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Mtn. woes? Try contacting Comcast direct

The correct telephone number for comcast's corp HQ is (215) 665-1700....

As the manager of several FCC licensed media properties, I agree with much of the opinion expressed by the "communications expert"s commentary
in this article. Comcast has had lower than average subscriber numbers in Utah for years along with its predecessor cable companies (TCI, Insight, etc.)due in part for it's carriage of what many in Utah would call indecent sexually orientated programming.
However, he or she does not go far enough in assessing the blame for the problem with the MWC and the various member schools whose various legal counsels' and athletic departments did not catch the fact that Direct TV and DISH subscribers would be left out of the telecasts of MWC games. This has been an ongoing problem for decades where the conference schools would assign the rights to all sports to one media entity who had no intention of allowing anyone else to carry games that they would not broadcast. In this case, the athletic departments of the various MWC member schools were so excited with getting their first fulltime cable channel that they forgot to think about all the other media and therefore all the thousands fans who would be left out of receiving the games. I was willing to review the contract for free to try and find a way out but was rebuffed, being told that it was "confidential". I would point out that no contract with an FCC licensed entity is entirely confidential under Federal law. However, the lack of a response from the attorney hired by BYU shows that it is a pretty well crafted document and that fans in the rest of the country are going to be left out of the games for a long time to come. Good luck, sports fans. You are going to need it.

I tried calling the (215) 655-1700 number and got a message that the number was no longer in service.

Any other suggestions?

At what point, if any, could the mtn be held in breach of contract giving us an out? After all, they haven't delivered the coverage promised (I hope we got a promise). If that were possible, then BYU could put this season's games on KSL or KBYU and stick it to Comcast and the mtn. That would be sweet, but I'm not holding my breath.

Comcast is evil.

I understand all of the above... However, what I do not understand is why Comcast does not make the MTN available in all of its own markets. That has absolutely NOTHING to do with Dish or DTV. And of all the countless articles written about this subject and of all the recaps I read during media days, no one has hit comcast between the eyes with that question. I do not care if the Comcast is the only one to carry the MTN but they do not even make it available to all of THEIR customers.

I've never bought in to the argument that the satelite companies were the problem. It is so obvious that Comcast is the reason for limited distribution. That, and the fact that BYU (and others) jumped into a deal without having the distribution of games nailed down.

For those of you that live in:

Aurora/Redmond
Central
Dugway
Eureka/Goshen
Glenwood
Gunnison
Mayfield
Mona
Richfield
Salina
Sanpete North
Sanpete South
Santaquin

You might want to contact centracom @ centracom.com as they carry the Mtn, CSTV on just their regular cable package at 39.95 and if you want to pay $13 more you can get versus. As a personal user of their services I can tell you that they are very pleasing. I wish you all the best of luck.

This is like a nightmare in my football life!

The phone number in PA is NOT IN SERVICE for the Comcast people...They certainly don't care about the residents and fans in the MWC..I'd start dumping them as a service...A lot of couldn't get the service if we wanted to...They just aren't everywhere and can't compete in any other way except at the expense of the fans.

Harmon had the number wrong as mentioned above. It's 215-665-1700. One of Brian Roberts' assistants took down all my contact info and my complaint about not being able to get "the mtn." in California. Start calling now MWC fans! And direct your call to Brian Roberts, the CEO. Calling the corp comms person doesn't help one bit.

This article hits the nail on the head. Comcast is holding MWC fans hostage, and then asking us to beg Dish and DirecTV to agree to the outrageous ransom demands.

Comcast/TheMTN needs to lower the ransom price (per subscriber fee), which from media reports seems to be the main sticking point for the satellite folks.

It seems clear that the MWC and Comcast have completely different goals when they setup this TV deal. The MWC hoped to improve distribution of MWC sports, and Comcast seems to only care about increasing their cable subscriber base.

The problem is that Comcast seems to hold all of the cards, and the MWC schools and their fans will be used as hostages until the lousy contract runs out.

