The Big Ten Network and Comcast Cable have yet to reach a deal that would make nearly half of Illinois men’s basketball games available to cable subscribers in the state of Illinois.

The two sides are at odds about whether the channel should be available on extended basic cable at a $1 cost to all subscribers every month, or if it should be a part of an optional sports tier available at $10 to $15 dollars per month to paying customers.

The Daily Illini had a chance to sit down with Big Ten Network CEO Mark Silverman at Big Ten media day in late October. Silverman discussed the problems with the Big Ten Network’s distribution, snags in negotiations with cable companies and when Illinois fans can expect the channel to be available on extended basic cable to Comcast subscribers.

The Daily Illini: What do you tell the students that don’t get the Big Ten Network and can’t see their teams play?

Mark Silverman: Students should be able to watch the Illini play. There are two schools of the eleven that can’t get the network and those are Illinois and Minnesota. There’s one common denominator for both of those schools – Comcast is the cable company for both of them. Comcast is unwilling to carry the network and the level of service that everyone else is carrying it. And I’m at a loss to explain how they can substantiate what they’re doing.

DI: So what exactly is the problem? Why can’t you get anything done?

MS: There are basically four large cable companies that represent 65 percent of the area that are saying ‘no’ to us. And I believe that at some point, whether it’s through a local politician or consumer outrage, something needs to get them to try to carry the network and negotiate. Because right now they’re not talking to us. Not at all. There’s not anything that’s close to happening.

It’s one thing to negotiate and not be there yet. But we’re not. We’re not negotiating. We keep coming up with a list of things and they’re not interested in trying to do the deal. They keep saying if we’re looking for expanded basic cable, it’s not going to happen. That’s what’s so infuriating.

DI: What about Illinois fans in particular? Are you worried they’re going to start hating you?

MS: I understand fans are really upset. But we’re trying to keep the games free on basic cable. It’s the cable company that’s trying to make them cost extra. It’s the cable company that’s trying to make consumers pay 10-15 dollars a month to go get digital cable and then get the sports tier. Why we’re fighting is to keep this in basic cable. It’s in the consumers’ best interest to keep it in basic cable package and not on a sports tier.

I think early on, everyone was looking around trying to see whose fault this was. Every month, more and more people are coming around and realizing that the cable companies are acting inappropriately. It’s the end of October now, we have 30 million subscribers, 150 cable deals done. We’ve proven the desire and the ability to get deals done.

DI: What’s so wrong with a sports tier? It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?

MS: It’s not really a sports tier when you have seven sports networks, the best ones, not on the sports tier. If it really was a sports tier with ESPN, ESPN2, Fox or Comcast local sports channels, we could see if that would really work. But their sports tier is just the networks that (the cable companies) don’t own that they want to make more money from. That’s what it is. That’s what they should call it, because that’s what it is.

They’ve said they’re not going to carry it on extended basic, no matter what. That ends the conversation.

DI: Why can’t you both negotiate something?

MS: Deals get tweaked all the time. The biggest companies get the best deals. Time Warner and Comcast are going to get the best deals. These 150 other deals that we’ve done are going to be more favorable to us than the ones that we negotiate with the bigger companies. We’ve offered them significant deals that are much bigger than we’ve done before. They haven’t even said, ‘Wow, that’s interesting. Let’s sit down and talk about that.’

DI: Is there a deadline for you in terms of negotiations? When do you have to move on and forget about this until next year?

MS: I think we have about two weeks and after that we’re going to have 200 men’s and women’s basketball games on the air. It’s not like we are sitting in a room right now and getting close to a deal. At some point, we’re going to have to move on. We’re not making progress.

There have been several letters written by congressmen to cable companies and to us to get things done. I think it will take a more demonstrative effort similar to what happened in New York with the YES Network. The Yankees were off the air for a year until Elliot Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg ordered the two sides to negotiate. We have to get in a room and get a deal done. To me, that’s all we want. We want an opportunity to negotiate through this. We’re not getting that right now.