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What does Comcast gain from conceding TV rights to BYU?

by hawkwing · 8/26/2010

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Guest
There has been a lot of talk about how Comcast may grant BYU TV rights to it's home games. This would then keep the conference in tact, but what does Comcast really get out of this deal?



If BYU goes independent and leaves the MTN, the MTN will die or be severely crippled. Utah, as has been shown numerous times, is the MTNs biggest source of eyeballs and ads.



If BYU stays in conference and gets their home games on ESPN, then the MTN will be severely crippled too. Sure, the MTN will still get most of BYU's away games, but only those in conference. Basically 4 games. But isn't that close to what they would get if BYU went independent? BYU would still play 4 or 5 MWC teams a year (now that WAC deal has blown up), and the MTN will get all of those away games which could be 2 - 4 games a year.



I'm just not seeing a lot of incentive for Comcast to cave on this one.
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Lawboy
The MTN would also get all over BYU sports besides those 4 BYU football games. So the hoops would be huge as well. Additionally, comcast could continue to carry the MTN Network on its Advanced basic cable lineup and get the fees for that for homes in Utah, as it does now. Lose BYU, and many BYU fans lose incentive to want that channel. USU could help in that cause, but not much. With Utah gone, losing BYU kills Comcast where it hurts most--monthly subscription fees. Additionally, estimates are that about 60% of all add revenue for the MTN comes from Utah. With the U gone, losing BYU completely cuts that revenue source down. Not many advertisements will be placed to get USU fans.



So the incentive for Comcast is still money. It needs BYU to keep The MTN as a channel people sign up for, a channel people don't drop from DirectTV, and needs the add revenue this market brings.
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Mars
hawkwing wrote:
There has been a lot of talk about how Comcast may grant BYU TV rights to it's home games. This would then keep the conference in tact, but what does Comcast really get out of this deal?

Comcast gets to put all of BYU's men's basketball games on The Mtn., as well as all of BYU's road MWC games, which keeps all of the 704,000 active Utah households, almost all of which they lose if BYU joins the WCC.
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Guest
In other words, the only addition Comcast gets if they cave to BYU is the basketball games. Losing BYU football will kill most BYU fans desire to watch the channel during the football season, except when they are playing away games at MWC teams, which they will play nearly as many if they are independent or part of the MWC.
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dsmith1212
Mars wrote:
There has been a lot of talk about how Comcast may grant BYU TV rights to it's home games. This would then keep the conference in tact, but what does Comcast really get out of this deal?

Comcast gets to put all of BYU's men's basketball games on The Mtn., as well as all of BYU's road MWC games, which keeps all of the 704,000 active Utah households, almost all of which they lose if BYU joins the WCC.


Several days ago I saw a quote from Holmoe (don't have time to find it now) that the exposure difficulty is in both football and basketball. He said that under the mtn. deal it is hard to find quality opponents to come the LES and to the Marriott Center. The implication - if not direct comment - is that BYU needs ESPN/TV independence to get quality competition for both programs.



As a side note, I really like the idea of BYU broadcasting WAC or WCC conference championship playoff and other games for the non-revenue sports. WIN-WIN.
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Mars
hawkwing wrote:
In other words, the only addition Comcast gets if they cave to BYU is the basketball games... except when they are playing away games at MWC teams

Which BYU games do you think are higher rated, home or away?



Home games have 65,000 BYU fans that don't need to watch the game on TV, plus more local radio/newspaper/TV guys in attendance that can provide secondary info sources on the game.
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Guest
Mars wrote:
In other words, the only addition Comcast gets if they cave to BYU is the basketball games... except when they are playing away games at MWC teams

Which BYU games do you think are higher rated, home or away?



Home games have 65,000 BYU fans that don't need to watch the game on TV, plus more local radio/newspaper/TV guys in attendance that can provide secondary info sources on the game.


I agree with you, but even if BYU goes Independent they will be playing 2 - 4 away games with MWC opponents per year, so Comcast will still get those Mtn ratings.
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Lawboy
Yeah, but it also ensures that BYU fans keep their MTN subscription on Comcast. We saw how bad it was when DirectTv did not have it locally, and Dish still does not, I believe. Comcast stands to lose a small fortune if Utah residents drop that channel. It might only be $2/mo per subscriber, but with 50,000 Utah subscribers per month, that is $100k. x 12 is $1,200,000. For one channel. And that is a conservative estimate for Utah subscriber numbers. The incentive for Cox to carry the channel in Arizona will also be gone, and maybe even DirectTV and Dish.
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YNot
In 2010, the Mtn. will show the following SEVEN BYU football games:



Nevada at BYU

SDSU at BYU

Wyoming at BYU

UNLV at BYU

BYU at Colorado State

New Mexico at BYU

BYU at Utah



http://www.themwc.com/tv/mwc-10-m-footbl-tv.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



The Washington Game is on CBS Sports, the Air Force and TCU games are on Versus, the FSU game is on ESPNU, and Utah State is on ESPN.



If you look at the games that the Mtn. is showing, they are mostly BYU HOME games and the RIVALRY game with the ewetes.



If BYU stays in the MWC, BYU is guaranteed to play 4 road games that could be shown on the Mtn. If BYU goes independent, I don't think BYU will play 4 Mountain West teams each year. More likely 2, and occasionally 3. And AT LEAST half of those games will be at BYU's HOME, and thus not available on the Mtn! There is a huge difference between 4 road games, GUARANTEED, and 1-2 games, at best.
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Wickchad
Don't forget that the mtn. has to have programs to broadcast while games are not being played. If BYU is out of the conference they would lose the ability to replay games during the week as well as they would lose the Utah market from watching whatever other programing or sportscenter type shows that they run. (I don't actually know what other stuff they broadcast because I have Dish Network...)
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scott715
It does not matter too much if it is on the Mtn or Vs or CBS. They are making money on each game. The main point is as the MWC so goes the value of the contract. If the MWC is crippled their money goes down. If BYU stays the other teams will have a stronger SOS and there will be more national interest in all of the games. What would the value be if MWC gets the AQ to BCS? A lot more money. They should be supporting the conference. If they lose BYU homes games they might lower the payment to the MWC. That could make it work.
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BroncoBot
Wickchad, it sounds like the mtn doesn't give BYU a lot of air time during "programming". Surprisingly, I've heard a ton a people complain that BYU doens't get as much time as other teams in the MWC. You'd think that BYU would be THE team being shown on the mtn.
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