bincitysioux Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Hockey & UND Sports Xtra will be on FCS per a tweet by UND. No mention of any other sports. Well that is good news I suppose. Kind of sucks for the fans that are aware that North Dakota has other sports besides hockey....................... No access for FTA satellite users either. Link This new deal with Midco sure does suck compared to what we've gotten used to for like 10 years now. Quote
sprig Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 New deal feels much like the 80s, when Prairie Public TV dropped Sioux hockey. Quote
TheGreatSiouxNation Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Huge step backwards in my opinion. UND going DI used to be exciting now it has a DII feel about it. Just another regional school among many. Quote
gfhockey Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 i agree. what a bad year for und atheletics. Quote
TheGreatSiouxNation Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Does anyone know if the web stream is available with apple products? Quote
Sioux2007 Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Can Midco Sports Network be picked up on FTA satellite? Quote
Blackheart Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 What if you get the FCS channels through Comcast? Quote
Blackheart Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Can Midco Sports Network be picked up on FTA satellite? Maybe, but it is likely scrambled. Quote
a_hockeynut Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Well that is good news I suppose. Kind of sucks for the fans that are aware that North Dakota has other sports besides hockey....................... No access for FTA satellite users either. Link This new deal with Midco sure does suck compared to what we've gotten used to for like 10 years now. No kidding! How disappointing! I was really hoping Jason was going to be announcing FTA would still be available, but based on this tweet that is not so! Perhaps they plan to do something really cool, like having a Roku channel for Sioux sports! Quote
TheGreatSiouxNation Posted August 23, 2012 Posted August 23, 2012 Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't UND Insider or whatever Require Flash? There goes my IPad and iPhone if it does. Quote
fightingsioux4life Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 I guess up until this new atrocity that is passing for a TV deal with Midco was signed this summer, I think Faison's team has done an excellent job with marketing. Just to remind people; the deal with Midco is NOT the reason games won't be available on FCS anymore. The blame for that lies with the NCHC and the exclusive national TV deal they signed. Midco will have HD broadcasts within 3 years and likely will add a penalty clock to hockey broadcasts; which helps resolve two major complaints from our fan base over the years. If Cable One decides NOT to carry our games, that is not Midco's fault, that is the fault of an abusive monopoly that a lot of people in Fargo are sick and tired of. In the long run, Midco will be a great partner to work with, as they have been a company that does things in a first class manner. People that wish Pat Sweeney was still around should just let it go. 2 Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Just to remind people; the deal with Midco is NOT the reason games won't be available on FCS anymore. The blame for that lies with the NCHC and the exclusive national TV deal they signed. Midco will have HD broadcasts within 3 years and likely will add a penalty clock to hockey broadcasts; which helps resolve two major complaints from our fan base over the years. If Cable One decides NOT to carry our games, that is not Midco's fault, that is the fault of an abusive monopoly that a lot of people in Fargo are sick and tired of. In the long run, Midco will be a great partner to work with, as they have been a company that does things in a first class manner. People that wish Pat Sweeney was still around should just let it go. Midco is now working on getting HD as soon as next fall. They are working on trying to expand where the sports channel is seen to a larger part of the region (other cable systems such as in the Twin Cities) and possibly to have at least part of the games on some kind of national network like FCS. They will probably not be able to do that with NCHC league games, but hope to do something with the other games. They have also started discussing broadcasting some away games in future years. The television deal is a work in progress yet people are jumping to conclusions as usual. This is a new deal for Midco, so even they don't know what things will look like this year or in future years of the broadcast deal. Quote
bincitysioux Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Just to remind people; the deal with Midco is NOT the reason games won't be available on FCS anymore. The blame for that lies with the NCHC and the exclusive national TV deal they signed. Midco will have HD broadcasts within 3 years and likely will add a penalty clock to hockey broadcasts; which helps resolve two major complaints from our fan base over the years. If Cable One decides NOT to carry our games, that is not Midco's fault, that is the fault of an abusive monopoly that a lot of people in Fargo are sick and tired of. In the long run, Midco will be a great partner to work with, as they have been a company that does things in a first class manner. People that wish Pat Sweeney was still around should just let it go. I do understand all of that. This will be the last year that the Sioux hockey is available on FCS. That is due to the exclusivity clause that the NCHC signed with CBS. My problem is that UND football, basketball, volleyball, and women's hockey will not be on FCS this year, presumably because of the deal with Midco. I question whether or not it was a good idea to cut Forum Communications/WDAZ out of the TV rights in favor of Midco. Midco serves about 275,000 homes in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Forum Communications serves about 650,000 homes in North Dakota alone, and probably reaches 100,000 more in South Dakota and Minnesota. I understand that very few games were televised on Forum Comm's ABC stations, but the Sunday night coach's show was, as well as marquee games like the Gopher hockey game and NDSU basketball game were. The deal with Midco drops UND's overall state-wide audience by two-thirds. Who cares if Midco will have HD and a penalty clock if nobody can see it? Quote
