Weekly odds that the game is broadcast nationally.

[Frozen4sioux]

So the new production couldnt figure out how to successfilly get the broadcast up to other outlets last night,... a week after a horrible and unwatchable production.

Up until shortly before game time the game was "supposed" to be made available,..i see that now they say all games except last nights will air.

Well to make it interesting until the new broadcast proves itself capable of anything more than a high school production of a volleyball game on the community channel, we will post the weekly odds on the facebook, and twitter, that it airs....in a watchable manner.

Facebook

facebook.com/bringbacksweeney

For odds on twitter follow @danhammersucks

[Ole in MSP]

So the new production couldnt figure out how to successfilly get the broadcast up to other outlets last night,... a week after a horrible and unwatchable production.

Up until shortly before game time the game was "supposed" to be made available,..i see that now they say all games except last nights will air.

Well to make it interesting until the new broadcast proves itself capable of anything more than a high school production of a volleyball game on the community channel, we will post the weekly odds on the facebook, and twitter, that it airs....in a watchable manner.

Facebook

facebook.com/bringbacksweeney

For odds on twitter follow @danhammersucks

Didn't you enjoy watching the Gophers vs MSU or St Cloud against UNH on Directv last night? UND TV coverage this year has really suffered for both FB and Hockey. Too bad.

[siouxkid12]

At least we have a penalty clock!

[gfhockey]

yeah i am really not to happy with how faison has negotiated this supposed new tv deal. it hasnt worked out since he signed the dotted ine. one of the black marks since hes been here

[iceberg]

I think Midco needs to throw their old 1980's video cameras out.....a couple weeks ago they showed SoDak football and the "main" camera was so washed out it was Turribull.....Just Turribull

[southpaw]

A step back for what will ultimately be a step forward. It was going to take a long time for WDAZ to broadcast in HD. Midco will be there in a year or two. Remember that Sweeney has been following UND hockey closely for 20+ years. It's going to take some time for Hammer and company to get some familiarity with the team and with the production techniques. Very few people know how much work it takes to make a seamless live sport broadcast for 3 hours. They will undoubtedly figure it out, learn from mistakes and progress.

Settle the f down people. It will get better and you'll have a much better feed and production than WDAZ would be able to provide.

[KSSioux]

This is a HUGE step backwards for those of us that are not in the ND.SD,MN area and cannot get the games on FCS. I have a FTA satellite to watch the games the past few years and know it can be better. I placed a quick note on the game blog last night about how bad Faison was, and quickly got scolded that it was not Faison's issue, so I left the blog. It is Faison's responsibility, since he is the athletic director. southpaw, if people do not make their dissatisfaction known they will just let things go so I would not recommend that folks "settle down".. College hockey has made great strides and Sioux hockey was a big part of that based on the numbers of folks that watch it across the country when it is on NBCSN or CBSSN. The production value of the Manitoba game sucked, and this just got worse with folks who do not know what they are doing producingthe games. I do not want the quality to be like the UNH-St. Cloud game last night (at least it was on though), but my complaint is not about the announcers. I agree that they will get better, and I will give them time to work out the kinks together. UND media relations say the internet will improve, but no coverage on Apple products like an IPad. The Big Sky coverage from their internet feeds is good and I think that is much better than UND's system so the other sports that they cover is fairly good quality.

Bottom line is that the UND Athletics do not seem to care about alums outside of the Midco distribution and just say to "Wait, it will get better". Give us a set date than and tell us exactly what you are going to do because folks will not tune in to this garbage (or not tune in like last night).

[SiouxForever]

I will give credit and time to Dan Hammer and Kober. Last night, while watching the webcast in horrible quality (thanks Midco Sports Network) I thought they did a better job than the previous weekend. Dan Hammer called the play more lively and didn't drift off-topic while provided a bunch of facts, in which he did a lot against Manitoba. Kober, chimed in less frequently than last week too, which was nice, so that Dan Hammer could focus on calling the play. When Kober, got his time to make points, they were pretty knowledgeable and seemed to be at the right time.

They'll both get better. I'm not too concerned with Dan Hammer and Kober doing the color.

[as15]

I will give credit and time to Dan Hammer and Kober. Last night, while watching the webcast in horrible quality (thanks Midco Sports Network) I thought they did a better job than the previous weekend. Dan Hammer called the play more lively and didn't drift off-topic while provided a bunch of facts, in which he did a lot against Manitoba. Kober, chimed in less frequently than last week too, which was nice, so that Dan Hammer could focus on calling the play. When Kober, got his time to make points, they were pretty knowledgeable and seemed to be at the right time.

