Dear MSU Alum:

Over the last couple of months, you may have read or heard in your local media about launching of the Big Ten Network at the end of this month. As the launch date approaches, I'd like to make sure all of you-sports fans or not-know about the network and where to get more information, since it is a topic not just of sports pages, but business pages and opinion editorial pages as well.

Big Ten Network: What, When, and Why

What: The Big Ten Network is a new national cable/satellite television network dedicated to providing a wide array of Big Ten athletic and campus programming. The network is majority owned by the Big Ten Conference with Fox Cable Networks holding a significant minority interest.

This network is the first partnership of its kind between a group of primarily public universities and a major television provider. It will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

When: The Big Ten Network will launch at 8 p.m. Thursday, August 30. The first telecast will be the "Big Ten Tonight" highlights show featuring previews of Big Ten football openers and the season, which begins September 1.

MSU's first game scheduled to air on the new network is at home against Bowling Green, noon EDT/11 a.m. CDT. The Spartan's opening game, at home Sept. 1 vs. UAB, will be televised at noon by ESPN2. Selected football games will continue to be broadcast on ABC, CBS, and ESPN. For up-to-date information about Spartans on TV, please visit the football page on www.msuspartans.com and click on the Schedule/Results tab. Information about networks and times is posted to this Web site as schedules are released.

Why: The Big Ten Network provides the Big Ten Conference and its member universities with a new way to connect with our fans, alumni, students, perspective students, and many other members of the public who care about sport and about universities.

The network, with its long-term partners ABC, CBS, and ESPN, will bring more Big Ten and MSU football and basketball games into homes throughout "Big Ten Country" and nationally, the games our fans most want to watch. There are discussions underway that may add ice hockey coverage to the lineup, a particularly hot prospect as our Spartans head into the season as the defending national champions.

But there's more. Because the network will carry to national audiences more coverage of Big Ten women's and Olympic sports, as well as a more in-depth look at the lives of student-athletes, we believe it will provide a well-rounded and complete view of the value and purpose of athletics in the university environment.

In addition, the network will provide Big Ten universities with the opportunity to present their own programming highlighting the world-class work we do in research, teaching, and outreach, and showcasing the accomplishments of students, faculty, and alumni. Overall, it will increase the level of visibility and depth for all Big Ten sports, including more coverage of fans' favorite sports, re-air of classic archived games, and exciting highlights and feature shows.

Another benefit is that students will have the opportunity to intern with the network in several different ways, enhancing their academic experiences with intense, national-level work experience. Finally, revenue from the network will provide stable additional financial support for the university to be directed primarily toward the athletic program, including the nonrevenue sports that are so important to providing gender equity and maintaining our commitment to the student-athlete experience. This stable funding helps ensure that athletic needs do not compete with other mission-critical areas of the university. MSU has set aside approximately $1 million annually of the revenue for university strategic initiatives outside athletics.

Big Ten Network Availability

The Big Ten Conference is offering the Big Ten Network to cable and satellite operators nationwide and the conference's goal is to have the network distributed as widely as possible.

To date, the network has formed agreements with DIRECTTV (Total Choice package) and AT&T (part of basic level of service), and more than 75 cable operators have agreed to carry the programming on expanded basic cable. You can visit www.bigtennetwork.com and enter your zip code to find out if your local cable company is carrying the network.

At this time, the network has not reached distribution agreements with other large cable companies including Time-Warner, Cox, and Comcast, which provides cable for most of Michigan where many of our fans and alumni live. As you may have learned from the media, the Big Ten Network believes that cable carriers in the eight states with Big Ten universities should offer the network as a part of basic cable so that fans do not have to pay more to watch their favorite teams. Comcast would prefer to offer the network as a premium channel on a tier that requires an additional subscription fee.

At MSU, we've taken steps this summer to ensure that the Big Ten Network will be available at launch in all of our residence halls, campus apartment complexes, and many other campus buildings, including the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, Union Building, International Center, medical facility waiting rooms, and intramural facilities. We don't want our campus community to miss a moment of the action!

Our goal at MSU is for as many Spartan alumni, fans, advocates, and supporters to be able to see the network and its content as possible. Most content will be athletic, of course, but the institutional programming that will bring you stories about breakthroughs in research, the amazing accomplishments of students, our international activities, and all the ways MSU makes a difference in the world is impressive. It is content I think you'll be interested in recording and watching later as a new way of keeping up to date on what your university is doing today. If you have an opinion about Big Ten Network availability, contact the Big Ten Network or your cable carrier and let them know what you'd like to see happen. If you want your cable operator to carry it, you can call 1-866-WANT-B10.

Big Ten Network Programming

The Big Ten Network will feature the following programming on the network and/or on other alternative platforms, like the internet, mobile/wireless, interactive and on-demand.



More Big Ten athletic events than ever before will be aired live, and most events and programs on the network will be produced in high definition.

Michigan State will launch its institutional programming with a magazine style show under the MSUToday name, one many of you already know from our magazine and e-news publications of the same name. The show will include segments on research, international engagement, student achievements, and alumni connections, as well as a first look at some happenings on campus. "Special issues" may focus on a single topic like health breakthroughs, bioenergy leadership, or MSU's Africa initiatives. We're just getting started, and we'll be refining and improving as we go. We'll provide information on shows and times as it becomes available, and we'll look forward to your input on what you would like to see us feature.

More Information

Important updates about the Big Ten Network will be included in the Alumni Association's @MSU e-newsletter. If you don't already receive this monthly newsletter and would like to, you can sign up at www.msualum.com. There's also a link to the Big Ten Network Web site (www.bigtennetwork.com), and you can go there to join the Fans First program. Once you do, you'll receive up-to-the-minute information directly from the network about what's happening and how to be a part of the action. This site also has helpful resources like frequently asked questions, a fact sheet, news releases, and chats. You can even watch MSU's Big Ten Network TV ad spot.

We're proud to be a part of the Big Ten Network, and excited about its potential. We hope you'll be interested in seeing what it has to offer, from athletics to academics and beyond.

Sincerely,

Lou Anna K. Simon
President