MWC TV deal still a mess

More folks in the Mountain West TV footprint can watch league sporting events and conference championships than ever before.

But it isn't enough.

Just eight months into the new MWC television contract with CSTV, the area which is serviced by the new network has grown. The phrase "doubled in one year" was used by press releases last week to trumpet the addition of CSTV to digital cable in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and the Chicago-South Bend area.

With the addition of Cox Cable, The mtn. is now available in San Diego and Las Vegas.

It is fair to say that the league's TV contract is sprouting forward, albeit using baby steps. Just because CSTV is seen in Chicago, doesn't mean The mtn. is available.

Let's see if we can explain all these alphabet groups.

The MWC has a TV deal with CSTV. The MWC chose CSTV over previous provider, ESPN, to get more money and convenient game times. One of the principal personalities behind CSTV started the ESPN Classic channel and sold it. He did the same with CSTV, selling to CBS before the MWC contract with CSTV began.

CSTV is now a partner with Comcast, a national cable provider. Together, CSTV and Comcast own The mtn., a network devoted almost entirely to MWC programming. The MWC does not own The mtn.

While CSTV has partnered up with another channel, Versus, to put up college games, it has expanded its coverage, even on satellite services like DishNetwork and DirectTV. But having CSTV doesn't mean you get The mtn.

You can view The mtn. in Rosewell, N.M., but not in St. George.

You can tune into The mtn. in Henderson outside of Las Vegas and Escondido near San Diego, but folks in Phoenix are out of luck. So are fans in northern California and the Northwest.

What to do?

Well, CSTV is trumpeting the fact that there is growth, now up to 65 million subscribers on cable and satellite. They point to the fact that more league football games will be on CSTV and Versus in addition to The mtn. this coming year. Taken as a whole, more viewers certainly will have access to the product.

The down part is that all this salad bar TV for MWC fans heightens frustration, even with more exposure. All BYU football games will be seen on TV through CSTV, Versus or The mtn. Same with Utah football, with the exception of SDSU here. This assumes BYU-UCLA and Utah-Oregon State will be picked up by Pac-10 TV contracts.