Spencer, Lakes not part of BTN-Mediacom deal

Mediacom subscribers in northwest Iowa won't get the Iowa-Iowa State football game -- or other Big Ten Network offerings for the time being.

Iowa's largest cable television provider and the Big Ten Network announced a deal to begin carrying the network for most of Iowa starting this Saturday.

But: "In our phase one launch, Spencer is not included," Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters said.

Peters said the company sends out network signals from distribution sites called head ends.

"Out of the Emmetsburg head end, we serve a cluster of counties from Algona west over to the Lakes," Peters said. "Of course, Spencer is one of those areas. We agreed on a phased-in launch and we're planning for this Big Ten Network to be launched over time, starting with certain areas first, and Spencer would be in a second phase. We don't have a definitive time period for when that will be."

Peters said her company said the high cost of adding receivers, satellites and equipment is factoring into the delay for adding the Big Ten Network in northwest Iowa.

"We will continue to evaluate the product as we hear from customers and as we keep evaluating what the Big 10 Network is delivering, we'll make adjustments as we can," she said.

The network televised four Iowa home football games and 24 men's basketball games last year. At least four Iowa football games will be televised this fall on the Big Ten Network, including the intrastate rivalry against Iowa State on Sept. 13.

Mediacom serves about 400,000 households in Iowa. Spencer residents have a programming alternative through the communications branch of Spencer Municipal Utilities. SMU has carried the Big Ten Network since its launch about a year ago.

Aside from SMU for Spencer residents, the Big Ten Network's primary providers in Iowa were DirecTV and the Dish Network.