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CBS Moves Operations of CSTV In-House

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

CBS Moves Its CSTV College Sports Network In-House

By Curtis Eichelberger

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- CBS Corp. has taken over daily business operations of its college sports cable network, CSTV, with the aim of creating a business model similar to Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN networks.

The move will allow CBS, which owns the rights to the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament, to sell advertising and offer programming across multiple platforms, including over-the-air broadcasts, cable and the Internet.

``Having a cable asset under the same roof as the network, will be important in terms of rights, production, sales'' and subscribers to CSTV, CBS Corp. Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said today in an interview.

CBS bought CSTV Networks Inc., the top digital media company devoted solely to college athletics, in November 2005.

CSTV televises regular-season and championship events for 35 men's and women's college sports, provides streaming audio and video of more than 10,000 events annually and runs CSTV.com, a Web site with a network of almost 215 official athletic sites.

As part of the consolidation, founder Brian Bedol, will step down as CSTV's day-to-day manager and become a senior adviser to Moonves, the company said. He will be replaced by Tony Petitti, CBS Sports' executive vice president and executive producer.

CSTV's revenue has tripled since it was acquired by CBS, CBS spokeswoman LeslieAnne Wade said. Moonves today declined to give any revenue figures.

`Pretty Good Model'

CBS's strategy initially will be to use its brand recognition to help CSTV grow by developing new programming and sharing some of the network programming with the cable network, said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and CBS Sports.

``Look at the way ESPN and ABC Sports are run,'' McManus said in an interview. ``That's a pretty good model to show you how a network and a cable operation can work together and how they leveraged themselves in Nascar and college football and tennis and some other sports.''

Media consultant and former CBS Sports President Neal Pilson said ESPN proved that sports distribution works best when it's run by one company.

``Now, when people negotiate with CBS Sports, they are getting everything under one company. That's what is significant here. This just made CBS a more powerful marketing tool.''

CBS fell 53 cents to $25.89 at 4:17 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares fell 13 percent last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Curtis Eichelberger in Washington at ceichelberge@bloomberg.net

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I wish CBS owned the mtn.

They do own half of it.

It's 50% Comcast, 50% CSTV.

"Had to come back real quick for this one.....

Boise St finished 4th in the coaches poll, same as Utah. Had Petersen violated the rules and voted Boise St #1 like Whittingham, Boise St would have finished no worse than THIRD and very likely 2nd. Look at how few votes seperated BSU and Florida.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/year/2009/seasontype/3

PWNED." -- IanforHeisman

www.mwcboard.com/www/forums/index.php?showtopic=23865

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I wish CBS owned the mtn.

This article mentions the Mtn.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6516...l?desc=topstory

CBS Integrates CSTV Into Sports Division

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 1/3/2008 1:55:00 PM

With College Sports Television migrating within CBS Sports, Brian Bedol has left the network he launched four years ago.

Under the reorganization, CBS Corp. is integrating CSTV and its various holdings into CBS Sports. Oversight of CSTV, which CBS Corp. acquired for $325 million in November 2005, now falls to Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, with daily operational management under the purview of Tony Petitti, executive vice president and executive producer of CBS Sports.

As part of the consolidation, Bedol, who rolled out CSTV along with Chris Bevilicqua in 2003 and helped grow it as an independent division within CBS to where it now counts some 25 million homes, is now a senior advisor to CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves.

In addition to the linear network that televises regular-season and championship events from 35 men's and women's sports, CSTV's portfolio also includes CSTV.com and its network of nearly 215 official sites; the CSTV XXLandAll Accessbroadband services that provide live and streaming audio and video of more than 10,000 events annually; and a stake in regional sports network, The Mtn.--Mountain Sports Network.

"CSTV is one of the great brands in college sports and a real asset to CBS Corporation, said Moonves in a statement. It has developed tremendously since we acquired it in 2005, thanks to the vision and hard work of Brian Bedol and his team. We are confident that it is now ready to become a part of the peerless CBS Sports division I want to thank Brian for all he has done with CSTV, and I look forward to working with Sean and Tony as we bring this extraordinary brand to the next level.

