By David Rasmussen
*A complete distribution list of BYU Football on TV is availiable at: www.themwc.cstv.com
For those wishing to see BYU football on TV this season, the Mountain West Conference and CSTV are stressing a single point: Patience is a virtue.
Due to ongoing negotiations between satellite television providers CSTV and the Mountain West, a large number of Cougar fans were unable to see BYU”s home opener win over Tulsa. And the near future doesn”t offer any immediate relief.
“It”s a cat-and-mouse game right now,” said Duff Tittle, BYU athletic department spokesman. “They [negotiations] are happening around the clock. We knew coming in that it could take a little bit of time to get this in place.”
This weekend”s contest against Boston College is unaffected by the happenings, because it will be aired on ESPN2. But after last week”s home opener was largely unavailable to viewers, a number of BYU fans sent letters, phoned messages, and sounded off on Internet message boards about their frustration over the current TV situation.
“I hate Comcast, and I hate cable,” said one disgruntled fan on cougarboard.com. Numerous others responded similarly when the Deseret Morning News encouraged BYU faithful to write in their opinions on the current situation.
Frustrations reached a boiling point when the Cougars” win over Tulsa was televised on “The Mountain”, the new network devoted exclusively to Mountain West Conference sports. The problem was that many BYU faithful did not have access to the 2-week-old network because neither DirecTV nor Dish Network satellite systems currently have the mtn. in their respective packages. As fans and alumni alike complain, Tittle and the conference are asking for patience.
“The problem is getting people to have long-term perspective on what this is going to be,” Tittle said. “I believe we”re developing something that may elevate this conference to a major player in college athletics.”
The road to the current situation began in September 2004, when the Mountain West Conference and CSTV (College Sports Television) announced a new deal that would create the first television network devoted exclusively to a collegiate athletic conference. The network officially received its name in April 2006, when it was dubbed “the mtn.”, or, Mountain West Sports Network. The deal came about as a result of the conference”s declining relationship with ESPN, which had been carrying MWC events for the previous seven years.
“It was getting hard to play games when we wanted to play,” Tittle said. “Our fans were fed up with football games on Thursday or Friday, basketball games on Monday night at 10 p.m. We just felt like we were getting less and less attention from ESPN. We were a small fish in their big pond.”
In addition to scheduling difficulties, ESPN was unwilling to match the $82 million deal that CSTV offered the Mountain West. The new seven-year contract with CSTV would provide the conference with many more opportunities to televise Olympic-style sporting events, an opportunity that ESPN had never offered.
“Last year, we had about 48 live TV games across all sports,” Tittle said. “I really believe we could have 100 live events [with the mtn.]. It gives us opportunities to reach the fans with more games.”
But until a settlement has been reached with the satellite TV providers, options are limited for those fans left in the dark.
“The negotiations are vigorous,” MWC commissioner Craig Thompson told The Salt Lake Tribune. “They are ongoing, they are active and both sides are working tirelessly.”
While expressing empathy for the fans” situation, many people familiar with the negotiations are asking fans to take action.
“We share the disappointment of fans who can”t yet see their favorite teams,” said Tim Fitzpatrick, spokesperson for the mtn. “We encourage fans to make their voices heard by contacting their provider.”
Fitzpatrick”s advice has been echoed by BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe in repeated e-mails to the student body. A letter sent jointly from Holmoe and University of Utah athletic director Chris Hill encouraged BYU and Utah fans alike to contact their respective satellite TV providers and inform them that they would like to have the mtn. made available on the satellite package.
“Our message is, you can make a difference in these negotiations,” the letter stated. “In conversations with the MWC and CSTV we learned the satellite companies have questioned our fans” interest in our television product. As alumni and supporters, you have the power to affect the outcome of the negotiations.”
A number of fans have expressed concern over the lack of results from such action. Some have called the satellite companies and been met with indifference, while others claim that the satellite companies have no knowledge whatsoever of the mtn. and the problem fans are facing. However, a spokesperson for Comcast affirmed that companies such as DirecTV or Dish Network make records of the number of calls they receive, and the nature of those calls. Responses from fans, along with continuing negotiations, should expedite the negotiation process.
“We are continuing to negotiate with additional providers, including the satellite companies,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have already reached agreements with 10 cable companies serving viewers in five states, but our goal is to make the mtn. as widely available as possible.”
In the last two months, a number of cable companies across the Wasatch front have added the mtn. to their packages, including Comcast, MSTAR, PROVO Cable, and others. But until it becomes universally available through cable and satellite providers, Cougar faithful are urged to exercise patience and maintain a long-term perspective.
“Everybody is comparing what we had last year at the end of a seven-year deal with ESPN to what is happening two weeks into the mtn. launch, and it”s not fair,” Tittle said. “Our relationship with ESPN had grown to what it was. We believe that this will grow to something as good as that from a distribution standpoint, but better from the standpoint of games, exposure, recruiting and taking the games to our fans. That”s what we”re looking at doing.”