I like everyone else am so frustrated... I say we just make a mass call in to Comcast and flood them with calls making them experience the wrath of the fans and experience large call times. They want to play us... let's take it right back to them.

Executive disaster by Mountain West Conference.

Don't forget that in the initial announcement of the CSTV deal, there was lots of talk about making MWC sports as widely available as possible, including live streaming over the internet.

However, in a recent interview with the Provo Daily Herald newspaper, Kim Carner, General Manager of the Mtn, said that "the Mtn. won't be made available for live streaming on the internet in order to keep the pressure on the satellite companies."

These guys have absolutely NO concern for MWC fans. Making the games available over the internet would be a good stop-gap solution that would make fans happy, would increase their revenue, and would do NOTHING to decrease the pressure on the satellite companies. I watched the BYU-Utah game over the internet last year (from Europe), and nobody is going to accept watching a tiny window on the computer screen as a substitute for watching it full-screen on a good TV.

By not offering streaming internet of the games, the only thing they are doing is showing their COMPLETE and TOTAL disregard for their customer base (MWC fans).

Help me understand why the following argument would be persuasive to Comcast:

"Hey you bunch of Comcast S.O.B.s, you should make a deal with DirecTV and Dish Network so I can dump your crappy service and switch to satellite."

They have us by the proverbial stones and they know it . . . and its in their best interest to simply ignore the complaints and make MWC fans bite the bullet and get or keep cable.

I CANNOT STAND TimeWarner Cable, the Comcast provider here in SoCal, so I switched to satellite as soon as I moved from my condo (where we had subsidized cable). Their customer service was the worst in any industry I have ever seen. That said, I'd probably sign back up, just for football season, if DirecTV can't get the mtn. and if TimeWarner finally offers it here in SoCal.

*#@&@^%*(@%

What are we supposed to ask Comcast to do? Make a business move that will arguably not be in their best interest? At least with the satellite companies the argument makes sense: "Get a deal done to get the mtn. or I'll drop my subscription and go elsewhere." With Comcast, the threat rings hollow: "Get a deal done so that the satellite companies can carry the mtn. SO I CAN GO ELSEWHERE."

I can't stand Comcast and will call President Bush if I thought it would help. I'm just not optimistic that calling Comcast makes any sense.

That's why I'm increasingly ticked off at the MWC knuckleheads that brokered this deal in the first place.

On one positive note, I did realize that between network, Vs. and CSTV (all of which I can get on DirecTV by adding the sports package) I can get 6 of the 12 games. The others I suspect I'll be watching on a 3" screen with internet direct feed over the CSTV site.

Just think of all those Comcast subscribers around the country that would be willing to pay to be able to get the MTN as part of a sports package? Yet from what I am hearing-Comcast does NOT offer the MTN except in a few areas that they cover. I used to have Direct TV but switched so I could get the MTN where I live. (SL County) If Comcast is looking for revenue-flip the switch and add the MTN to ALL areas that you serve. Even if it is a premium type channel out of the Mountain West footprint.

Hey, guys. You do a great job keeping fans informed on these "negotiations.

Here's another idea: Have one of your DNews writers construct a couple well-written form letters that readers can print out from your website and mail in. I think the biggest deterrent to fans writing letters is the time it takes.

This would be like a huge petition, but a lot more annoying for the networks.

Lets revolt against Comscast the old fashion way. Someone with a little technology skills needs to set up and distribute a "rogue" brodcast on the internet for free. Now that would be sticking it to the Comcast man.

Would it be feasible for someone with access to the non CSTV/VS games to capture them to video, say, by quarter, and put them up on YouTube per the previous idea? YouTube could handle the volume, and access would be had by all. It would be a great way to showcase the volume of demand from viewers who have no other way to access the game.

I'd do it if I weren't in the "blackout zone" myself.

Heck, I'd rather watch it on YouTube a few days later, and at 240x360, than not at all.