No. 1 team in land banished to TV no-man?s land, fans say
Friday, October 13, 2006
Tim Feran and Nick Chordas
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
</IMG>
Ohio State football fans suddenly are sweating a contest with Indiana next Saturday ? but not because the Hoosiers are expected to knock off the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes.
For the first time in nearly nine years, an Ohio State football game is not being broadcast locally on a widely available television channel.
The Indiana game is being aired only on ESPNU, which is not offered by two of central Ohio?s three major cable providers.
The inability to watch the game in the comfort of their homes has some Buckeye devotees seeing scarlet.
"Every Bucks game needs to be televised every week," said Dublin resident Steve Carpenter in a message to The Dispatch. "I don?t care if OSU was playing a pick-up game with a middle school team."
"This is a major dissing," wrote Jim Brue, of Toledo, who dubbed the channel "ESPN-U stink."
Some fans and bars responded to the news by signing up for ESPNU via satellite service or Insight Communications, the only local cable service that carries the college sports channel. Neither Time Warner Cable Columbus ? central Ohio?s dominant cable system, with more than 600,000 customers ? nor Wide Open West carries the channel.
Some fans also were disappointed to learn that the game is not available on the premium sports package ESPN GamePlan, said Time Warner Columbus spokeswoman Judy Barbao.
"ESPNU is the one and only place," she said.
Barbao said Time Warner is negotiating to carry ESPNU but does not expect a quick resolution.
"I can?t say that will happen by Oct. 21," she said.
Complicating the talks, Barbao said, is the fact that ESPN owner Disney "has a lot of other issues on the table that they are tying to ESPNU."
OSU spokesman Steve Snapp said fans should not expect the broadcasting plan to change.
"It absolutely will not change," he said. "We?ve talked to the Big Ten and ESPN and have passed along the concerns of our fans, and we understand that?s the way the situation?s headed."
Disney?s contract with the Big Ten allows the company to mix and match games with its various networks ? ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN360 and ESPNU, said ESPNU vice president and general manager Burke Magnus.
"In this case, we think it?s pretty justifiable which games ended up where," Magnus said. "We?re trying to serve a national audience. We understand the local furor, but the selection process is pretty standard.
"Although Ohio State is a mega-program with a No.1 ranking, it?s not an anomaly for ESPNU to have a top program on," Magnus said, citing last week?s Iowa-Purdue contest and games with Florida State and Penn State.
Even Ohio State students might be left out of the loop, Snapp said. ESPNU is not carried on the campus television system, though Snapp said the university is trying to change that in time for the game.
"We?re trying to see if we can get it to the campus, to our students and to our dorms. We?re trying to figure out how to make that happen," he said.
Snapp said fans have become accustomed to seeing games on television, but noted that the Big Ten hasn?t traditionally broadcast that many games.
"We?ve gone from a period of time when we did 10 or 12 games a year to 35 in the 1990s to 71 this year," Snapp said. "So we clearly do more than any other conference."
In 1994, seven Ohio State games were not televised at all.
Bob Lau, Insight vice president of corporate affairs, said the cable company is getting "quite a bit of response" from viewers who want to see the game.
"There?s still time, but not a lot, so I would encourage them not to wait. If they call on Oct. 21, obviously, they won?t see it."
About 40 percent of Insight?s 216,000 central Ohio customers have ESPNU, Lau said.
DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said he does not know how many calls the satellite company has received about the game, but that it?s common for the firm to gain subscribers because of athletic contests unavailable elsewhere.
Unless a deal is worked out, Buckeye fans will have to leave their living rooms ? meaning more business for bars and restaurants that carry ESPNU.
Many of the area?s popular game-day haunts, including the Varsity Club, Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe, Eddie George?s Grille 27 and Damon?s Grill, will carry the game.
"For the average consumer it?s unfortunate because they?ll have to go out, but for us it will probably be a benefit," said Carl T. Howard, president and chief executive of Damon?s International.
Herb Beidel, owner of Fitzgerald?s Sports Tavern off Bethel Road, which has ESPNU, anticipates a larger crowd next weekend.
"We usually get around 100 people for Ohio State home games, but I?m expecting at least 200 for Indiana," Beidel said.
Phil Albanese, regional manager for Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, added ESPNU to a handful of the chain?s corporate stores in central Ohio on Wednesday, including the campus location on N. High Street.
"We added those locations in direct response to the Ohio State vs. Indiana game," Albanese said. "We want to show every game that we can ? especially the Ohio State ones."
Some smaller neighborhood bars won?t be as fortunate.
Zeno?s Victorian Village gets good crowds on game days, but it subscribes only to Time Warner. Owner Dick Allen said he?s holding out hope that an arrangement will be made before next Saturday.
And if not?
"I guess we?ll listen to the radio, drink heavily and imagine it," he said.
[email protected] [email protected]
