Jayson Hajdu

We have not yet launched the iPad app. As I've previously written on here, it is still in development.

Unless you have already, I would suggest contacting Neulion's help desk on this one.

I will check on this for you. I do know, as a layman when it comes to this stuff, that it takes considerable time to upload a game for archive. But I'll get some specifics for you on both questions. UPDATE: Checked with Matt Schill, and he says the average upload over the past couple of years has taken anywhere from 1-90 minutes, and that it will be similar again this year. As far as playback, that is a function of Neulion's system. During live events, games can be paused and re-wound like a DVR but during playback of an archived event it will time out if left on pause long enough.

The Sept. 27 women's hockey game wasn't available because the iPhone app only supports high definition. All of our HD men's hockey broadcasts -- plus the four women's HD broadcasts -- will be available on your iPhone.

It is a manpower issue. Many may not be aware of this, but Through These Doors and Opening Drive are conceived, written, shot, edited and produced entirely by student workers (with an assist from Matt Schill when his insane schedule permits). Having already sacrificed their nights and weekends for us, these kids are also juggling full class loads, as well as an actual paying-job or two. Unfortunately, the reality is there are too many sports and too many great storyline possibilities, and not enough manpower. I know you didn't mean offense when you said "they don't even try." These kids are absolutely busting it for us -- and for the fans -- for little to no pay. We'd love to be able to do even more with TTD or Opening Drive, and we'd love to be able to offer similar programming for other sports, such as basketball. In fact, that is a long term goal of ours. We simply don't have enough resources to go around at this time. While we'll always gladly take feedback, in my opinion these guys are doing wonders (an Upper Midwest Emmy nomination!) with what they have to work with and my hope is that the majority of our viewers agree.

I think it's time I step away from this thread for awhile.

So you're expecting the University (or Athletics) to foot the bill for some, but not everyone? With all due respect, if that's the case you and I will probably never come to agreement on this. Like I said, in a perfect world, everything would be free for everyone, Oprah-style (You get a webcast, and you get a webcast, and you get a webcast...). But it's simply not realistic. I am sorry. I can say with all sincerity that we are doing everything we can to produce high-quality programming that reaches as many people through as many platforms as possible. Having said that, we still have to operate within our means in terms of budget and manpower.

Actually, it's not a bad idea to alert me via PM if a question has been directed to me. I can't say that I see every post on every thread, so that would be helpful. Regarding iPad streaming, our iPad app has actually been in development for some time now and we're a little frustrated ourselves that we haven't been able to launch it yet. I went to our own Matt Schill for an update. Here's what he gave me: "The short answer is yes, but we don't know a specific timetable. Men's hockey will be streamed to the UND Sports Android and iPhone apps for the upcoming year. We continue to work on a specific iPad app, but continue to find roadblocks along the way. I believe iPad users can use the iPhone app and stream the games, but we can't guarantee the results yet. Finally, Neulion (our web provider) is moving away from Flash to HTML5, which will allow all UND Insider to be viewed through tablet browsers. Neulion is currently in the test phase and should be available in the near future." I hope this answers your question.

Actually, it's not. I come here whenever I have a few free minutes to see what's being discussed. If I can contribute, I do. But even if it were a part of my social media duties, that wouldn't necessarily mean those duties require me to be on call 24/7 and I hope fans understand that. Again, I don't think many fans would accuse me of being hard to find. I post here under my real name. My email address (jayson.hajdu@athletics.und.edu) and phone number are published at UNDsports.com. I frequently engage with fans on Twitter via @UNDSID. You can also find me on a pair of live chats every weekend throughout the entire hockey season. So if someone asks me a question and it's not answered right away, it's probably because I'm either tending to some other duties (which are many), or I'm enjoying a little time off with my family as anyone else would. Having said that, no part of my job description mandates that I tolerate rudeness. I've said this here before and I'll say it again: as long as the conversations are civil and polite, I'll have all kinds of time to interact with you folks. It's one of the most enjoyable parts of my job. In a professional sense, it provides me with a forum to not only provide information, but to provide accurate information where needed. From a personal standpoint, it allows me to talk UND Athletics, which is my passion as much as it is yours. After all, I was a student before I was an employee, a fan before an administrator.

