Why I Won't Be Paying for Tonight's Game

I love Purdue basketball. If it came right down to it and I had to choose between Purdue football and Purdue basketball to watch for the rest of my life I would choose basketball. Maybe it's because I grew up in Indiana or maybe it's because Purdue has historically been better on the hardwood. Whatever the reason is it's my preference. That being said. I won't pay to watch tonight's game on BTN Plus. Let me explain why.

Currently in Northern Virginia with Cox I pay just over $100 a month for cable and internet. That's a lot of money. Some people, the cable companies, would look at that and say per hour that's probably pretty low and it's hard to argue with them on that. Still though why does it feel like I don't get my money's worth? Probably because I'm paying for half a dozen shopping channels, a couple Spanish language networks (which is fine but I mean I don't speak Spanish so...), multiple channels like E! or Style, or other garbage channels that show Real Housewives/Kardashian B.S. roughly 14 hours a day. I don't want those channels. Quite frankly I don't even want ESPN most times of the day. I just don't need 8 hours of Sportscenter each day. Like most of you I probably watch roughly 20 channels even though I have 200+. Doesn't exactly seem like a bargain on my end does it? In essence the big ticket channels are paying for those channels I don't watch. Here in NOVA I am forced to purchase the sports package in order to have BTN. I'm okay with that because I do want to be able to watch Purdue football and basketball. So I pay the extra $5 a month to get BTN along with channels like ESPNU and others. So tonight's Purdue game will surely be on BTN since that was the entire justification for the channel right?

That would be no. Instead Purdue has been relegated to BTN Plus which is the rebranding of the BTN Digital Network which was also a bad deal. You can take a look at their website, I won't look to it here because screw them, and see the rates. If you want to be able to see anything on BTN plus for an entire year you can plop down $120. So basically an extra $10 a month just to be able to have BTN. So in addition to the $5 a month I already pay I can add $10 if I want everything. In essence I'd be paying $15 a month for just one channel. Seems absurd right? Well let's take it down a notch and say I just want the Purdue stuff for one month. That makes the most sense because this is really the only time when major sporting events are going to fall onto this "channel". That'll cost you $10 for one month. It's of course auto-renewed so be careful if that's the route you opt to take. So those are your options but honestly why are those my options?

Why isn't this game on BTN? That's the only reason I get this channel. That's the only reason this channel exists. If I can't watch the games I want why do I even have the channel? During football season BTN can have as many as 7 games a day to produce and air (obviously with other networks airing games it doesn't happen this way). Rather than pushing these games out into the digital only world they hand them off to overflow channels. I don't know why BTN doesn't use the overflow channels for basketball. Perhaps someone in the comments can help me out on this. The BTN is content to go out and produce 4-5 B1G football games each Saturday including production costs, crews, and on camera personalities but won't send two teams out at the same time for basketball season. For those that don't know the BTN Plus games are generally student productions including some really bad announcers. I can't fault the BTN for this as it's a great step for these young students. That being said I don't think I should be forced to pay a premium on top of my regular subscription in order to hear sub-par broadcasts of my favorite team.

So I won't purchase this package. I'll look for the BTN to replay this game tomorrow and watch it then. If we agree to pay these prices it sends a message to the BTN that they can continue to be greedy and they can continue to charge us to basically do what we are already paying them for. I don't like being double charged for products specifically for ones that don't live up to expectations. The BTN gets enough of my money each month considering that I rarely watch BTN when a sporting event isn't on since their original programming except The Journey is absolute garbage. The channel overall has been a disappointment from a viewer perspective. It does a great job of bringing in money for Purdue so that's a good thing but as a network it's nearly always garbage. I can't be the only one can I?