The MTN a Failure?

[Mormon Red Death]

I was reading an article on Si.com about the BYU/FSU game not being seen on DirecTv etc...

A couple of paragraphs of note:

The Mountain West spurned ESPN prior to the 2006 season because the four-letter network planned to give away all those prime Thursday-night telecasts to BCS conferences. So instead of playing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, the Mountain West opted to create its own network in partnership with CSTV, now known as CBS College Sports.

It was a noble thought, but it has been a spectacular failure. Clearly, ESPN is too powerful a foe to challenge. Imagine the buzz Utah might have had entering bowl season last year had people been able to watch the Utes play on a regular basis. College football fans would have tuned to ESPN in droves to watch Utah, BYU and TCU play on odd nights.

Mountain West highlights have all but disappeared off of ESPN, with a few notable exceptions such as this year's BYU-Oklahoma game, which was broadcast on ABC because Oklahoma was considered the home team and the Big 12 has a contract with ESPN/ABC. Meanwhile, the Mountain West, which might be better top-to-bottom than the Big East, lags behind the MAC in exposure. Friday, I asked Toledo coach Tim Beckman how his team's nationally televised whipping of Colorado might play with recruits, and his smile reached clear to Columbus.

The next time the Mountain West makes a television deal, officals should crawl back to ESPN. The current arrangement hurt the Utes last year, and it may wind up hurting the Cougars this year. Because if a team dominates and no one tunes in to see it, did it really dominate at all?

Agree?

I VEHEMENTLY disagree.

1. Lets see we make more money than what espn wanted to pay us. We play on Saturdays.

2. Anyone of our fans can go to any sports bar in America and see every game (Versus/Directtv is a problem however).

3. People werent going to watch on us on Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday nights. Ball St and Boise St were undefeated last year and no one watched their games. Why would the MWC be different?

4. before the versus/direct tv problem Our games on Versus were just as available as espn.

Here are the items the mtn needs to fix.

1. HD

2. streaming the games online. Fing Justintv can do it but the MWC can't?

3. More branding of our product.

4. Direct Tv and Versus needs to get fixed.

5. Need to purchase from comcast their ownership portion of the Mtn. That way we can get it on other systems. Comcast is the devil

[Mormon Red Death]

The number one school to benefit from the MTN is BSU. This year they will play games on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays and ESPN has them on six times. It has really increased their exposure throughout the country.

the ratings stink. I'm willing to bet the afternoon versus game outdraws the tuesday boise st game every time.

[I.J. Reilly]

I VEHEMENTLY disagree.

How can you disagree? You two are practically the same person.*

















*Sorry, I often get you and Drum N Feather confused. I'm not sure why, I think it has something to do with the avatars.

[DrumNFeather]

I think BYU's suckiness hurt attendance more than Thursday nights. 1 or 2 Tursday night games per season were a good thing but as been said now we were getting moved off of Thursday nights so the point is moot.

I like the idea of opening the season on a Thursday, and then maybe one other big time Thursday game (BYU-TCU or TCU-Utah). Putting New Mexico vs. Air Force on a Thursday is dumb.

[U-Ute]

One thing I don't see mentioned here is the money received by the schools for the TV contract.

IIRC the conference contract with the Mtn is something in the neighborhood of double what ESPN was offering, for a longer period as well.

That's where the real $$$ lies. BCS games are nice, but even AQ conferences split the money 12 ways.

U-Ute

[Surfah]

The only time I'd ever be okay with a Thursday game is if it's a season opener or after bye week.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

It is a failure because it was supposed to be for less popular schools and non-revenue sports. A way to get them out to all their fans. Instead it has become a bargaining chip with sat and cable companies. I used to have bookmarked on my old laptop the press release stating that the MWC was to be the flagship conference for CSTV.

Well CSTV rarely if ever shows MWC games. Instead it was a bait and switch. BYU, TCU and Utah should never be on the Mtn. in football. If that were the case and the games were always on CBSCS or Vs, and the CSU, New Mexico and SDSUs of the conf were on the Mtn weekly then the TV deal would be a smashing success. Instead at this point it is on the border of an epic fail.

[Surfah]

It is a failure because it was supposed to be for less popular schools and non-revenue sports. A way to get them out to all their fans. Instead it has become a bargaining chip with sat and cable companies. I used to have bookmarked on my old laptop the press release stating that the MWC was to be the flagship conference for CSTV.

