GeauxSioux Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 UND athletics: A hit on the small screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82SiouxGuy Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 UND athletics: A hit on the small screen Interesting article. It's good news for Sioux fans around the country to know that things are working well with Fox Sports and all of the local partners. It also explains the HD question to those who keep asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Interesting what MidContinent is doing: forming a Dakota sports channel. One school in Fargo seems conspicuously absent. Starting this fall, though, that content will be moved to Ch. 27, a move that will put FSSN in a superior location between ESPN-ESPN 2 (channels 25 and 26) and FSN North (channel 28). Midcontinent plans to unveil a revamped channel, which will feature expanded coverage of other locally produced sporting events from schools such as South Dakota and South Dakota State. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Interesting what MidContinent is doing: forming a Dakota sports channel. One school in Fargo seems conspicuously absent. I was scratching my head when I read that also. Why would the school with the largest metro population be left out of the Dakota sports package? Do you think that was the Forum's call, MidContinents, The Ralph's, or is the blundering turd trying to start something on their own? Either way I like that UND, the Forum, MidCon, The Ralph & UND are including SDSU & USD. Can you imagine where UND sports would be right now if it wasn't for Ralph Engelstad? None of this would be possible if he wouldn't have made the initial $113MM investment. Every sport at UND is benefitting from his generous gift. It's too bad that there are still some around that don't recognize that and would like to kick hockey to the side. Hockey is the driver behind everything in UND athletics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammersmith Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 I was scratching my head when I read that also. Why would the school with the largest metro population be left out of the Dakota sports package? Do you think that was the Forum's call, MidContinents, The Ralph's, or is the blundering turd trying to start something on their own? Either way I like that UND, the Forum, MidCon, The Ralph & UND are including SDSU & USD. Can you imagine where UND sports would be right now if it wasn't for Ralph Engelstad? None of this would be possible if he wouldn't have made the initial $113MM investment. Every sport at UND is benefitting from his generous gift. It's too bad that there are still some around that don't recognize that and would like to kick hockey to the side. Hockey is the driver behind everything in UND athletics. Sorry, but duh. Who is the cable provider in UND's local market(GF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in USD's local market(Verm/SF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in SDSU's local market(Brookings)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in NDSU's local market(Fargo)? Cableone. [music] One of these things is not like the others. [/music] Now, Midco has surrounded Fargo by adding locations in West Fargo and Moorhead. There are always rumors that Midco is going to challenge Cableone in Fargo once the latter's exclusive contract with the city comes up for renewal(don't know when that is). If Midco were to get into the Fargo market, then NDSU would be added to the broadcasts immediately. Until that happens, however, Midco won't do anything to help their competitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 I was scratching my head when I read that also. Why would the school with the largest metro population be left out of the Dakota sports package? Do you think that was the Forum's call, MidContinents, The Ralph's, or is the blundering turd trying to start something on their own? Either way I like that UND, the Forum, MidCon, The Ralph & UND are including SDSU & USD. Can you imagine where UND sports would be right now if it wasn't for Ralph Engelstad? None of this would be possible if he wouldn't have made the initial $113MM investment. Every sport at UND is benefitting from his generous gift. It's too bad that there are still some around that don't recognize that and would like to kick hockey to the side. Hockey is the driver behind everything in UND athletics. Totally agree: hockey is what is making a DI move possible. In turn, investing in higher level DI programs will help take UND hockey even higher (more coverage in US and Canada) which in turn helps the rest of the sports. As far as the FM area being left out: a reasonably high fraction of FM fans are Sioux fans so there's demand there for Sioux programming. A lot of issues went into this: NDSU/Taylor/alumni seemingly refuse to acknowledge that hockey is pertinent to the region. It's almost like hockey is beneath them, and is practically contemptible. After all NDSU is going to be the next Boise State: it's not going to associate with low-level sports programming like hockey. But Taylor seems to be doing everything possible to get his teams on FCS. The UND-FCS deal is a huge thorn in their side: gets their goat like few other issues. NDSU has made their bed with ND NBC network. For a time, it seemed like UND would make a play for the ND NBC network (possibly switch from WDAZ to KVLY), and the entire Forum Communications Company would back the Bison. But the 20-odd home dates for UND hockey is just too good for WDAZ, for Forum CC to lose it. The whole Chapman/Marcil presidential House donation and the way