It's one of the most anticipated college football seasons in recent memory for Ducks fans. The team is now a member of the big 10 conference and is expected by many to be a part of the inaugural 12 team college football playoff. But certain fans will most likely be disappointed when they try to turn on the game Saturday. If you are a Comcast Xfinity uh customer and you are even if you're paying the $10 for the sports tier that, that Comcast is offering, uh you're going to be stuck uh blacked out the reason, a contract dispute between Comcast and Fox, which owns the majority of the big 10 network. The big loser according to Bill Oram of the Oregonian is the fans. As often happens, you have the consumer, the customer caught between two behemoth corporations, you know, playing game of chicken each other. Sports radio host, John Canzano says live sports have become a valuable bargaining chip for carriers. Sports programming is driving things and driving viewership like nothing else. And so that live sports programming really does become a battleground for the two sides. Comcast released a statement to KGW this week saying in part, we hope to be able to reach a fair agreement with Fox and the Big 10 network to be able to offer these games to our customers. The big 10 said this as the one distribution partner that declined to expand with us, Comcast Xfinity viewers in many areas will not have access to live broadcasts of Oregon, UCL A US C and Washington. The good news is unlike in years past sports fans in the Pacific Northwest have some flexibility. You are a streamer if you're on Hulu, if you're on direct TV, even or youtube TV, or Fubu TV, you can get the big 10 network as part of your basic package. Xfinity doesn't have that much value to the Oregon, the state of Oregon Sports fan anymore. And so it's actually kind of like a relief or a release because you now have options and other places to go and you're not beholden to this one corporate provider, John Adams KGW News.