They'll both get better. I'm not too concerned with Dan Hammer and Kober doing the color.

Me either, I would just like to be able to see what they are calling.

[yababy8]

A step back for what will ultimately be a step forward. It was going to take a long time for WDAZ to broadcast in HD. Midco will be there in a year or two. Remember that Sweeney has been following UND hockey closely for 20+ years. It's going to take some time for Hammer and company to get some familiarity with the team and with the production techniques. Very few people know how much work it takes to make a seamless live sport broadcast for 3 hours. They will undoubtedly figure it out, learn from mistakes and progress.

Settle the f down people. It will get better and you'll have a much better feed and production than WDAZ would be able to provide.

In Business this type of thing is called Blue Sky.

Faison and Co were negligent in not doing at least one of two things before inking a deal of such consequence:

1. He should have vetted out what broadcast capabilities anyone doing the bidding had

2. He should have included a video quality clause squarely in the contract.

If Midco won the bid based on HD quality, they should have only been allowed at the table with it if they had it in hand. If they get it in two years then by all means get it and get your ducks in a row for the next contract.

[Sodbuster]

God I'm glad I had the option of switching to MIDCO and did. Otherwise,I might be SOL.

[82SiouxGuy]

In Business this type of thing is called Blue Sky.

Faison and Co were negligent in not doing at least one of two things before inking a deal of such consequence:

1. He should have vetted out what broadcast capabilities anyone doing the bidding had

2. He should have included a video quality clause squarely in the contract.

If Midco won the bid based on HD quality, they should have only been allowed at the table with it if they had it in hand. If they get it in two years then by all means get it and get your ducks in a row for the next contract.

This is a new production team, and that was known to UND before the contract was signed. This is a large expansion for Midco to give sports in the Northern Red River Valley a lot more coverage, focusing on UND. Midco put HD in the contract starting in 2014, they are going to try and get it set up by fall of 2013. I believe that they are using the same video equipment for games as was used last year. These were 2 EXHIBITION GAMES for an entirely new team and new relationships between Midco and Fox College Sports. Don't forget, not all hockey games were shown on Direct TV in past years, some of the games were skipped when they had other programing to fill the time. UND and Midco seem to be working to fix the problems. Southpaw is right, everyone needs to settle down. Let them know about problems so they can fix them, but several people are way over the top on this.

[southpaw]

This is a HUGE step backwards for those of us that are not in the ND.SD,MN area and cannot get the games on FCS. I have a FTA satellite to watch the games the past few years and know it can be better. I placed a quick note on the game blog last night about how bad Faison was, and quickly got scolded that it was not Faison's issue, so I left the blog. It is Faison's responsibility, since he is the athletic director. southpaw, if people do not make their dissatisfaction known they will just let things go so I would not recommend that folks "settle down".. College hockey has made great strides and Sioux hockey was a big part of that based on the numbers of folks that watch it across the country when it is on NBCSN or CBSSN. The production value of the Manitoba game sucked, and this just got worse with folks who do not know what they are doing producingthe games. I do not want the quality to be like the UNH-St. Cloud game last night (at least it was on though), but my complaint is not about the announcers. I agree that they will get better, and I will give them time to work out the kinks together. UND media relations say the internet will improve, but no coverage on Apple products like an IPad. The Big Sky coverage from their internet feeds is good and I think that is much better than UND's system so the other sports that they cover is fairly good quality.

Bottom line is that the UND Athletics do not seem to care about alums outside of the Midco distribution and just say to "Wait, it will get better". Give us a set date than and tell us exactly what you are going to do because folks will not tune in to this garbage (or not tune in like last night).

Regardless of whether people make their dissatisfaction know, the broadcasts are going to continue to improve. As a very, very experienced sports producer and director, I know what it takes to put on an excellent show. The company, Midcontinent knows how to put together good broadcasts. The new staff (even though some of them are the same people from WDAZ) will take some time to gel. The camera people will soon know what shots they need. The director will soon know they can trust those camera people. The replay people will know how to fully operate the systems. The announcers will understand the names and will continue to research the history of the team. The production team will understand the best way to send out the signal to both local companies and FCS.

It takes some time to get all of the pieces together. I hope you're criticizing the team as much as Midco, because UND is nothing like they've been in the past. That doesn't mean they won't be better than last year. It just takes time to put everything together and make sure everyone knows their job and how to do it well. The broadcasts will get better. Don't compare it to other schools because it's nothing like other schools.

