DaytonDailyNews.com

Six months ago, New Knoxville Television and Cable surveyed its 3,000 customers and asked which new channels they would like to receive. The winner, by far, was the Big Ten Network.

"We decided to climb on board right away," said General Manager Preston Meyer.

As the conference-specific network has battled with large cable providers about purchasing the channel on expanded basic service, smaller providers like NKTelCo have quickly adopted the network to please a limited customer base. In doing so, they have avoided angry phone calls and the potential of customers changing providers to receive the network.

Even though his network has few major deals, BTN President Mark Silverman has said up to 75 smaller providers have signed up. For those, like NKTelCo, the choice was simple, Meyer said.

"The markets that we serve are heavily involved in sports and Big Ten colleges," Meyer said. "We just felt that although we agree that some of this programming should be set up in a tier for those who want sports, our customers would want to have the Big Ten as part of their package."

One major issue in negotiations between the BTN and providers is placement. The network wants to be on expanded basic cable, while the operators would like to bundle it with other sports channels on a tier for an extra monthly fee.

While Meyer said he understands both arguments, his customers, who also receive the NFL Network, made their wishes clear.

"What's unfortunate is that for a retired family on a fixed income, we have to raise rates because a majority of our customers want a channel," Meyer said. "We want to make everyone happy, so we listened to our customers. But, that's not to say we don't agree with some other cable operators."