A couple of thoughts on this: *While I was employed in the athletics department at the time, it was at the undergrad/grad student level, so I was not involved in any of the planning for the arena or its broadcast capabilities. So I do not know whether this was ever the plan or not. I don't recall ever hearing that to be the case prior to your post, but that doesn't mean it's not true. *While it does appear to be a nice idea in theory, if I can be completely frank here, there is no way this would fly with a fan base as demanding (and I use the word in the most complimentary way) as ours. Having seen so much vitriolic criticism from some fans over the years of professionally-run broadcasts (Midco, FOX Sports North, CBS, NBC, ESPN, etc.), I find it hard to believe our hockey viewership would tolerate some of the hiccups that often come with a student-run broadcast and the production quality. You would demand better, and rightfully so. *On the FTA front, again just being completely frank, it would make zero business sense whatsoever for a broadcast or digital media partner such as Midco or Neulion (our web provider) to allow us to provide a FREE to air option. In fact, if my memory is correct, REA stopped publicizing those coordinates approximately six years ago (though I could be wrong on the exact timeline). In a perfect world, an athletics department would be completely self-sufficient and we could offer free broadcasts over every possible medium to 100 percent of our fan base. But it just doesn't work that way, because we have bills to pay too.

If you would like the courtesy of a response, whether it is here or via email or Twitter, try a halfway-courteous approach next time. It's worked for a lot of other posters here. If you do that, you will find I'm a rather accessible chap. If you want your question ignored, rudeness is a pretty safe way to go. Have a nice day.

Very sorry to hear you're among the affected FCS viewers. I strongly encourage you to try watching via webcast. If you prefer the flat screen TV route, the webcast can be run through your television via HDMI cable, or a number other ways other posters have suggested here. We appreciate your understanding and devotion; in return, we'll keep working to get those lost games back on TV for you.

We have the same say as each of the other seven member institutions: one vote.

That's fair, but there's also no denying there exists a now-regular hand-wringing in general about the loss of men's hockey games on FCS (and FTA). Believe me, I totally understand the frustration all of you feel with regard to this. Where I do take issue with the discussion is when it turns into, "Men's hockey games are no longer available on FCS (or FTA), therefore UND does not understand the impact of exposure." I guess that was a much more succinct way of summarizing what I was trying to say in my previous post

I'm all for engaging in discussion on here if we can leave the name-calling (different post) and conspiracy theories out of it. The person I talked to was not affiliated with Midco, nor were they trying to "sell" UND's "media people" on anything. I merely asked in casual conversation, out of my own curiosity, about FTA and its prevalence in this day and age. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is rehash the exact same discussion every month about the television situation. I would guess most of you feel the same way. No, it is not ideal in its current incarnation, but how many collegiate television situations are? It is an extremely fluid landscape but we are committed to making the best of it. Not just now, but going forward. There are some on here (and elsewhere) who continue to presume that we as an athletics department -- the paid professionals whose job it is to operate in the best interests of our University and our student-athletes -- don't value maximum exposure. That we apparently are content to have fewer games on national television. That we aren't concerned with losing hockey viewers who previously watched us on FCS. This is utterly preposterous. Over the past six years under Brian Faison: A relationship has been established with FOX College Sports (available in more than 50 million homes) that has provided live national broadcasts of not just UND men's hockey, but also UND women's hockey, football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball. A partnership has been formed with Midco Sports Network that not only provides us with a regional broadcast stronghold, but ever-important financial stability. Further, as we begin just year two of that 5-year partnership, Midco has already addressed some of the biggest macro (high definition) and micro (penalty clock) issues that many fans have had with our broadcasts over the years. Midco has also committed to produce and broadcast North Dakota Hockey with Dave Hakstol, the first men's hockey-specific show we've had in at least 20 years, if ever (my time here dates only to the mid-90s so I don't know if there was a Gino Gasparini show). This show, along with UND Sports Extra and UND Insider Weekly, provide us with no fewer than three weekly television shows. Significant resources (financial and manpower) have been committed to widening and improving our online coverage. This ranges from live events (webcasts that include all men's hockey, women's hockey, football, men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball home games, as well as select soccer, baseball and softball games) to original programming (Through These Doors, Opening Drive, etc.). This has also included the continued development of mobile apps, now and going forward. The state and regional radio network has been significantly expanded. If the exposure discussion goes beyond the traditional realm, our student-athletes have been featured prominently by Sports Illustrated, TSN, CBC, New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, ESPN the Magazine, Los Angeles Times and more. Truthfully, many of these opportunities simply fall into our lap. But quite often, we must aggressively pitch and pursue them. That is our job. Yes, fewer men's hockey home games will be available on national TV this year. Unfortunately, that was the cost of business associated with forming a first-rate men's hockey conference. Do we as a department find the loss of those games ideal? Of course not, but that doesn't mean that we will stop trying to eventually reclaim that full national footprint. We are hopeful it will prove to be a shining example of one step backward to take two steps forward. As with anything, these things take time. This athletics department is certainly never beyond reproach, and it is the fans who serve as our checks and balances. That is a good thing. But I would hope that the bullet points above serve as evidence that this department is anything but ignorant when it comes to matters of exposure.

