big ten network but i was intrigued that they claimed they would be covering "all" sports. i thought about whether it would be worth it to see xc and indoor/outdoor track. there goes that idea.

Just sent them an email. Hope others will also send them one.

On a side note...

Depending on where in Ohio you are, WOW has very quietly added the Big Ten Network.

Sure would be nice for some coverage...

First step in the Big Ten's goal to phase out cross country and track.

Maybe in the MAC but not in the Big Ten...look at the success of CC over the past few years.

The greedy Big 10 is just trying to sell 2nd rate FB games..

Here is the response I received, sounds like they may be showing it later at least in some capacity.

Thanks for your email.

You are correct in saying that the Big Ten Network will not televise the 2007 Big Ten Cross Country Championships live. The events will, though, most likely receive coverage on Big Ten Tonight and the Big Ten Women’s Show. We hope to carry the Cross Country Championships live in future years.

In addition, we are also tremendously excited to be televising this year’s Big Ten Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The Big Ten Network will be carrying about 170 Olympic sport events this year – an extremely ambitious standard for a network in its first year. As I mentioned before, with the passage of time, we hope to expand our coverage to many other Big Ten events.

Thanks again for the email and your interest in the Big Ten Network.

Sincerely,

Mike

thats the same exact response I got.

Reasonable response from below. Also, it is hard to cover a XC meet for TV. Whereas most sports being televised are pretty simple since they are in a relatively small, contained area where one camera can do the job (field hockey, soccer, volleyball, etc).

Give it time. It is the first year of the network and football (and basketball) are going to be the ones paying the bills if this thing works.

hard to cover xc? not sure about that. camera on the lead car and a couple stationary cameras will do the trick. i'm not sure what kind of coverage of those sports you're watching - sounds like local public access' high school coverage - but i would hope the big ten network doesn't think it can cover any sport with one camera. if they do, i'm certainly not interested in paying for that.

I live on the East Coast. Last year I was able to watch almost every Indiana U. football game of the season through my nothing-fancy cable package. This year, as best as I can recall, the Hoosiers have not been televised once in my area. Thanks a lot Big Ten Network, Time Warner, and anyone else involved.

It looks like the Big Ten Network is getting a few emails, becasue last week I got this. No we are not covering the Big Ten Cross Country Championships. We hope to in the future.

However, my friend got the same response you got yesterday. Looks like Mike now has a pat answer.

If you haven't sent an email to the Big Ten Network, please do to let them know cross country runners and fans wonder how they can't cover this event.

Here two more individuals at the Big Ten Network who would like to hear you would like for them to cover cross country.

Mark Silverman, President

mark.silverman@bigtennetwork.com

Leon Schweir, Executive Producer/Vice President, Production

leon.schweir@bigtennetwork.com

Here is my latest email from the Big Ten Network when I sent a letter to the “executive team” asking how they determine their programming….seems odd to me they will not share this information…

Big Ten Network reply…

I’m writing because your email to our executive team was forwarded to me. I’ll do my best to answer your questions once again.

As we discussed last week, we do not share the selection process for programming. We are pleased to be carrying 400 live events in our first year of existence – including the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships. However, I can tell you with 100 percent certainty the 2007 Cross Country Championships will not be televised on the Big Ten Network. In future years, we will most certainly consider televising the Big Ten Cross Country Championships live. This year’s championships will most likely receive coverage on the Big Ten Women’s Show and Big Ten Tonight.

xxxx