MSU has provided all students living on campus with the network, which features “all Big Ten, all the time,” on channel 23.

“It was very important to the President and the athletics department that if a network is going to cover the university and our athletics department, that it be accessible to students on campus,” Associate Athletics Director Mark Hollis said.

The Spartans’ Saturday game against University of Alabama-Birmingham was broadcast on ESPN2, but the Sept. 8 game against Bowling Green will be broadcast at noon on the Big Ten Network. The channel is scheduled to broadcast 38 Big Ten football games this season.

Fred Kayne, associate director of university housing, said the university negotiated with the network and reached an agreement that provides the channel on campus at no additional cost.

The network debuted on Wednesday with a studio-based news broadcast, “Big Ten Tonight.” A main problem for the network, however, has been reaching a contract agreement with Comcast Communications and Fox Cable Networks. Currently, the network broadcasts on DIRECTV and AT&T U-verse, among other smaller networks.

The current contracts allow the channel to reach approximately 3.5 million viewers across the Midwest, according to an MSU athletics press release.

Jennifer Lothamer, a community assistant at The Village at Chandler Crossings, said The Village does not currently provide its residents with the Big Ten Network.

Both Kayne and Hollis stressed that the network will focus on MSU’s athletics, as well as academics.

“While we are known far and wide for our athletic programs, we are also a world-class institution when it comes to academics and research,” Kayne said.

“The BTN is providing MSU up to 60 hours annually for programming that will focus on our creativity, discovery, academic programs, student life and faculty.”

Hollis said he was looking forward to the prospect of smaller, non-revenue sports on campus generating more attention.

“Even those who say they’ll never watch a soccer game or volleyball match, all of a sudden you see it larger than life and the spin off of that is they’ll start coming to games,” Hollis said.