This coming season, MWC football will have 49 Saturday games, six Thursday night games and one Friday night game.

There will be 150 men's basketball games broadcast and 56 football games on the air.

The CSTV partner channel, MountainWest, claims it will air 36 football games, 150 basketball games and more than 200 men's and women's Olympic sporting events. There will be bonus games in local markets so the entire MWC football schedule will find its way on the air.

ESPN never did that. And there'll be no 10 p.m. Monday tip-offs.

The MountainWest Sports Network, a partner with CSTV, which grew a lot of hair when CBS bought it a few months ago, will broadcast 8,760 hours a year of football and basketball games, rebroadcasts of those games (both men and women), soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, scoreboard shows, studio programs, classic sports moments and games.

As we speak, every school in the MWC is searching their archives for classic moments in their respective school's histories as the CSTV partners load up on programming video for shows to air starting in the fall.

The MountainWest network, set to start in September, is the first 24-hour channel dedicated to covering a single collegiate conference. Last year, ESPN, BYU-TV and a garden variety of outlets broadcast 45 BYU-oriented sporting events live.

This coming year, Tittle expects that number to jump to between 75 and 100. A similar percent jump could be realized by Utah and other league members.

Tittle advises Utah and BYU fans from Washington to New York to "be patient" and "just sit tight," because MWC coverage of the major sports is creeping forward. The total coverage cannot be known until it actually kicks off Sept. 1. That not only goes for satellite but cable as well.

"Fans can make a difference," Tittle said. "A grass-roots campaign by fans with a local cable company requesting MWC programming and CSTV can open doors. Make your voice known. It worked with BYU-TV in the Phoenix market where demand in that non-MWC area by LDS led to cable companies adding the channel."

On the high tech end, league officials say CSTV folks are working on saving production costs (big trucks) by developing MP4 capabilities and shoring up enhanced TV quality (with help from CBS), broadband, podcasts, video-on-demand, high definition TV and more. A serviceman in Iraq will be able to see a BYU or Utah football game live if he has the right electronics.

That is the plan, they say.

So, all you folks in the hinterland of non-MWC cities who want to know right now, today, if you should upgrade cable or satellite packages before football season, the simple answer is: You don't have to this month. See what July or August brings.

We've got about 90 days before we get solid recon to sift through.

Until then, patience appears to be the keyword.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com