By the Numbers

5,223,202 The total number of fans who attended home Big Ten football games in 2006.

7 Seven of the nation's top 25 media markets are in Big Ten country. They represent a combined 13.7 million homes with televisions.

60 The approximate number of Wisconsin events – and every other school – that will be carried live to a national audience in 2007-08 on the Big Ten Network.

51% More than half of all Big Ten home football games (38 of 74) will air on the Big Ten Network.

72% Amount of your cable bill that goes to either cable-operator profits or their non-programming costs. David Leach, an independent researcher who formerly headed U.S. Rep. John Dingell's telecommunications staff, in a research paper says programming costs are not responsible for increasing cable rates, despite operator claims. Leach's paper was filed with the FCC last week on behalf of the four major broadcast networks.

826,257 The total seating capacity for fans in the 11 stadiums of Big Ten universities.

92 The percentage of Big Ten football games that the network will televise in stunning high-definition this fall (36 of 39).

39.4 The average percentage of Columbus, Ohio, households that watched Ohio State football games in 2006.

14,967 The number of Big Ten fans who used the zip-code locater on this website in a single 24-hour period, Tuesday, August 7.

1,000 The number of hours of high-definition programming the Big Ten Network will air in its first year, or between 85 and 90 percent of all live events.

85 The number of Big Ten men's basketball games that were not televised at all in 2006-07. In 2007-08, that number will decrease to zero, as all men's basketball games, including exhibition games, will be televised either on the Big Ten Network, CBS, or an ESPN platform.

46 The percentage of voters on the WILX (NBC, Lansing, Mich.) website who are willing to leave their cable company for DIRECTV in order to receive the Big Ten Network.