I have a few questions

This might be a better topic for the off-season, but I have a few questions/concerns for my fellow cc'ers.



The last few years, even while living in Ohio, if I put forth even a little bit of effort, I was able to see all of the BYU football games. Going into next year, right now, I am only guaranteed that 7 games will be on TV (all the home games). Now, I think we can safely assume that someone will pick up the @Miss, @Texas and @Oregon St games, and I also feel fairly confident that ESPN will pick up a first week of December game against Hawaii (just not a lot of options on that Saturday for them). That leaves the game at Louisiana Tech. I'm not sure that's a game anyone will want to televise. Is this a game that can be picked up by BYUtv?



Also, I know that the contract with ESPN has a few guarantees. I believe one home game annually is guaranteed on ESPN or ABC, with 2 more on ESPN 2. BYUtv is guaranteed to be the sole broadcaster of one game (guessing Idaho St is the guarantee this year). If the game is broadcast on ESPN3, does that mean that BYUtv can't broadcast it? (This could be a problem, because not all ISP's carry ESPN3, as I know Time Warner didn't last year) What about ESPN+ games? What about ABC regional games? ESPN+ games will probably be available on ESPN3, as well as ABC regional games, but that does lead to some people who had access before, no longer having access.



Also, at least this year, all the football games are in HD. ESPN still does not broadcast all of their games in HD, and if it is a split audience viewing (ie, the BYU-Texas game next year could be an ABC night game, with an audience split where if it's not the game in your market, you get it on ESPN 2 or ESPN alt) one of the feeds will not be HD.



I'm sorry, but this deal sounds way too good to be true, much like the old ESPN deal (which locked us out of certain windows (not as big of a concern now because that issue was mainly caused by being on at the same time as another conference game), caused game times TBD up to a week before the game, late games which are terrible for eastern fans, etc), and the CSTV/VS/MTN/CBS-College deal sounded.



This contract, however, is great for basketball. Every home game will be televised on either ESPN or BYUtv, which is much more exposure than the basketball team has been given. Also, I think the road games in conference against Gonzaga and St. Mary's will probably be shown on ESPN or ESPN 2. While the conference is a downgrade overall, the exposure will be much better basketball wise.

As I understand it, part of the agreement is that ESPN will use our HD truck / facilities to broadcast all games that play at LES. This is great for ESPN because it guarantees a better broadcast experience and they are using the Church's equipment which is already on campus. No out of pocket expense for ESPN bringing their HD unit. BYU has the best HD facility west of the Mississippi and will leverage this not only for ESPN, but for all BYUtv broadcasts.



As far as BYUtv goes, BYU will have immediate unlimited rights to rebroadcast all ESPN games as soon as the game ends. I don't think BYUtv will stream it online live, but it will also be available after the game on the internet.



This is a great deal for BYU football becuase any games that are not on ESPN will be live on BYUtv (which is in about 65 million US homes). From everything I've read, this information is what has been reported.

stuckinbig10country wrote:
Also, at least this year, all the football games are in HD. ESPN still does not broadcast all of their games in HD, and if it is a split audience viewing (ie, the BYU-Texas game next year could be an ABC night game, with an audience split where if it's not the game in your market, you get it on ESPN 2 or ESPN alt) one of the feeds will not be HD.

Just as an aside, in Minneapolis and Chicago, the only ESPN/ABC college football feeds that aren't in HD are the late night WAC games and some of the ESPN3 games that only make TV on ESPN+. Hopefully ESPN will be able to come up with HD broadcasting equipment for BYU's away games versus WAC opponents.

jmrmoney wrote:
As I understand it, part of the agreement is that ESPN will use our HD truck / facilities to broadcast all games that play at LES. This is great for ESPN because it guarantees a better broadcast experience and they are using the Church's equipment which is already on campus. No out of pocket expense for ESPN bringing their HD unit. BYU has the best HD facility west of the Mississippi and will leverage this not only for ESPN, but for all BYUtv broadcasts.



As far as BYUtv goes, BYU will have immediate unlimited rights to rebroadcast all ESPN games as soon as the game ends. I don't think BYUtv will stream it online live, but it will also be available after the game on the internet.



This is a great deal for BYU football becuase any games that are not on ESPN will be live on BYUtv (which is in about 65 million US homes). From everything I've read, this information is what has been reported.

The question is, though, what will happen at away games that ESPN/Fox/CBS doesn't broadcast? Can byutv roll into Louisiana Tech and broadcast the game live if nobody else will? Will ESPN allow byutv to compete against ESPN when they play WAC teams? What about MWC games away from Provo? If BYU plays Hawaii at Hawaii in 2013 will it be on the mtn? Could byutv simulcast?



BYU needs to work in to every away game contract a clause that if ESPN/ABC/CBS/NBC/Fox don't broadcast the game on a national level then byutv gets simulcast broadcast rights.

i don't know nothing about nothing when it comes to the TV deal except this: BYU got ROYALLY screwed during their last TV deal. They hired lawyers that worked for years on a way to get BYU out of it. They lost millions of dollars as a result not to mention an immense loss of exposure.



There is not a chance in the world BYU jumps out of the pot into a frying pan. Now part of the mtn deal was caused by some unethical folks going back on their words and several acquisitions diluting decision-makers but Holmoe is too smart not to let BYU get taken again. I also think he knows that if he gets us into a yet ANOTHER bad TV deal, his job is done.

It seems, too, that BYU got what it did from Comcast/CBS-C/CSTV/the mtn because it took people at their word.



A commenter on the DesNews said it best once: Doesn't BYU have a law school?



BYU needs to get everything it wants in writing or not do anything with anyone.



And if they don't get to simulcast MWC away games on byutv then I say play no MWC teams away from Provo.

Being one of the BYU law school grads referenced above, let me chime in here. Believe it or not, BYU will be in the exact same position when it comes to televising away basketball and football games next season as it is this season. Why? Because the home team gets the first rights to set up TV contract(s) for the game--and these rights can be exclusive. If the home team works out an agreement to get the game on ESPN--great. But a game like the 2013 game at Hawaii will end up on the MTN/Versus/CBS College Sports because Hawaii (as the home team) contracted through the Mountain West Conference to give (up) its television rights for all home games to the MTN/Versus/CBS College Sports. BYUTV can no more simulcast that game than it could simulcast any of BYU's home games or road games this year. What gets interesting is if a home team (think the football game at L Tech) does not arrange for the game to be televised (and doesn't have a contract prohibiting televising the game if certain networks don't want it) or if the game is only televised locally--then the road team might be able to make arrangements to have the game televised in its home area (think KBYU) or possibly nationally (think BYUTV). However, the KBYU option would be more likely because KBYU will not compete with L Tech's local football coverage while BYUTV's national coverage would. Hope this answers your questions.

Well then, here's to 8 game home schedules, and no MWC teams on the road.