NEW YORK - At 5 years old, the Big Ten Network has grown up fast.
The network marked its birthday on Thursday — and it's been giving the Big Ten plenty of reasons to celebrate since its difficult birth in 2007.
Commissioner Jim Delany said the 24-hour network devoted solely to the conference is now available in 90 million homes nationwide.
"I think we have exceeded expectations both on a distribution basis, on a quality of production basis, on an art basis and on a financial basis what our plan called for," Delany said in an interview with the AP on Wednesday. "But it wasn't without some risk, and difficulty for our fanbase. But they stuck with us."
Delany's idea was to take the Big Ten games — not just football, but football was the key — that were being locally syndicated and give them a home.
The league found a partner in Fox to take on the financial risk, while letting the Big Ten brand the network.
At first, the idea was not well received — or understood.
"We needed to explain all the content," BTN president Mark Silverman said. "Why this was a network you would want to have. It was struggle that first year."