Well CSTV rarely if ever shows MWC games. Instead it was a bait and switch. BYU, TCU and Utah should never be on the Mtn. in football. If that were the case and the games were always on CBSCS or Vs, and the CSU, New Mexico and SDSUs of the conf were on the Mtn weekly then the TV deal would be a smashing success. Instead at this point it is on the border of an epic fail.

I agree with this. CSTV should carry the football games, particularly the marquis teams.

[Mormon Red Death]

I agree with this. CSTV should carry the football games, particularly the marquis teams.

Versus should be the channel to carry the marquee games they are on more cable and satellite systems (before the directv fiasco) than cbs sports.

[jay santos]

I was reading an article on Si.com about the BYU/FSU game not being seen on DirecTv etc...

A couple of paragraphs of note:

The Mountain West spurned ESPN prior to the 2006 season because the four-letter network planned to give away all those prime Thursday-night telecasts to BCS conferences. So instead of playing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, the Mountain West opted to create its own network in partnership with CSTV, now known as CBS College Sports.

It was a noble thought, but it has been a spectacular failure. Clearly, ESPN is too powerful a foe to challenge. Imagine the buzz Utah might have had entering bowl season last year had people been able to watch the Utes play on a regular basis. College football fans would have tuned to ESPN in droves to watch Utah, BYU and TCU play on odd nights.

Mountain West highlights have all but disappeared off of ESPN, with a few notable exceptions such as this year's BYU-Oklahoma game, which was broadcast on ABC because Oklahoma was considered the home team and the Big 12 has a contract with ESPN/ABC. Meanwhile, the Mountain West, which might be better top-to-bottom than the Big East, lags behind the MAC in exposure. Friday, I asked Toledo coach Tim Beckman how his team's nationally televised whipping of Colorado might play with recruits, and his smile reached clear to Columbus.

The next time the Mountain West makes a television deal, officals should crawl back to ESPN. The current arrangement hurt the Utes last year, and it may wind up hurting the Cougars this year. Because if a team dominates and no one tunes in to see it, did it really dominate at all?

Agree?

Unfortunately yes I agree. ESPN makes and breaks teams. We got a taste of it the last two weeks. The love affair is now over.

[Surfah]

Versus should be the channel to carry the marquee games they are on more cable and satellite systems (before the directv fiasco) than cbs sports.

You're right. Versus should carry it. Though the DirecTV deal needs to get done.

[Pheidippides]

I would consider the Mtn less of a failure if they would get some decent cameras and broadcast in HD.

[jay santos]

the ratings stink. I'm willing to bet the afternoon versus game outdraws the tuesday boise st game every time.

I'd be curious to know the actuals on this. I read an article about how huge ESPN's Thursday night games were getting. There was a game a year or two ago that beat all of the non-BCS bowl games in TV ratings with a 6 or something. My gut is that a Tuesday night ESPN game would double a VS Saturday afternoon game.

[Mormon Red Death]

The conference/the mtn needs to get comcast out of the equation so they can get things done. Currently they own 50% of the contract and manage the station.

The mtn. will be available to cable and satellite providers throughout the nation. Comcast and CSTV each own 50% of the network, which will be managed by Comcast. Additionally, CSTV will be added to Comcast's digital basic systems in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico.

this is hurting the station because comcast won't let them put games online and they are pushing way too hard on getting the mtn on sports tiers with other carriers.

Not to mention the cost to move the station to HD is something the bastards at comcast dont want to do.

CSTV gave up ownership in the first place to get on the digital tiers of comcast for a cheaper price. Basically Dave Checketts is a weasel who sold our conferences games to the devil in order make himself a couple extra bucks.

[BoylenOver]

It is a failure because it was supposed to be for less popular schools and non-revenue sports. A way to get them out to all their fans. Instead it has become a bargaining chip with sat and cable companies. I used to have bookmarked on my old laptop the press release stating that the MWC was to be the flagship conference for CSTV.

Well CSTV rarely if ever shows MWC games. Instead it was a bait and switch. BYU, TCU and Utah should never be on the Mtn. in football. If that were the case and the games were always on CBSCS or Vs, and the CSU, New Mexico and SDSUs of the conf were on the Mtn weekly then the TV deal would be a smashing success. Instead at this point it is on the border of an epic fail.

CBS-CS (formerly CSTV) will show twice as many Army and Navy games as MWC games this season. It's pretty sad.