Since becoming part of CBS Corporation, CSTV has had the opportunity to grow bigger and faster and better than I could have ever imagined,

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Interesting that while the MWC Presidents insists on national satellite distribution, the media media calls the mtn. a regional sports network.

Yoda out...

____________________________________________...

After deleting some of my posts and closing the offending SteveAztec thread, a couple of elites have been able to open it long enough to respond to me anyway.  And since I can’t respond on a closed thread, here is my response…

Other than the initial inquiry, this has never been about letting Steve post again; I doubt that he even wants to post here.  My complaint is about his treatment on this board and the failure of admins to control attacks on him – and worse, to sometimes participate in those attacks.

Steve was first banned on the SDSU board.  When he was banned, it was a sufficiently controversial that they started what became an 8 page thread on the topic to justify the decision (https://aztecmesa.proboards.com/thread/9747/steve-aztec-longer-member-board).  It is clear that Steve had support in the community and there was some criticism for the Board Administrators for having failed to “expel the dozens of people who've been taunting him.”  (And take a look at the thread that I bumped; initially it was supporters happy about Steve getting a radio show.  Then the haters arrived.)

I can’t say if Steve took it too far in response, but I will say that he denies most of various accusations and adds important missing context to others.  But I wasn’t a party to any of the events and can’t say who is in the right and who is in the wrong.  And I have to admit that if half of what has been said about him is true, depending on context, I might well have banned him too.  Or more likely I might have banned those who were taunting him.  (Steve had lost a brother-in-law to suicide and there have been a number of memes of people blowing their brains out, as well as posts blaming Steve or his sister for the suicide – and admins apparently let it go.)

I am in no position to evaluate the truth or falsity of the laundry list of claims made on this board about how Steve responded to all this.  My complaint, however, is about his treatment on this board.  I may be wrong, but his banning on this board at least appears to have been less about what he did on this board and more a carryover from the SDSU banning.  The same taunting continued – more suicide memes – apparently ignored by the admins. Utenation supposedly posted the first and it is explained away because he didn’t know about the suicide.  But was the post taken down?  Was an apology issued?   Indeed, for years, admins on this board have allowed Steve to be vilified based on little more than anecdotal hearsay.  This is a privately owned board, but it is not a private board – anyone can join.  And more than that, It’s not an anonymous board; people know who Steve.  You have a duty to protect your posters from libelous statements and unproven allegations -- especially when, having been banned themselves, they have no ability to defend themselves.

Even Retrofade (who says he’s not a mod but can post to closed threads) put up a “blowing his brains out” meme several years ago.  He knew that Steve lost his brother-in-law to suicide, and he now says that “Steve is a mentally disturbed individual”, which is libelous by the way, but excuses his meme as nothing more than being in “poor taste”.  Apparently it is okay with the board's current admins to taunt a "mentally disturbed person" because the post has never been taken down.  The poster has never been admonished.  And there has been no apology, unless you consider "he deserved it" to be an apology.

In my view, you owe Steve an apology for the treatment that you have tolerated and, in some cases, engaged in.  A former Aztec board went out of business when sued (not by Steve).  It won’t be the last one.  You need to fix this.  You need to administer your board and prevent libelous and incendiary attacks -- hearsay-- on posters. 

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Interesting that while the MWC Presidents insists on national satellite distribution, the media media calls the mtn. a regional sports network.

Yoda out...

That's probably because at this point the mtn. IS a reagional sports network.

And the MWC presidents WANT it to be national.

Unlike sports reporters, business reporters usually follow AP style and don't tend to insert their opinions. The report much straighter than sports reporters do.

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CSTV is very poorly ran IMO.... I have no desire to watch that channel unless one of our teams is involved. There are no bells, whistles or sizzle to that channel... Very bland... They need a marque product, solid marketing angle and they need to get rid of prime-time D1AA or division 2 football broadcasts.. This looks very bad if you're trying to compete in a shark tank of established sport's networks.

Crystal Ball is a very, very poor man's Sportscenter/Pre-game show..

It would be nice if CBS put their stamp on this network, so far we've seen nothing from them..

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CSTV is very poorly ran IMO.... I have no desire to watch that channel unless one of our teams is involved. There are no bells, whistles or sizzle to that channel... Very bland... They need a marque product, solid marketing angle and they need to get rid of prime-time D1AA or division 2 football broadcasts.. This looks very bad if you're trying to compete in a shark tank of established sport's networks.

