CSTV succeeds if late starts vanish

CSTV instead of ESPN?

Let's think about it.

OK, a second is up. Why not CSTV?

Just one scene will do it.

It's 12:15 a.m., on a Tuesday. Sportswriters are stumbling over one another to file basketball stories on deadlines that ended 30 minutes ago, back when it was Monday. Parents with young kids, on a school night are shuffling out of New Mexico's Pit, Utah's Jon Huntsman Center or BYU's Marriott Center, hoping to get home by 1 a.m. or so. A dad has one kid draped over his shoulder, the other at his side is cranky and the wife never wanted to go to the game at all and is peeved. Devoted fans on the East Coast are already dead, long ago deciding to call in late or sick.

If that didn't do it, consider Scene II: It's 5:30 a.m. when the hotel wakeup call comes. You are a MWC football player who must get on the bus from Denver to Colorado Springs for a 10:30 a.m. kickoff with Air Force. You wander down the halls, trying to find the elevator. You get on the bus for the hour drive and immediately return to a state of rapid eye movement and the dream so unceremoniously interrupted by that wake up call. Suddenly, at the stadium, it's time to get ready for war and you aren't sure if you even packed all your stuff from the hotel.

If CSTV eliminates just those two scenarios from MWC football and basketball, to me, it would be worth it.

MWC and CSTV folks say, no prob-lemo.

The remaining big question is, will this new TV arrangement deliver coverage equal or exceeding ESPN?

MWC and CSTV folks promise, in two years, or 700 days of recruiting and signing, yes, the audience will be there.

On that one, we shall see.

In order to deliver, CSTV must get on Dish Network satellite just as it is with DirectTV. It must also add cable network services like Cox Communications just like it already has partnerships with Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Another key would be to duplicate existing ties with affiliates like KJZZ in Salt Lake City, KWYF in Cheyenne, CSS-TV in Atlanta and KAZT-TV in Phoenix, part of a league network used by ESPN-Plus and other connections put together by SportsWest and the old Blue-White Network. As of June 2004, there were 20 of these. Perhaps CSTV could pick up these partners when the ESPN contract expires in two years.

CSTV to spread like jam on a wheat loaf?