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RamSack

Alternate Solution for the mtn

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According to a recent article, aside from BYU's following, the rest of the MWC teams don't have enough fan following to justify getting the mtn on satellite. Is it an option to partner with another league to 1) increase the demand, 2) add more live sports coverage, 3) add more non-repeat sports programming, 4) etc?

One example could be the Ivy League who has household names of Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc. Give them 1 Saturday football game each week. Show other games on tape delay throughout the week. During BB season, they can have Friday's and 1 game each Saturday. Air their BB tournament finals live on the mtn.

Here's part of an article about their issues with TV:

By Pat Eaton-Robb, Associated Press

NEW HAVEN, Conn.

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I would probably say A-10 over the Ivy league because they have a pretty solid basketball reputation and are in good markets. That really does not provide a solution for football demand, but having them in basketball would definitely push up the appeal to satellite companies IMO. I really don't know what the A-10's current contract is like, but I know they are with ESPN because I have seen Xavier and St. Louis home games on ESPN this year.

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I would probably say A-10 over the Ivy league because they have a pretty solid basketball reputation and are in good markets. That really does not provide a solution for football demand, but having them in basketball would definitely push up the appeal to satellite companies IMO. I really don't know what the A-10's current contract is like, but I know they are with ESPN because I have seen Xavier and St. Louis home games on ESPN this year.

ESPN may have first choice, but usually has to decide 10 or so days before the contest (at least that's how it was with the MWC). You might not be able to get the best games in this scenario, but you can still get some good ones.

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I would probably say A-10 over the Ivy league because they have a pretty solid basketball reputation and are in good markets. That really does not provide a solution for football demand, but having them in basketball would definitely push up the appeal to satellite companies IMO. I really don't know what the A-10's current contract is like, but I know they are with ESPN because I have seen Xavier and St. Louis home games on ESPN this year.

What about the Colonial Athletic Association?

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What about the Colonial Athletic Association?

Colonial would bring football schools like Deleware and James Madison that would likely generate a decent following for a game of the week. In basketball Colonial has VCU, George Mason, Hofstra, and others that are consistantly pretty competitive. I think either would provide good basketball games.

Maybe a WCC, MWC, A-10 type of set up would allow for high enough basketball quality to attract the satellite companies. I think our best bet would be to go with another non-BCS football league like C-USA or MAC, but I doubt those leagues would go for that after seeing the trouble we have had unless they kept their ESPN contracts as their primary and the MTN would only be allowed the 2nd pick of their games.

I guess another possibility is to try to make it a western college sports network by working deals with the Big Sky (Montana, Northern Arizona, ect), WCC (San Diego, St Mary's, Gonzaga, ect..), Big West (Pacific, Long Beach State, ect..), Southland (Texas State, Sam Houston State, ect). The MWC would obviously be the primary conference getting most of the prime TV spots, but I think we could benefit from leagues like these just to help fill the network with more live sports programming. I think college baseball coverage on the MTN could be the best in the country with conferences like the Big West mixed in with strong programs from the other conferences.

I also don't know what kind of contrac the WCHA for hockey, but that could be a possibility and something that could maybe break us into a few other markets with teams such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota playing hockey in that league.

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I still say the MWC network will come to a cross roads before long as to survival.............the income has to be minimal based solely on the few numbers of households who get the network, which kills advertising revenue.

I say the MWC should beg/plead/cajole to get piggy backed with the B10 network as a package deal, or even toss the MWC network in for free.

The MWC network is now thru 1 1/2 seasons with limited exposure in the MWC markets and zero exposure in the DFW market.................some where along the line someone is going to have o look at the dollars................unless CSTV & Versus are kicking in dollars to support what has to be a money losing venture to this point.

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According to a recent article, aside from BYU's following, the rest of the MWC teams don't have enough fan following to justify getting the mtn on satellite.

Gee whiz !!!! Wasn't this obvious ..............any idiot who thought that anyone could sell the MWC nationally is truly naive as they come..............maybe the next big thing from this type of thinking will be washboards and 8 track tapes.

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I still say the MWC network will come to a cross roads before long as to survival.............

unless CSTV & Versus are kicking in dollars to support what has to be a money losing venture to this point.

The mtn. is a partnership between Comcast and CSTV, so I'm guessing they're both bankrolling it.

And most start-ups are money losers. Their financial plan likely had them getting into the black after 3 years -- which isn't likely with the impasse with the satellite companies..

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Gee whiz !!!! Wasn't this obvious ..............any idiot who thought that anyone could sell the MWC nationally is truly naive as they come..............maybe the next big thing from this type of thinking will be washboards and 8 track tapes.

I don't think it is a lack of demand as much as a changing marketplace. There are all kinds of specialty networks out there with narrow audiences that somehow make it onto cable and satellite, and sports channels are the ones with the most "demand" (people calling for the channels). Heck, I bet even the mtn. has gotten more calls requesting it to the sats than most of the channels they offer. However, for basically every current specialty sports network from the NFL Network to the mtn., the price and/or tier they are asking for is more than the providers want to pay. We are seeing lines drawn in the sand (obviously different lines for different networks) as providers look at all of the potential costs specialty sports networks will cause. Consider what a provider will have to pay if there was a dedicated network to each NCAA conference, plus each professional league and maybe even individual professional teams. We are seeing those lines drawn and the resulting impasse for basically every network because whatever deals are made will serve as a precedent for negotiations for future networks. For each, its not a demand issue, its a price and precedent issue. The NFLNetwork and the Big Ten Network will most likely eventually find a common ground. You do wonder, though, for a more minor network like the mtn. if they aren't just hoping if they stall long enough, it will just "go away".

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To follow up on the "precedent" theme, this is an interesting article from a Penn St paper with some good quotes that talks about the struggles of conference based networks in the changing marketplace.

http://www.psucollegian.com/archive/2007/1...ng_unfamil.aspx

Some comments and quotes about the mtn. Also, hadn't thought that one reason Comcast is playing hardball with the Big Ten Network is to increase the chance that the league will partner with the Comcast instead of Fox or ESPN.

As The Mtn. goes into its second year of fruitless negotiations with satellite providers, Kim Carver, The Mtn.'s general manager, said she won't "negotiate through the press" like the Big Ten Network.

She did, however, say most networks face similar troubles when looking for distribution in the first few years. While the wrath of die-hard college sports fans highlights the negative of those who can't watch, Carver optimistically said she would advise other conferences to "go for it" and create a network.

Will the other NCAA conferences follow her lead?

"Million dollar question," Carver said. "I think so. I think it's a direction a lot of conferences will eventually look to go to. When you have a network dedicated 24-hours a day to your conference, you can really get invested into it."

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