Crystal Ball is a very, very poor man's Sportscenter/Pre-game show..

It would be nice if CBS put their stamp on this network, so far we've seen nothing from them..

I am encouraged by this turn of events. I imagine CBS will now be much more involved with the day to day workings of CSTV. I agree with you about how bland CSTV is and like you, I only watch it if one of the MWC teams is playing on the network.

CSTV needs to show some first round games as an alternate channel from the NCAA tournament and upgrade the content on CSTV as a whole.

CSTV is now being broadcast in HD which is another step in a positive direction.

This might also make the mtn. more attractive to the satellite companies as well. The mtn. needs to be broadcast in HD simply because DirecTV wants to be the leader in HD content. If the mtn. is in HD they would be much more inclined to put it on their line-up of HD channels. CBS now running things might be able to expedite this.

This is good news.

Finished stadium 2017B.jpg

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I am encouraged by this turn of events. I imagine CBS will now be much more involved with the day to day workings of CSTV. I agree with you about how bland CSTV is and like you, I only watch it if one of the MWC teams is playing on the network.

CSTV needs to show some first round games as an alternate channel from the NCAA tournament and upgrade the content on CSTV as a whole.

CSTV is now being broadcast in HD which is another step in a positive direction.

This might also make the mtn. more attractive to the satellite companies as well. The mtn. needs to be broadcast in HD simply because DirecTV wants to be the leader in HD content. If the mtn. is in HD they would be much more inclined to put it on their line-up of HD channels. CBS now running things might be able to expedite this.

This is good news.

I'd be encouraged too, along with any A-10 and C-USA fans. CSTV has been very Mickey Mouse in terms of productions and, rumor has it, been run very tightfisted by Brian Bedol. He's essentially been canned (it just hasn't been worded that way). According to those articles, revenues at CSTV have tripled since CBS bought in. This might be what you and C-USA fans have been hoping for. Tony Pettiti, the new head of CSTV, is the guy responsible for CBS' NFL coverage.

As for that HD feed, yes, it is a feed marked as HD, but nothing yet has been shown in HD and the feed is a poorly stretched SD feed. Most of DirecTV's HD feeds look better than the SD version, CSTV looks marginal or worse.

Maybe we'll see better announcers and production. For the Utah based folks, doesn't Craig Bolerjack still live out there? I know he does the Jazz games on TV, but does he still work as a local sports anchor? He's be ideal to use for MWC football & basketball as a signature voice. Plus he'd be tied in to CBS to do a few college games every year, plus the odd NFL assignment.

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CSTV is very poorly ran IMO.... I have no desire to watch that channel unless one of our teams is involved. There are no bells, whistles or sizzle to that channel... Very bland... They need a marque product, solid marketing angle and they need to get rid of prime-time D1AA or division 2 football broadcasts.. This looks very bad if you're trying to compete in a shark tank of established sport's networks.

Crystal Ball is a very, very poor man's Sportscenter/Pre-game show..

It would be nice if CBS put their stamp on this network, so far we've seen nothing from them..

CBS could make a run at the ABC/ESPN model if they had any sense and would pump some life into CSTV and negotiate with some college conferences and go toe to toe with ESPN.

CBS seems to be letting a potential good thing wilt on the vine with the way things are now.

Hell even simulcast come mtn. games on CSTV to get the exposure for everyone involved?!?!?!

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I'd be encouraged too, along with any A-10 and C-USA fans. CSTV has been very Mickey Mouse in terms of productions and, rumor has it, been run very tightfisted by Brian Bedol. He's essentially been canned (it just hasn't been worded that way). According to those articles, revenues at CSTV have tripled since CBS bought in. This might be what you and C-USA fans have been hoping for. Tony Pettiti, the new head of CSTV, is the guy responsible for CBS' NFL coverage.

As for that HD feed, yes, it is a feed marked as HD, but nothing yet has been shown in HD and the feed is a poorly stretched SD feed. Most of DirecTV's HD feeds look better than the SD version, CSTV looks marginal or worse.

