So far, mtn. not delivering

The Mountain West Conference continues to wade through a TV maze with negotiations with DishNetwork, DirecTV, Time Warner and Cox Cable, the major cable provider for San Diego and Las Vegas.

If this thing was any more muddled, you'd think Congress was involved.

It didn't help over the weekend when the BYU-SDSU broadcast over The mtn lost audio for the first portion of the game.

High-level officials at both schools and the league office groaned in unison. After all the flak they've received the past two months for failure to consummate a coverage plan, then a serious technical broadcast problem hits?

Talk about a fly in the soup.

One thing certain is that MWC school administrators and top league officials are frustrated, disappointed and even angry. They are being made out to look like buffoons. And the ticked-off feeling they battle is nothing compared to the bottled-up, negative energy of an army of fans within the league footprint.

On Saturday, it appears the technical problem did not involve the production truck at the game, but a satellite link-up. Technically, it was called a "solar outage," according to MWC associate commissioner for communications Javan Hedlund. But folks in front of the tube didn't care if it was little green aliens diddling with invisible frequencies — the broadcast was messed up.

"Customers are not happy," said 79-year old Lee Stratford, of West Valley. "No sound at the beginning, a blotched picture and frozen screen at times. What's the deal? I'm frustrated. I don't know who to vent at. Just let them know, it's kind of a Mickey Mouse operation."

OK, Lee, take a ticket and stand in line.

In West Jordan, Ryan Lewis shelled out $56 a month for Comcast to follow BYU football. "And what do I get? A crackpot, low-tier, circus act of a production. Is this what we have to expect from here on? How do we contact The mtn.? Can we not pressure them to improve the quality?"

This past weekend, knowing it had failed at delivering, CSTV, which bought the rights to air MWC sports, tossed a bone — a live Internet streaming of the BYU-SDSU game. For $20, you could watch this blowout anywhere in the world.

Sort of.

The jury is still out on how successful the CSTV Internet streaming of the BYU-SDSU game turned out. Many folks with high speed connections were impressed as they sat in front of their computers and watched the game. Some even hooked the feed up to a projection system and blew it up and on a wall or screen and were mildly satisfied. They liked the informal chatter from on-air talent and producers.