[Frozen4sioux]

Sounds like youre fine with accepting mediocrity.

Not something that is accepted in the history, tradition and lore of Fighting Sioux Hockey

[KSSioux]

Wow Southpaw and 82Siouxguy, I guess I have struck a nerve. I was not being personal, just wanting to make sure people did not stick their heads in the sand about this issue. This is a big sacrifice to those that live outside the Grand Forks area and want to continue to watch a game and team we love. I have NEVER criticized the Fighting Sioux hockey team, or even the coach. These are kids playing a game that many of us love. They are arguably the best followed college hockey team in the country based on the national network games that I mentioned. Not my opinion, just the facts. The Midco team should be PROFESSIONALS at what they do (they are getting paid for this). which is a big difference from an amateur kid playing a game while in school (even though most are under scholarship). The UND Media Relations and Faison obviously are not pushing their buttons, so the fans must point out the inadequecies of their coverage. To assume that they will improve without any feedback is nieve at best. It is also a fact that those of us that live outside the GF/Midco area will be without TV coverage next year other than a few games that will be on CBSSN. That means that the internet feed is what we have to rely on and that is horrible right now and we need to make sure they live up to the promises that they made to upgrade the systems. Based on what we have seen so far from the coverage, that is up in the air.

[82SiouxGuy]

Wow Southpaw and 82Siouxguy, I guess I have struck a nerve. I was not being personal, just wanting to make sure people did not stick their heads in the sand about this issue. This is a big sacrifice to those that live outside the Grand Forks area and want to continue to watch a game and team we love. I have NEVER criticized the Fighting Sioux hockey team, or even the coach. These are kids playing a game that many of us love. They are arguably the best followed college hockey team in the country based on the national network games that I mentioned. Not my opinion, just the facts. The Midco team should be PROFESSIONALS at what they do (they are getting paid for this). which is a big difference from an amateur kid playing a game while in school (even though most are under scholarship). The UND Media Relations and Faison obviously are not pushing their buttons, so the fans must point out the inadequecies of their coverage. To assume that they will improve without any feedback is nieve at best. It is also a fact that those of us that live outside the GF/Midco area will be without TV coverage next year other than a few games that will be on CBSSN. That means that the internet feed is what we have to rely on and that is horrible right now and we need to make sure they live up to the promises that they made to upgrade the systems. Based on what we have seen so far from the coverage, that is up in the air.

If you read what I said, I said let them know about the problems so they can fix them. But the overreaction is amazing. This is a new project, for a new team. They aren't going to be at any where close to their best right out of the box. All reports are that the Midco broadcasts are as good as last year or better. It is the transmission to other forms, either to Fox College Sports or to the webcasts where the problems seem to be coming up. It is hard for Midco to know about some of these problems until they actually do a game or 2. When they find out that there are problems, then they have to figure out how to fix them. My guess is that most of the bugs will be worked out in the next couple of broadcasts. But go ahead and overreact all you want.

The complaints about games not being on FCS next year are a totally different story. That is because of the new league, and there are many factors that have gone into those decisions. And as I have repeated many times the last couple of months, the current TV structure is not complete and is not carved in stone. There will be additions that will improve coverage for some people. We don't know all of them that will happen, and I don't have any clue whether any of them will help you. But you can be sure that what is on paper right now is not the sum total of what will be available by the beginning of next season.

[KSSioux]

82SiouxGuy I was responding to both of you who commented on my post. Your comment about "all reports are..." is ridiculous as you just have to read some of the comments the last two weeks. I have a cable company that I have gotten FCS the past two years (they covered all of the home SIoux games in my area, and none were missed), as well as a FTA satellite that I was able to watch the Sioux games on. It is true that the FTA feed is clearer due to the lack of a middleman to get you the game. The FCS broadcast during the Manitoba game was worse than any FCS broadcast last year of a Sioux game. That is just my opinion, but also the opinion of MANY others so far.

Your opinion is that we are overreacting to this issue. You may like to settle, but I do not when we have been blessed with great coverage in the past. It is a fact though that those of us outside of Midcon's area will not get broadcasts of the games outside of the CBSSN other than an internet feed. UND athletics dropped the ball on that part of the contract on this issue as you can look at the many posts since this was announced. A simple addition to the contract to allow the satellite coordinates to be distributed to FTA folks would have helped this immensely and that feed could have been scrambled for those games that were on CBSSN. There, I gave a partial solution rather than a head in the sand, sit and wait, things will come up roses we promise, TRUST US attitude. I appreciate that you will allow us to voice our opinions.

