Why is Ohio State-Indiana on CBS? Explaining the Big Ten's new TV and media rights deal

When CBS cameras pan over a college football stadium Saturday for the network’s mid-afternoon game, it won’t be a sun-soaked SEC venue where some men are inexplicably wearing button-up shirts and ties in 100-degree temperatures and oppressive humidity.

Rather, it will be Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana, where No. 4 Ohio State will be kicking off its 2023 season against Indiana.

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If it’s a jarring visual for many viewers, it’s understandable.

For several weeks this season, beginning with Saturday’s matchup between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers, CBS will be airing a Big Ten game in the 3:30 p.m. ET window that has been the SEC’s traditional time slot for the past quarter-century.

Here’s everything you need to know about that adjustment to your college football viewing habits.

What are the details of Big Ten on CBS TV deal, plus Fox and NBC?

Last August, only weeks after its announced additions of USC and UCLA, the Big Ten signed a new, seven-year media rights agreement with three networks – Fox, CBS and NBC. The $7 billion deal took effect July 1, 2023, and will run through the end of the 2029-30 athletic calendar. It marked the first time a conference sold its television broadcast rights to three different networks.

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This season, CBS will broadcast seven Big Ten games, including two this weekend – Ohio State at Indiana on Saturday and Northwestern at Rutgers on Sunday. That number of CBS-affiliated games will expand to 15 for the 2024 season.

Fox will remain the Big Ten’s primary broadcast partner for this season. There will be between 24 and 32 Big Ten games this season on Fox and FS1. Many of those will take place at noon on Saturdays following the network’s “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show. Additionally, FS1 will be airing four Friday night Big Ten games this season.

This season will mark the first that NBC, the longtime home for Notre Dame football, will be contractually tied to a conference. It will be broadcasting 15 Big Ten games in 2023, 13 of which will come in prime time in what the network has dubbed “Big Ten Saturday Night.” The first of those will come on Saturday night when No. 7 Penn State takes on West Virginia in the renewal of a rivalry between the two programs from bordering states that has been dormant since 1992.

NBC will still carry five of Notre Dame’s six home games this season. The exception will be a Sept. 16 contest against Central Michigan that will stream exclusively on Peacock.

What does that mean for the SEC on CBS deal?

In 1996, CBS resumed full-time college football coverage when it signed a deal with the SEC to carry in-conference games.

Since then, the league and network have become synonymous, complete with a distinctive theme song and Verne Lundquist’s voice narrating the hard-hitting action.

Beginning this season, though, the SEC will no longer be exclusively tethered to CBS’ mid-afternoon college football programming on Saturdays. It is sharing CBS’ available time slots with the Big Ten this season and in 2024, the SEC game of the week game will move to ABC, the result of a deal the league signed with ESPN in December 2020.

CBS will still carry 13 SEC games this season, beginning with South Carolina at Georgia on Sept. 16. Only three other specific games are already determined – Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville on Oct. 28, Missouri at Arkansas on Nov. 24 and the SEC championship game on Dec. 2 – while the other 10 matchups will be decided at a later date based on how the season unfolds.

Where can I watch Ohio State vs. Indiana?

Ohio State vs. Indiana will air at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2, on CBS and stream on Paramount+. The game can also be found on Fubo, which offers a free trial.

The Buckeyes are a 30.5-point favorite, according to the most recent odds from BetMGM.

Big Ten on CBS schedule for 2023

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Big Ten on CBS 2023: Why Indiana-Ohio State kicks off media rights deal