Maybe we'll see better announcers and production. For the Utah based folks, doesn't Craig Bolerjack still live out there? I know he does the Jazz games on TV, but does he still work as a local sports anchor? He's be ideal to use for MWC football & basketball as a signature voice. Plus he'd be tied in to CBS to do a few college games every year, plus the odd NFL assignment.

I think CSTV wants the WAC and would make an offer when their contract with ESPN ends but I doubt it now that CBS is running things at CSTV. I believe they will make a play for the SEC instead.

I also think this is good news for those who want the mtn. on DirecTV and Dish. If the revenues of CSTV have tripled since CBS bought CSTV then I

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CBS could make a run at the ABC/ESPN model if they had any sense and would pump some life into CSTV and negotiate with some college conferences and go toe to toe with ESPN.

CBS seems to be letting a potential good thing wilt on the vine with the way things are now.

Hell even simulcast come mtn. games on CSTV to get the exposure for everyone involved?!?!?!

The problem is that they'd likely bolster their SEC coverage, and in addition turn their attention towards the Pac 10 and possibly the Big XII. We would get left behind in the dust. The only thing we have going for us in this regard is those two conferences' supplemental agreements with the Fox regional networks.

Be very careful what you wish for......there are no guarantees beyond what we currently have with the mtn., and this does NOT necessarily mean more coverage for our conference on their network. Of course, I would like to think that it will, and I obviously hope it does, but the simple fact is that we don't carry the clout of the big conferences they'd likely look to build around.

"Once an Aztec, Always an Aztec"

CSU Fresno: Accepting SDSU's sloppy seconds since 1911.

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BTW CBS has broadcast rights to the Sun Bowl. Maybe CBS would be receptive to moving the MWC into one of the slots opposite the PAC-10/Big East if the Sun Bowl contract is renewedwith CBS. Just a thought. Hopefully Thompson will at least bring it up if the opportunity presents itself.

And maybe CBS will start hyping the MWC a little. It will help recruiting.

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The problem is that they'd likely bolster their SEC coverage, and in addition turn their attention towards the Pac 10 and possibly the Big XII. We would get left behind in the dust. The only thing we have going for us in this regard is those two conferences' supplemental agreements with the Fox regional networks.

Be very careful what you wish for......there are no guarantees beyond what we currently have with the mtn., and this does NOT necessarily mean more coverage for our conference on their network. Of course, I would like to think that it will, and I obviously hope it does, but the simple fact is that we don't carry the clout of the big conferences they'd likely look to build around.

The lack of clout on a national basis should have been red flag #1 for anyone thinking they could start a MWC only network.............there is miniscule demand outside of the states the conference is located in and when recruits, far away media, etc can't see your games, it will only hurt the conference in the long run.

I have heard a few times from various coaches around the MWC that this TV deal does crop up in recruiting kids from outside the MWC footprint.

If the mtn./CSTV/CBS could get the netowrk more exposure it will negate some concerns.............but as it stands now, anyome wanting to see a MWC team or game that lives outside the small coverage area can't see the games.............which sucks for parents, dislocated fans & recruits..........no MWC coach can tell a kid to watch our game tonight to a potential recruit.

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The problem is that they'd likely bolster their SEC coverage, and in addition turn their attention towards the Pac 10 and possibly the Big XII. We would get left behind in the dust. The only thing we have going for us in this regard is those two conferences' supplemental agreements with the Fox regional networks.

Be very careful what you wish for......there are no guarantees beyond what we currently have with the mtn., and this does NOT necessarily mean more coverage for our conference on their network. Of course, I would like to think that it will, and I obviously hope it does, but the simple fact is that we don't carry the clout of the big conferences they'd likely look to build around.

Sure they will make a play for some BCS conferences. They already have a deal with the SEC. We don

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I believe they will make a play for the SEC instead.

DING DING DING!!!

No doubt they are going to make a play for the SEC, at least for the football games that are currently syndicated through Raycom Sports (the ones that air 12:30pm EST/10:30am MST). The SEC is comsidering their own network (supposedly Comcast has offered up the channel currently programmed as CSS in the southeast) and Comcast and Fox are making their pitches. CSTV made a pitch for the Big Ten but must have laughed off what CSTV presented. At least with CBS running the show there is someone proven to have a solid reputation within college sports.

