Big Ten Network defies early skeptics as audience, profits rise

The Big Ten Network, the all-collegiate sports channel, prompted chuckles when it launched in 2007. But no one's laughing at it now: The network has pumped up viewership and ad dollars — and has caught the eye of schools considering defecting from their own conferences.

The Chicago-based network's early programming efforts have been long on game coverage and short on the kind of opinionated banter that fans expect from sports broadcasters. But Big Ten Network LLC brass says new programming is in the works, which CEO Mark Silverman hopes will win over more advertisers and answer skeptics who once thought the Big Ten Conference's appeal wasn't broad enough to support a stand-alone network. The network has become a moneymaker for Big Ten Conference schools, generating millions of dollars that support athletic programs, scholarships and facilities. Other bonuses: brand-building, luring prospective students and keeping alumni engaged. Mr. Silverman says the Big Ten Network's profit more than doubled this year over 2009; ad revenue rose 30% as the audience expanded to 40 million homes. He wouldn't provide specific numbers, but the conference's IRS filing for the year ended June 2009 — the most recent data available — showed the network paid the conference $72 million.

The Big Ten Network is 51% owned by the conference and 49% owned by News Corp.'s Fox unit. It delivered about $8 million to each school this year for the right to broadcast some games, while other national networks, including ABC and ESPN, pay the schools nearly $14 million each for the biggest games, says Ron Guenther, athletic director at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign