TV options will soon come into focus

Folks wonder how this newfangled CSTV and MountainWest Sports Network will impact their ability to tune in.

Will Brigham Young University and University of Utah football games be seen in Tacoma, Boston, Jacksonville, Atlanta or Houston? If you are a fan living outside the TV market in the Mountain West area, can you tune in and get your fix? What about seeing BYU and the Utes in San Diego?

The simple answer is yes, it'll be available. But it's kind of complicated and is still a work in progress, according to Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson.

You see, the good news is TV coverage of the MWC is evolving almost daily as negotiations take place with cable companies across the land, we are told.

We're talking movement with big companies like Comcast and Cox to small ones like Provo and Spanish Fork cable companies.

What answers we have today may change by tomorrow. Certainly, TV coverage possibilities across the country will be significantly enhanced by the first week of September, when the MWC officially kicks off the football season, if we believe the ongoing plan officials are selling.

Basically, if you subscribe to Dish Network or DirecTV satellite services, MWC football games will be available to you if you have the right package — likely something beyond the basic, bare-bones deal. On Dish, CSTV is available to America Top 120 subscribers, but in months to come, it could be put on the schedule for the America Top 60. Emphasis on "could."

Basically, in markets that have covered the MWC, a familiar footprint for viewers, deals should primarily be in place to provide viewers CSTV and the new Mountain West channel — both with 24-hour programming. Or, it should be soon.

Basically, at the very least, a fan with a computer will be able to receive MWC football via a streaming feed by the folks who do Major League Baseball anywhere in the world there is an Internet connection.

Yes, the view screen will be small, but the technology is changing by the week, according to Duff Tittle, a spokesman for BYU's athletic department.

It remains to be seen if the MWC's decision to dump ESPN for CSTV will deliver. But if blueprints on the table have any credibility at all, just the "more friendly" aspect of game start times and days as a non-ESPN slave should deliver a ton of satisfaction to MWC fans.

Those who are peddling MWC football to sponsors are pitching the following: As a football audience, the MWC had better ratings in 2003 and 2004 than professional hockey by 220 percent and outrated professional baseball by 78 percent last season.

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