Indiana has made only two network television appearances in the first season of the Big Ten’s media deal with Fox, NBC and CBS. The Hoosiers, though, should receive more national recognition with crucial games against Michigan on Saturday and Ohio State on Nov. 23.
Indiana’s first 8-0 start since 1967 is one of many pieces the conference and the networks must work with when determining what matchups to put into the top spots. Fox has the early afternoon window, while CBS is in its first season at 3:30 p.m.
ET after many years of carrying the SEC. NBC is in its second season with the prime-time package. It is the first time a conference has had a weekly package with three broadcast networks.
“The whole design here was for the top three games every week to be on broadcast television. And as we know, broadcast television continues to aggregate massive amounts of eyeballs for these big-time live events,” said CBS Sports executive vice president of programming Dan Weinberg. “I think the conference recognized the potential upside of that model with how successful the NFL has been.
I think the structure of what they tried to create is what we’re seeing in practice, and we view it as a positive with even more upside to come over these next several years.” There was already plenty of intrigue going into the season with the addition of Oregon, Southern California, UCLA and Washington. The Ducks rising to the top spot in the AP Top 25 has been another benefit of the expans.