the NDSU/KFGO deal came down created a huge amount of bad blood between the two. It's almost as if Forum/WDAY etc won't have anything to do with NDSU, except for obligatory NDSU coverage in the newspaper, unless there is a major olive branch given out by Taylor. Maybe if Taylor ever leaves, things might change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star2city Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Sorry, but duh. Who is the cable provider in UND's local market(GF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in USD's local market(Verm/SF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in SDSU's local market(Brookings)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in NDSU's local market(Fargo)? Cableone. [music] One of these things is not like the others. [/music] Now, Midco has surrounded Fargo by adding locations in West Fargo and Moorhead. There are always rumors that Midco is going to challenge Cableone in Fargo once the latter's exclusive contract with the city comes up for renewal(don't know when that is). If Midco were to get into the Fargo market, then NDSU would be added to the broadcasts immediately. Until that happens, however, Midco won't do anything to help their competitor. That is a good point, but seems to be conceding that there aren't any NDSU fans outside the city limits of Fargo. Vermillion and Brookings are small outpost in MidContinents' footprint: if it was only about Vermillion and Brookings, Midcontinent would have a High School network or, out of deference to Minot, Bismarck, and Aberdeen (other large MidContinent Cities), Minot State, Mary and Northern State would all have prominent sports placement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSSD Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Sorry, but duh. Who is the cable provider in UND's local market(GF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in USD's local market(Verm/SF)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in SDSU's local market(Brookings)? Midcontinent. Who is the cable provider in NDSU's local market(Fargo)? Cableone. [music] One of these things is not like the others. [/music] Now, Midco has surrounded Fargo by adding locations in West Fargo and Moorhead. There are always rumors that Midco is going to challenge Cableone in Fargo once the latter's exclusive contract with the city comes up for renewal(don't know when that is). If Midco were to get into the Fargo market, then NDSU would be added to the broadcasts immediately. Until that happens, however, Midco won't do anything to help their competitor. I believe that Mediacom is the cable provider for Brookings. So, you might want to check that to validate your theory Mr. Hammer. In addition, the city-owned telephone company, Swiftel, operates as a Sprint PCS affiliate, providing mobile telephone service to much of the Interstate 29 corridor, running from the Iowa/Nebraska border, north to Watertown. Cable TV is not provided by the city, however. The franchise holder is Mediacom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings,_South_Dakota [music] Two of these things is not like the others. [/music] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSSD Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 Earlier this spring I was in Watertown SD at a birthday party. I was getting to know several of the college age kids and as expected several of them attend SDSU. We talked Jacks sports until they found out I went to UND. After that, all they talked about was Sioux hockey. What is the Ralph like? is it as fun as it looks on TV? They talked about how a group on his floor are planning a road trip to Grand Forks next year and how they would drive from Brookings to Watertown to watch the games if it was a big series... Just an example of the impact this has for UND, USD and SDSU. Hopefully NDSU will join in the future.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammersmith Posted July 25, 2010 Share Posted July 25, 2010 I believe that Mediacom is the cable provider for Brookings. So, you might want to check that to validate your theory Mr. Hammer. In addition, the city-owned telephone company, Swiftel, operates as a Sprint PCS affiliate, providing mobile telephone service to much of the Interstate 29 corridor, running from the Iowa/Nebraska border, north to Watertown. Cable TV is not provided by the city, however. The franchise holder is Mediacom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings,_South_Dakota [music] Two of these things is not like the others. [/music] D'oh, you're right. Midco is in so many SD communities that I got confused. My bad. Still, Midco does have the primary market of Sioux Falls and the next closest city of Watertown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeauxSioux Posted July 26, 2010 Author Share Posted July 26, 2010 Earlier this spring I was in Watertown SD at a birthday party. I was getting to know several of the college age kids and as expected several of them attend SDSU. We talked Jacks sports until they found out I went to UND. After that, all they talked about was Sioux hockey. What is the Ralph like? is it as fun as it looks on TV? They talked about how a group on his floor are planning a road trip to Grand Forks next year and how they would drive from Brookings to Watertown to watch the games if it was a big series... Just an example of the impact this has for UND, USD and SDSU. Hopefully NDSU will join in the future.. Nice story. It is great to hear that UND is gaining more fans through FSSN and its connections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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