Comcast, Fox Network Group reach deal to keep Big Ten Network on Xfinity

On Friday night, Fox Network Group (the parent company of the Big Ten Network) and Comcast announced that they had reached an agreement to continue their deal for the cable provider to carry BTN, and for conference football games to air on sister network Fox Sports 1.

At Big Ten Media Days in July, conference commissioner Jim Delaney warned fans that if a deal was not reached by Sept. 1 when the parties’ current contract expired, they would not be able to find a large portion of the Big Ten’s football games on Xfinity this fall.

The new agreement ensures that Comcast customers in the Big Ten footprint (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) will not see any interruptions in service. Nor will Big Ten fans in Delaware, Washington D.C., or the Northern Virginia suburbs, thanks to their proximity to a league school.

The contract will also guarantee that BTN will eventually be restored to the Sports and Entertainment premium tier for Xfinity customers outside of the traditional conference states, but no further details have yet been announced as to when that will happen.