Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said he thinks that network’s conflict with cable providers can be resolved without arbitration, as a bill proposed in the Wisconsin Legislature would provide. But negotiations with the country’s largest cable providers have been “going no place,” Delany said Thursday before a hearing on the arbitration bill.
The Wisconsin proposal, versions of which are being considered in Illinois, Ohio, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Indiana, would establish an arbitration system to settle disputes between the sports networks and cable companies.
Opponents, including the cable industry, argue the state should not interfere with negotiations in a free market and say doing so may be unconstitutional.
“I urge you to not undercut our ability to continue to negotiate with cable programmers such as the NFL and Big Ten networks,” said Tom Moore, executive director of the Wisconsin Cable Communications Association in prepared testimony.