Big Ten Network: Fair and Balanced.

Jumping ahead of the question of whether any customer of a large cable company will get this channel, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer discusses the actual content, what we will see on the air. Dave Revsine, eager to make clear that he isn't Jim Delany's Baghdad Bob, says:

"Welcome to the inaugural broadcast of Big Ten Tonight. Allah's Holy warriors, the scholar-athletes of the Western Conference, shall use their intellectual firepower to impose a reign of terror over the grit-eating devils of the Southeast. I spit on their 'southern speed' and their tie-wearing frat boys!"

Actually, he said:

Would he and his fellow broadcasters be allowed to cover the conference fully, from good to bad, from its championships to its scandals? "It would have been a deal-breaker had I gotten the wrong answer," the face of the Big Ten Network said Wednesday. "We feel like we have a responsibility to cover the big story, and obviously our hope is that the primary component of that will be the stuff on the field and the positive stories that come out of athletic competition. "But let's be honest. Part of college athletics is that some stories aren't quite as positive. We need to cover that stuff just like anyone else would cover it."

Not holding my breath. Still, it should be a fun product, even if distribution is limited.