The BTN wound up hiring a firm to produce a series, "Impact the World," which debuted in January and featured episodes about research at every school. It got higher ratings than prior academic programming, officials said, and a second season is expected later this year.
The network, a joint venture between the league and Fox Sports, paid the Big Ten more than $74 million in 2010, according to its latest tax return. The money made up part of the $20 million in total revenue the conference sent to its member schools under their revenue-sharing agreement.
Overall ratings were up 11 percent this year, said Big Ten network Vice President Elizabeth Conlisk. "Impact the World" drew several times as many viewers as individual campus programs did, she added, and other features are in the works.
As for Lynn's program, she said it was Iowa's decision to cancel the show.
Scott Ketelsen, director of Iowa's marketing and media production, said viewership "fell off the table" when such programming was aired, and everyone agreed change was necessary. In the end, he said the network was a business that was pouring cash into school programs. He has hired two campus videographers with money from BTN.
"You can make both sides of the argument as far as the type of programming that should be viewed on there and I understand that," he said. "But in this day of tight budgets and purse strings being pulled tight, something like BTN being successful and infusing money back into the universities is huge."
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Mercer reported from Champaign, Ill. AP Sports Writer Larry Lage contributed to this report.
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