Maybe they would make a pitch for the WAC too, who knows.

If I'm the MWC, if CBS asks for a little bit of give with respect to start times of games or for some flexible scheduling (ie. 12-day picks), I'd seriously listen. I don't think they'd ask for a lot and it might be worth the reward. Would an 11am start time for a football game be asking too much? We know that the Central Time Zone schools of the Big Ten & Big 12 sometimes have to start games at 11am locally for TV. Would a 7pm local start time for a football game be truly a hardship? For the Saturday games that were televised, 5/14 on CSTV & Versus were after 7pm local start times, just 3/29 on the mtn.

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DING DING DING!!!

No doubt they are going to make a play for the SEC, at least for the football games that are currently syndicated through Raycom Sports (the ones that air 12:30pm EST/10:30am MST). The SEC is comsidering their own network (supposedly Comcast has offered up the channel currently programmed as CSS in the southeast) and Comcast and Fox are making their pitches. CSTV made a pitch for the Big Ten but must have laughed off what CSTV presented. At least with CBS running the show there is someone proven to have a solid reputation within college sports.

Maybe they would make a pitch for the WAC too, who knows.

If I'm the MWC, if CBS asks for a little bit of give with respect to start times of games or for some flexible scheduling (ie. 12-day picks), I'd seriously listen. I don't think they'd ask for a lot and it might be worth the reward. Would an 11am start time for a football game be asking too much? We know that the Central Time Zone schools of the Big Ten & Big 12 sometimes have to start games at 11am locally for TV. Would a 7pm local start time for a football game be truly a hardship? For the Saturday games that were televised, 5/14 on CSTV & Versus were after 7pm local start times, just 3/29 on the mtn.

Technically speaking, Matt, they already HAVE the SEC. I don't think it would be much of a stretch for them to expand the CBS contract with the SEC to include more coverage on CSTV.

The question that's most pertinent to us is how much more coverage are they willing to give us? How much muscle are they going to be willing to throw behind the mtn. to get the distribution expanded? How much arm twisting can they do with Comcast to solve the impasse?

I'm cautiously optimistic here. But I can easily see us becoming an afterthought.

"Once an Aztec, Always an Aztec"

CSU Fresno: Accepting SDSU's sloppy seconds since 1911.

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What concerns me is that they're going to buy up the morning SEC games on LP Sports syndication and move them to CSTV. That would push us out a little further. I wish our commissioner would grow a pair and demand that CBS/CSTV guarantee us the Saturday night slot during the fall.

I think it is very reasonable and profitable for CBS to have a fall Satuday lineup of:

12 PM EST - SEC game

3:30 PM EST - CUSA game

7:30 PM EST - MWC game

Additionally, we absolutely need to go to flex scheduling to avoid stinkers like the SDSU/UNLV game on CSTV this year. An ideal TV situation would have a MWC game on Vs. on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM EST, the night game on CSTV at 7:30 PM EST, and the remaining games on the mtn. as 11 AM or 7 PM local kickoffs. That would allow minimal overrun and give us 2 marquee games per week. It's an SEC-lite plan.

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What concerns me is that they're going to buy up the morning SEC games on LP Sports syndication and move them to CSTV. That would push us out a little further. I wish our commissioner would grow a pair and demand that CBS/CSTV guarantee us the Saturday night slot during the fall.

I think it is very reasonable and profitable for CBS to have a fall Satuday lineup of:

12 PM EST - SEC game

3:30 PM EST - CUSA game

7:30 PM EST - MWC game

Additionally, we absolutely need to go to flex scheduling to avoid stinkers like the SDSU/UNLV game on CSTV this year. An ideal TV situation would have a MWC game on Vs. on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM EST, the night game on CSTV at 7:30 PM EST, and the remaining games on the mtn. as 11 AM or 7 PM local kickoffs. That would allow minimal overrun and give us 2 marquee games per week. It's an SEC-lite plan.

I seriuosly doubt the MWC would be in prime-time. I think it would be more like...

12 p.m. EST - CUSA

3:30 p.m. EST - MWC

8 p.m. EST - SEC

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