This is all reasonable and accurate, although we obviously hope there are no issues with the first webcast or two. On the TV front, whether people choose to believe it or not, we are continually searching for potential solutions that would enable to us to put more games back on national TV for those FCS viewers affected by the NCHC's deal with CBSSN. Will we be able to do anything in time for the 2013-14 season? Extremely doubtful. But we're constantly working on it and, in the meantime, every home game (but one) remains available via broadcast or webcast.

You're right: I AM clueless when it comes to FTA, which is why I sought the opinion of someone with extensive experience within the industry, and relayed that information here. Again, if that information was incorrect, I apologize.

I apologize if my info was incorrect. I was relaying what I had been recently told by someone with experience in the television production business. Our decision to longer make the coordinates is more of a business decision with relation to our broadcast partners, our webcasts and our ticket sales. As everyone on here knows, you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time. The broadcast landscape in college sports is incredibly fluid these days, and we're doing our best to only offer as many options as possible (within good business practices, to be sure), but to also anticipate future evolution and changes within the industry.

An update on this front: it's looking like we've come up with a way to be able to grab the HD feed at the Alerus, so Saturday's football webcast should be available in HD. It still needs to be tested this week, but I'm hopeful this is good to go.

It should be pointed out that all of these same establishments that were previously picking up the game via FTA can -- and likely will, if they determine such viewings remain in the best interests of their business -- still pick up the game via webcast. Is it still "free" for these establishments to pick up the feed? No. But for the price of one single plate of Buffalo wings they can still treat their patrons to the broadcasts. The fact is that FTA has virtually gone the way of the dinosaur, not just at UND, but around the country. It might be a harsh reality for some, but a reality nonetheless.

Please refer to the statements in bold. Anything beyond those and you'd be reading into something that isn't there.

We're aware FCS viewers were "treated" to just a single camera angle for most of the first quarter (Midco and web viewers reported no such problem). I'm not exactly sure what went wrong there, but when we became aware and went down to the production truck to look into it, those folks were already trying to fix the problem. It is my understanding that it was rectified for the final three quarters, although that's obviously one too few. I've never worked in television production and would not want to speculate as to how the FCS feed could end up with just one of the camera angles, but maybe Southpaw could shed some light. Either way, we appreciate the patience shown by our FCS viewers during that first quarter. Hopefully that never happens again.

Actually, this is an issue on our end that we are currently trying to solve. Without getting into the logistics of the issue, the long and the short of it is when we webcast from the Alerus, we do not have a way to pull the HD feed for streaming like we can at REA. But we ARE working on possible solutions and there is a chance it could be rectified as early as this week. Will keep everyone posted.

http://www.undsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=13500&ATCLID=208897662

Hello everyone. It's been awhile -- I trust everyone's had a great summer. I posted this over on Schlossman's blog but figured I'd double up over here. FYI, the "big announcements" reference was in response to a specific comment over there: No one affiliated with UND Athletics promised anyone “big announcements.” Simply not true. What we *have* been saying is that we will continue to seek improvements to our viewing options across ALL platforms. That has not changed and that will not change. The broadcast situation we have today may not be the broadcast situation we have by the time the puck drops opening night. Or a year from now. These things evolve, take time and require a little patience. Did we promise HD webcasts and enhanced webcast support? Yes, beginning with the upcoming season our home webcasts will be offered in high definition. In light of the shifting TV situation, we have allocated and committed the necessary resources to providing high quality web streams. At the end of the day, fans will still have the ability to watch literally every single home game. Every one of them. Plus four road games. Some of these will be on your television screen and yes, some will have to be on your computer screen. You also have the ability to send the HD webcast feed to your flatscreen TV with one cord and one press of a button. In the coming weeks, our website will offer a video tutorial on how to make that conversion for those who are unfamiliar with the process. In the meantime, we will continue to do everything within our power to bring more of our games back to national TV. Neither UND, nor the NCHC Commissioner, is ignoring our television situation. Quite the contrary, in fact. But please understand that it is a work in progress.