bincitysioux Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 The television deal is a work in progress yet people are jumping to conclusions as usual. Not sure what you mean by that. UND sports went from being available in 54 Million homes to 275,000 homes. In my book, that is a downgrade. The vast majority of North Dakotans won't even have access to "UND Sports Extra", which has been aired state-wide for like 30 years. 1 Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Not sure what you mean by that. UND sports went from being available in 54 Million homes to 275,000 homes. In my book, that is a downgrade. The vast majority of North Dakotans won't even have access to "UND Sports Extra", which has been aired state-wide for like 30 years. As I said, the details of where things will be shown haven't all been worked out. Midco is still working on a lot of options. They are talking to other cable companies in the region and they are talking to national providers for some options. This is something new for them, a deal much bigger than they have ever had for the sports channel, so they are still figuring out what they can do and where they might be able to go with things. Viewing options will change from year to year, and may even change during the school year as they get things figured out. And while the games may have been available in 54 million homes, the vast majority of those never watched a second of UND sports. What will be important will be actual viewership. By the time that Midco is done trying to expand their network, the actual viewership could go up with this deal. For instance, if they can get the games shown on cable in the Twin Cities you would gain a lot of alumni viewers down there that never had a chance to watch FCS unless they went to a bar. Some people that had access are probably not going to with this new deal, but others will gain access that didn't have it. Don't jump to conclusions about the actual long term outcome until the final details are arranged and announced. Quote
bincitysioux Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 And while the games may have been available in 54 million homes, the vast majority of those never watched a second of UND sports. What will be important will be actual viewership. By the time that Midco is done trying to expand their network, the actual viewership could go up with this deal. For instance, if they can get the games shown on cable in the Twin Cities you would gain a lot of alumni viewers down there that never had a chance to watch FCS unless they went to a bar. Some people that had access are probably not going to with this new deal, but others will gain access that didn't have it. Don't jump to conclusions about the actual long term outcome until the final details are arranged and announced. My point is that actual viewership the last 3 years with games on FCS was undoubtedly much higher than what it will be with games on Midco. Like I said, the FCS deal is going away because of the NCHC, not because of Brian Faison or UND. FCS coverage was a luxury the last few seasons. My main issue is with cutting out a state-wide TV station from the package. The fact is that most people who live in North Dakota do not even have the option of subscribing to Midcontinent programming. If Midco is going to be the main avenue of getting UND sports out there, I view that as a problem. Quote
Cratter Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 If you have to balance a budget $200,000 a year is hard to turn down. The convo basically starts and stops there. Who knows what midco has planned. They seem to be trying to start a Fox Sports Dakota and selling it to others. UND could be a leader here. Midco seems like they have their act together and are doing good things. Just need to get it in the Twin Cities market. Quote
Redneksioux Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 If you have to balance a budget $200,000 a year is hard to turn down. The convo basically starts and stops there. Who knows what midco has planned. They seem to be trying to start a Fox Sports Dakota and selling it to others. UND could be a leader here. Midco seems like they have their act together and are doing good things. Just need to get it in the Twin Cities market. And statewide.....which many of us are rural and have no access to their programming...not trying to jump to any conclusions here other than the fact that many of us won't have access this year:-( Quote
Cratter Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Maybe you will be able to get it with those relatively cheap and small free to air dishes. Quote
82SiouxGuy Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 If you have to balance a budget $200,000 a year is hard to turn down. The convo basically starts and stops there. Who knows what midco has planned. They seem to be trying to start a Fox Sports Dakota and selling it to others. UND could be a leader here. Midco seems like they have their act together and are doing good things. Just need to get it in the Twin Cities market. The part I highlighted is what they are working on. Instead of professional sports, they will base the programming on college sports along with some high school sports. UND is their anchor. They have signed deals with USD and SDSU, but they aren't going to show nearly as many sporting events for either school. But they are building a studio and putting staff in Grand Forks because UND will be the crown jewel of their programming. They are dreaming big with this project. Quote
sprig Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 All fine for everyone in the midco area, or in an area whose cable buys the sportsnet, but for thousands of others, including satellite TV, there are no other options, other than FTA, or, if midco chooses to sell FTA users a smart card for the channel. Talk to anyone at midco, they seem totally clueless as to what theralph used to do for us, uplink to satellite, and offer as FTA, if we had a system. I doubt that midco is yet big or important enough (like fox) to sell their product to dish and directtv as part of the respective sports pak. If they could do that, or sell smartcard access, that would solve everyone's problem. It's a bit funny that those that have access to midco are chastising all of us who don't have an option to get Sioux sports. I think the Sioux fans showing up at games all over the country is indicative that the midco footprint falls way short of the fanbase. It doesn't even cover all of North Dakota. Quote
sprig Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Maybe you will be able to get it with those relatively cheap and small free to air dishes. We were hoping, but an recent tweet by a midco rep stated that it will not be available. Not a suprise, midco is trying to sell their product, not give it away, and hope pressure from Sioux fans expand their footprint. Until that happens, thousands of us who watched Sioux sports can now either stream, or follow a game thread on this site. That, imo, is a major step backwards. I don't blame midco for going after the deal, I blame the U for taking away so much for so many. Quote
Blackheart Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 Well if for some reason the FTA does work, I won't tell anyone. Quote
Ranger Posted August 24, 2012 Posted August 24, 2012 But they are building a studio and putting staff in Grand Forks because UND will be the crown jewel of their programming. They are dreaming big with this project. If their project doesn't end with a channel on DirectTV, Dish, Comcast, etc., then it's a complete and utter failure. Quote
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