So far, mtn. not delivering

Captain Jared Novak, an active duty soldier in Dallas who has moved six times in the past eight years, has always been able to tune in and see BYU football. But Saturday, when he signed up for the Internet stream, he got nowhere.

"When I called and spent until halftime trying to get through to them on the phone they told me they were having technical issues caused by the number of people trying to watch the game," Novak said. "I finally decided to listen to KSL on the Internet. By then as you know the game was over. So instead of sitting there steaming I went and spent the rest of the day with my family."

Said Novak: "I can't remember when I've missed so many BYU games. Last year, I was able to watch almost every game on ESPN Gameplan. Now I can't get anyone to take my money to let me watch. What a letdown."

I called CSTV's manager of sports publicity twice on Monday, with the first inquiry early in the day. I wondered if the SDSU-BYU Internet stream had attracted an inordinate number of customers, and if so, it might make an interesting story. On my second call, he was still without any kind of update with facts or figures. Of course, maybe CSTV considers those numbers proprietary property, not for public consumption.

BYU folks have been told CSTV's Internet streaming capabilities allow connections in the hundreds of thousands. Hedlund said best streaming results require a fast connection, something higher than at least 512 kbs (kilobytes per second).

Hedlund believes start-up issues will iron themselves out and negations for more outlets for The mtn. will come in time after questions of bandwidth, number of subscribers and how much to pay for the product are settled.

In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt if all MWC schools reviewed the CSTV contract and see if there's a hole somewhere that would allow each school to produce and air their own games to their fans. BYU certainly has the vehicle (BYU-TV on satellite).

Maybe no loophole exists, something that could feed the masses, but if I were one of the higher ups at these schools, I'd be combing the paperwork with my lawyers as if it were a Howard Hughes will.

Mario Puzo, author of "The Godfather," once wrote: "A good lawyer with a briefcase can do more damage than a thousand men with guns and knives."

When in doubt, sue 'em.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com