Drum of MWC woes won't stop beating

Sometimes I think that I have written far too many columns about the Mountain West Conference's television situation. Surely by now people must be tired of it.

Well, they're tired of the situation, it would seem. But the e-mails still pour in any time I so much as mention The mtn., CSTV and Comcast. As they did after I questioned the powers that be at the MWC and Comcast for telling us to call our cable and/or satellite companies — the same thing they told us last week.

• "TV negotiation is a world I know nothing about, but it sure seems to me that if Comcast really wanted to sell The mtn. to satellite, they would have done so by now.... I'd jump from Dish Network immediately if Direct could negotiate a deal."

• "How many people actually saw an MWC game on TV? (MWC Commissioner Craig) Thompson spun that the conference had more games on TV than ever before. However, if you break that down to how many people saw a game on TV, I would bet that more people saw an MWC game when the conference was with ESPN/ABC and local station contracts, with fewer games. Their rhetoric is nightmarish. The coverage is a throwback to the WAC in the '60s."

• "For once someone isn't blaming the fans for the big blunder the MWC made. I e-mailed the presidents of both BYU and the University of Utah last year and told them that they sold out the fans in rural areas with the agreement. There is no cable available in Neola, Utah, or any other small town in Utah or Wyoming.... Both schools said they know it is a problem and they are working on it. That was last fall, (it's) still the same!"

• "The mtn. (is) a futile joke amongst fans of MWC teams."

• "It seems the affected university presidents and athletic directors should put their skills together and solve the problem — soon, I hope."

• "Why should we cover for the mistakes of the MWC? Seems to me they put little thought into what they were doing or they completely overrated themselves.... By the way, I live in Iowa where I'm sure I will be able to get the Big Ten channel without any problem."

• "Fans complaining won't work. Comcast needs to share some of the 'pie.' The satellite companies want some payment for services. Duh."

• "Why should Dish or DirecTV carry (The mtn.) when it isn't even available on (most) Comcast (systems)?"