Charter Brings Big Ten Network to St. Louis and Southern IL

Charter Communications and Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached agreement to provide the network to Charter customers in St. Louis and Southern Illinois. The Big Ten Network is a national network dedicated exclusively to Big Ten Conference television programming.  
 
Charter will launch the Big Ten Network on its Expanded Basic-Digital level of service, channel 414 on January 4, 2010, for customers in the St. Louis Metro area and in Southern Illinois.
 
In making the announcement, Steve Trippe, Vice President and General Manager of Charter's operations in Missouri and Illinois said he believes the network will be an instant hit with Charter sports fans in the area. "Big Ten games are popular with St. Louis and Southern Illinois area fans, and I expect the Big Ten Network will become a popular destination for our customers very, very quickly."
 
Mark Silverman, President of Big Ten Network added, "When Charter customers tune in to the network, they'll find unparalleled coverage of Big Ten sports and their teams, an increasing amount of original programming about football and basketball and shows featuring entertaining stories about what's happening at their favorite Big Ten universities."

The Big Ten Network will televise two-thirds of all men's Big Ten Conference basketball games and will debut three new basketball shows in early January.  The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2010 will follow the conference's most intriguing storylines in a documentary-style format. Every Friday, Big Ten Hoops: On Campus will showcase the loyalty, passion and tradition that define Big Ten basketball. And This Week in Big Ten Basketball will provide a comprehensive breakdown of all the Big Ten hoops action.