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Lawmaker wants arbitration to settle Big Ten TV dispute

Posted November 05, 2007 10:00 pm

Dana Heupel

An outside arbitrator should referee the fight over how much cable television companies charge subscribers for the Big Ten and NFL networks, a state lawmaker says.

Cable TV customers in Illinois can't watch many of their favorite Big Ten teams' games because the new Big Ten Network has not signed an agreement with Comcast and other cable companies. Big Ten Network officials want their programming on basic cable packages, but Comcast wants to schedule it on the company's "sports tier," for which subscribers pay extra.

Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, said Monday he believes cable companies want to keep channels they own, such as Comcast's Sports Net, Versus and the Golf Channel, on basic plans "because it's cheap to run them. And then they charge us extra for the things that we would like to see, like the sporting events."

He is proposing legislation to have an arbitrator decide where programming should be carried when independent channels compete with channels owned by cable companies.

Risinger said the cost of attending sporting events such as football games is out of reach for many families.

"We don't want to get it to a point where the fans can't afford to go to a game, and they can't afford to watch it on television," he said.

Comcast has an agreement with the NFL Network to carry National Football League programming on the cable company's sports tier subscription, spokesman Rich Ruggiero said. That package costs Chicago-area viewers $6.99 a month more than the basic cable package.

"Comcast customers who want it today can choose to purchase it without forcing customers who don't want what is very expensive programming to pay for it," he said. "We would love to offer the Big Ten Network to customers, and we would want to do it in a similar way."

Comcast's programming goal is to "put together the most compelling lineup that will attract the most customers," Ruggiero said. The company features The Golf Channel and Versus on basic cable, he said, because they are the primary carriers of the PGA Tour and the National Hockey League.

Risinger pointed out that satellite providers and other television systems offer the NFL and Big Ten networks in their standard programming packages.

Ruggiero said negotiations will continue with the Big Ten Network, preferably without an arbitrator.

"We believe in discussing these things directly," he said.

Under the legislation, which probably will be introduced Wednesday, the parties involved would agree beforehand on a panel of professional arbitrators, such as administrative law judges. An arbitrator would be selected from that panel to resolve individual disputes.

"I think it's better," Risinger said, "whenever businesses can work out their differences and come to an agreement without the government having to create laws to make it work." But, he said, this dispute has reached the point where, 'Hey, if you guys can't get your act together, there ought to be some kind of binding arbitration to settle this thing so that the fans don't suffer in the meantime."

It might be proper for government to become involved in this disagreement because cable television companies and the Big Ten universities are "in the sort of quasi-governmental sector," said Chris Mooney, director of the Illinois Legislative Studies Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "It's different from when two private, unregulated businesses are negotiating."

Risinger said he patterned his legislation after a similar bill that called for an arbitrator to settle a conflict between the Illinois Department of Transportation and contractors. That legislation "brought both sides to the table," and they resolved the problem without having to use an arbitrator.

"I am really hoping that that's what happens here," he said.

Dana Heupel can be reached at (217) 788-1518 or dana.heupel@sj-r.com.

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