Friday is first Iowa-Iowa State men’s basketball game in a quarter-century where both teams are ranked — but unlike Lafester Rhodes’ command performance of 1987, many Iowans are not going to be able to watch. It’s not (just) because of a relatively super-late start time, after 8:30 Central, but where it’s going to be on TV.
The game has been shoved onto ESPNU, a sports-tier channel not available to Mediacom customers on expanded basic cable. In order to be able to get the $8 sports pack in the first place, you must already have an HDTV, a cable box, and Mediacom Prime — which as of a year ago was $14 more per month than expanded basic. So for basic cable subscribers, the option of “temporarily pay and then cancel” simply is not there.
DirectTV and Dish have moved ESPNU onto a lower tier, which is beneficial, but prices have steadily been increasing there too. (From what I can tell, Dish does not have ESPNU in HD, but at least it exists in the lowest tier. Conversely, though, that tier includes neither Fox Sports 1 nor any regional Fox Sports Net, which is where a lot of Big 12 games are also shown.)
This schedule was set at the beginning of the season, when neither team was ranked. ESPN is showing an NBA game; ESPN2 is showing the I-AA playoffs. (Fox Sports Nets are also showing NBA games.) This game is another indicator that ESPN has the rights to so much content that it can hold games hostage for viewers. Of course, the same thing could be said on a lesser level for the Big Ten Network before it strongarmed Midwest cable providers.
Four ISU conference road games this season will be on ESPNU, too, including against Kansas in Lawrence.
In the end, I guess I’m combining a bunch of little rants here: against the sports bubble, the cable bundle bubble, the decline of college sports on broadcast television, ESPN, and my own poor self.
John Walters and Gary Dolphin will likely be giving their radio play-by-plays tonight to fans who don’t usually listen. Perhaps those fans will listen while streaming the Christmas Cats instead.