Charter Communications and the Big Ten Network said today that they have a multi-year distribution agreement in place for Charter to carry the Big Ten Network’s programming.

The agreement between Charter and the Big Ten Network comes on the heels of a similar agreement that was struck by the Big Ten Network and Time Warner Cable Monday night (story here).

The carriage deal between Charter and the Big Ten Network means Big 10 football fans in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and northern Illinois could be able to watch college football games this Saturday.

“Big Ten Network and Charter are currently working together in an attempt to ensure that the majority of these same systems can launch the network on its expanded basic level of service in time for Saturday’s Big Ten college football openers,” Charter and the Big Ten Network said in a joint statement.

Like the Time Warner Cable deal, details were few in regard to the agreement between Charter and the Big Ten Network.

The Big Ten Network has faced opposition from cable operators that wanted to put its programming on a premium, or sports, tier. The sports tier would cost subscribers more money and give the Big Ten Network less penetration into cable subscribers’ homes than an expanded basic tier.

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