One of the reasons Ute and Cougar fans are going to be unhappy on Saturday is that a lot of them will be expecting to see the games because they've been told — erroneously — that their satellite provider will carry The mtn. Fans like this e-mailer, who had what seems to be a fairly common experience:

"I just got off the phone with a Dish representative to voice support for them contracting with The mtn. She told me that they already have a contract with them and that if I sign up for the 'top 120' I'd be able to get that station. Is this accurate or did I get someone that is clueless?"

Well, "clueless" would seem fairly accurate.

And another e-mail had a similar experience with DirecTV: "They told me if I subscribe to their expanded sports package, I'll get the channel. Is that true?"

Again, not as of this writing.

The athletic directors of Utah and BYU on Thursday asked Cougar and Ute fans to call cable and satellite providers and lobby for companies to pick up the MWC's network. (See Page A14.)

The only easy prediction is that there are going to be a whole lot of BYU and Utah fans with elevated blood pressure come Saturday.

And once fans get The mtn. situation figured out, there are still questions to be answered. Both Utah and BYU have upcoming games scheduled on CSTV and Versus (the name OLN will soon be switching to), so cable and satellite subscribers will have to figure out if they get those channels, too.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com