Xfinity customers in Oregon, Washington on track to miss Week 1 games due to Big Ten Network dispute

Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington officially jumped from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten this summer.

Some wrinkles still need smoothing out, though. Ironically, the four institutions left the Pac-12 for more lucrative TV rights. And now an ongoing carriage dispute between Xfinity and the Big Ten Network will leave fans from the new West Coast schools without access to Week 1 games, as of Saturday morning.

“(Friday) is a big day in this negotiation,” retired Fox Sports president Bob Thompson wrote on X. “Yes, there are a couple of games on Saturday but more importantly it is a holiday weekend. I can guarantee you that neither party wants to be on one endless Zoom call!”

The Big Ten Network, owned by Fox, is pushing for Xfinity to add the channel to its basic tier across the West Coast. But the telecommunications company has not given in. Instead, Xfinity subscribers in markets for Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington cannot watch college football games at the moment on Big Ten Network, even if they paid for an elevated Xfinity sports tier.

“The issue is that the Big Ten Network is trying to get inner-market rates in the states of Washington, Oregon and California (similar to what they get in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.) and Comcast isn’t interested in playing ball,” a veteran TV source told On3. “The same thing may happen with ESPN attempting to drive ACC Network rates in San Francisco because that conference now has Stanford and Cal.”

What does this mean for Week 1? If there is no resolution by Saturday afternoon, fans will miss Week 1 games. The Big Ten Network is broadcasting Idaho at Oregon (7:30 p.m. ET) and Weber State at Washington (11 p.m. ET) on Saturday. Xfinity customers in those markets will have a game coverage blackout because of the ongoing dispute.

Xfinity, Big Ten Network could impact Week 2

If this draws out to Week 2, another two games will be impacted with Eastern Michigan at Washington and Utah State at USC. This has not only impacted college football, with Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington fans also missing out on Olympic sports.

“The Big Ten Network is proud to present an expanded slate of live sporting events featuring the newest members of the B1G conference, however most Comcast subscribers will not see these games,” the network said in a statement this week. “As the one distribution partner that declined to expand along with us, Comcast Xfinity viewers in many areas will not have access to live broadcasts of the highly anticipated inaugural B1G season games for Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. 

The Fox-owned network went on to urge customers to call Xfinity. Fans have other options, however, with the Big Ten Network available on other cable and satellite distributors.

“I suspect that Comcast will cave for Big Ten Network,” the veteran TV source added. “Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA are very popular and college football is our country’s No. 2 sport, however, I think they’ll hold the line against ACC Network if ESPN tries the same thing in San Francisco.”