MWC fans likely losers in TV package

[MeanGreen61]

Post by Space Raider on the Sun Belt board

Fans likely losers in MWC package

UNION-TRIBUNE

April 21, 2006

It isn't often that I plan to write something hoping to be proved wrong – usually it just happens anyway – but there's a first time for everything.

And I don't have a good feeling about where we're headed with this new Mountain West Conference television package. At best, it's going to cost fans more money to watch the games they want to see. At worst, a lot of fans aren't going to be able to see many games.

Right now, I think we're more likely to see the worst-case scenario.

When the seven-year, $82 million deal with CSTV was announced in August 2004, everyone said to give it time. “We've got two years,” MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said. “We're comfortable people will have the opportunity to watch all the Mountain West they want.”

Two years is now down to four months, and most fans in two of the MWC's largest markets – San Diego and Las Vegas – are no closer to having access to CSTV or the new so-called “super regional” network with the super-unwieldy name, The mtn. – MountainWest Sports Network.

That's because CSTV has not been able to come to terms with the largest cable provider in each city, Cox Cable. In Las Vegas, Steve Schorr, a company vice president, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “no progress has been made in talks” to carry CSTV or The mtn.

Schorr added that CSTV's offer is “so outlandish I won't even consider it. It's so beyond the acceptable level. They're talking about a multimillion-dollar, single-year contract.”

Craig Nichols, vice president and general manager of Cox's Channel 4 San Diego, wasn't quite as outspoken when we spoke the other night, although he did make references to “enormous fees” and “unrealistic expectations.”

But, when I relayed Schorr's comments to Nichols, his response was telling. “I've never known Steve to be a liar,” Nichols said.

Cable companies customarily pay cable networks a fixed amount of money for each subscriber, and the cable company covers its costs through monthly subscriber fees and local advertising. But the latter is based on ratings, and Cox knows that while Mountain West games involving San Diego State generate moderate interest locally, those without the Aztecs are ignored.

Now, we all know how negotiations work, how something said today is easily forgotten tomorrow when a deal is reached. But there's no question that at this time – again, just four months from the Aug. 31 football opener between San Diego State and UTEP – the company and the network have a significant difference of opinion as to the worth of CSTV and The mtn. Cox clearly doesn't believe it's possible to make back the money CSTV is demanding. And, while Cox wants to support SDSU – remember whose name is on the school's arena – it's not in business to lose money.....

.....CSTV has a national agreement with Cox, one that was reached near the end of 2004. The local affiliate chose not to carry CSTV immediately because “there was no locally compelling product,” Nichols said. That money instead went toward producing more SDSU games on Channel 4. But the plan always was to pick it up before this fall when the deal with the MWC took effect.

“We planned to carry it when there was relevant content,” Nichols said. “But now it's wrapped in this second channel that has high fees. It's got to be a good deal for everybody.

“We're willing to focus resources to support San Diego State. But I don't know what we can do at this point.”

CSTV is available on Time Warner Cable here, but only to digital subscribers who pay an additional monthly fee for the “sports tier.” There are no deals in place for The mtn., but even if a company agrees to carry the new channel, it almost certainly would be placed on the same “tier.” CSTV also has deals with DirecTV and Dish Network, and those satellite operators likely are the only hopes for out-of-town SDSU fans hoping to see The mtn. Somehow I can't see a cable company in any non-MWC area carrying the regional network.

And without national exposure, what happens to recruiting? If everything else is equal, do you think a high school athlete is going to sign with the school that plays on ESPN or on some network he's never heard of or seen?

I know there are positives to this deal: Each school will receive about $1.3 million a year for seven years, about double what ESPN was said to be offering; games will be played at times more convenient for fans; and there will be Internet, video-on-demand and wireless access. And maybe this is the future of non-BCS conferences (Conference USA also signed on with CSTV) that don't have the same leverage with ESPN as, say, the Big 12 and Big East.

Again, I'd like nothing better than to be proved wrong. But remember this: When the CSTV-MWC deal was signed, all the parties were projecting CSTV would have about 40 million subscribers by 2006. Last time I checked my calendar it was 2006, and CSTV's subscriber total is . . . about 15 million.