Big Ten Network — hurting cable companies?
In July, I wrote about a Midwestern rage brewing because of local cable companies’ unwillingness to add the NFL Network and the, then launching, Big Ten Network to the cable lineups. Telling Wisconsin fans that they can’t watch Packers or Badgers football from their living rooms is a recipe for disaster. And it may be having an impact.
Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, two major cable carriers in Wisconsin, are reporting they have lost thousands of cable subscribers, a development some tie to consumers upset that they can’t get the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network.
While acknowledging the erosion of subscribers nationwide and in Wisconsin, spokesmen for both companies say other factors are behind the loss of cable subscribers. They include the downturn in the economy and the roiling of the housing market, as well as heightened competition from telephone companies in major cities around the country.
"The impact of not having the NFL Network or the Big Ten Network has been non-existent," said Alex Dudley, a Time Warner spokesman in New York.
Anita Lamont, a Charter Communications spokesman, echoed that comment, saying her firm had not seen a loss of customers due solely to people unhappy about not being able to purchase the two sports networks.
Time Warner Cable said Wednesday it had lost 83,000 subscribers in the three months ended Sept. 30, and another 57,000 in the three months prior. Time Warner has about 600,000 households in eastern Wisconsin.
Charter, which has 500,000 households in Wisconsin, reported Thursday it had lost 40,200 subscribers in the three months ended Sept. 30 and another 29,300 in the three months before.
At the same time, DirecTV, which has a contract to carry the Big Ten Network and the NFL Network, reported this week it had added 240,000 new subscribers as of Sept. 30, a 6% increase over a year earlier.
At the DISH network, which also has deals with the two sports networks, spokesman Parker McConachie said the company added 170,000 new subscribers in the second quarter.
