TRAVERSE CITY -- Chris Hahn sat at Shooters All-Star Pub on East Front Street as a TV screen counted down to the official launch of the Big Ten Network.
He wasn't excited.
"I have cable, which I pay $120 a month for, but I can't watch my local teams on television at home," Hahn said. "Instead, if I want to watch the game, I have to change my schedule and come here."
The University of Michigan's football team debuts on the Big Ten Network today and Michigan State's gridders follow next Saturday. Neither game will be shown on local cable, and reaction from fans in Traverse City ranged between frustration and disgust.
The Big Ten Network is not carried by cable TV provider Charter Communications and is only available on satellite provider DirecTV. The Big Ten Network will broadcast between three and six football games for each conference team this year.
"Basically, there's a lot of people disgusted with it," said Todd Biggs, manager of the sports paraphernalia store Let's Go Blue on Garfield Road. "Previously, you could watch just about every Michigan game on television."
Bob Butler, general manager at Shooters, said he can't remember a time when a Michigan game wasn't on TV. Though many of the premier college football showdowns will still be shown on cable, he said his customers are frustrated.
"It shouldn't be this way," Butler said.
Shooters has DirecTV and will show Saturday's game, but despite about 25 calls of inquiry each day about the Wolverines' game, Butler doesn't expect a windfall.
"We're a sports bar and it's football season. We're always busy and I don't think this will make any difference," he said.
The Big Ten Network, co-owned by Fox Cable Network and the Big Ten Conference, has been unable to sign a deal with both Charter Communications and the two largest cable television providers in the Midwest -- Comcast and Time Warner.
The cable providers refuse to bow to what they say are two of the new network's demands: putting it on expanded basic cable, and charging each subscriber an additional $1.10 a month for the service.
A Charter spokesman said the company wants to put the Big Ten Network on its sports tier, a premium-priced option.
Chris Hahn said he doesn't want to buy the sports tier or see his cable bill go up.
"It's just about money and greed" he said. "Our capitalist system at work."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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