[82SiouxGuy]

82SiouxGuy I was responding to both of you who commented on my post. Your comment about "all reports are..." is ridiculous as you just have to read some of the comments the last two weeks. I have a cable company that I have gotten FCS the past two years (they covered all of the home SIoux games in my area, and none were missed), as well as a FTA satellite that I was able to watch the Sioux games on. It is true that the FTA feed is clearer due to the lack of a middleman to get you the game. The FCS broadcast during the Manitoba game was worse than any FCS broadcast last year of a Sioux game. That is just my opinion, but also the opinion of MANY others so far.

Your opinion is that we are overreacting to this issue. You may like to settle, but I do not when we have been blessed with great coverage in the past. It is a fact though that those of us outside of Midcon's area will not get broadcasts of the games outside of the CBSSN other than an internet feed. UND athletics dropped the ball on that part of the contract on this issue as you can look at the many posts since this was announced. A simple addition to the contract to allow the satellite coordinates to be distributed to FTA folks would have helped this immensely and that feed could have been scrambled for those games that were on CBSSN. There, I gave a partial solution rather than a head in the sand, sit and wait, things will come up roses we promise, TRUST US attitude. I appreciate that you will allow us to voice our opinions.

You didn't read my post at all. I said that where Midco is distributing the games, the result has been as good or better than last year. The problem has been when transmitting the games to other companies, like Fox College Sports. The FCS feed has had problems. They are working to fix the problems. Mr. Hajdu has posted on this site several times saying that they are working on the problem now that they know it exists. I never said accept mediocrity, I said be patient.

As far as FTA goes, how many people were actually using that to watch the games? Yes, it sucks for you if you were and now can't. But that number was probably in double digits, or low triple digits. There weren't thousands and thousands of people buying FTA rigs to watch UND hockey. UND has to look at the big picture, not the edges of the picture. Midco decided not to use that set up for whatever the reason. They are paying UND $200,000 per year for the broadcast rights. UND got paid nothing for the rights before. Midco gets some say in the process.

[passit_offthegoalie]

If you read what I said, I said let them know about the problems so they can fix them. But the overreaction is amazing. This is a new project, for a new team. They aren't going to be at any where close to their best right out of the box. All reports are that the Midco broadcasts are as good as last year or better. It is the transmission to other forms, either to Fox College Sports or to the webcasts where the problems seem to be coming up. It is hard for Midco to know about some of these problems until they actually do a game or 2. When they find out that there are problems, then they have to figure out how to fix them. My guess is that most of the bugs will be worked out in the next couple of broadcasts. But go ahead and overreact all you want.

The complaints about games not being on FCS next year are a totally different story. That is because of the new league, and there are many factors that have gone into those decisions. And as I have repeated many times the last couple of months, the current TV structure is not complete and is not carved in stone. There will be additions that will improve coverage for some people. We don't know all of them that will happen, and I don't have any clue whether any of them will help you. But you can be sure that what is on paper right now is not the sum total of what will be available by the beginning of next season.

+1

[Ranger]

I see the resident apologists are out in force...

I was out of town this week, but before I left I set my DVR to record the US Exhibition v North Dakota game on DTV 626. Returned home on Saturday to discover 6 hours of nothing recorded. Who was responsible for this eff up, or do they get a pass because it's early in the season and production? At what point do we, alumni who donate handsomely to this program, hold professionals, both internally and externally to the program, responsible?

[gfhockey]

alli can say since we actually turned d 1 on we have fell in to mediocricity and it sucks. Wish we had a good ole boy in there to clean up sheet

[passit_offthegoalie]

I'm not an apologist, but I'm also not going to set my hair on fire because UND hockey games aren't in 3D 1080P quality video, with play by play by Doc Emerick, and broadcast on every cable and satellite system in the country, before the regular season has even started.

end mini-rant

[sprig]

All reports are that the Midco broadcasts are as good as last year or better.

Those reports are simply wrong, for not only directv but other non midco cable co's that buy the feed. NCC cable at Ray buys the channel, the picture has been horrible, absolutely nowhere near close to last year's quality. On Friday night, however, we had a very clear blank screen for 3 hours, even though the game was on the NCC schedule. Maybe it's good for fiber feeds to all midco cities, but for everyone else, it's poor.

[BigChief]

You didn't miss much because the video quality is so low you couldn't see it anyway.

Who can we call or email to voice these concerns?

[sprig]

As far as FTA goes, how many people were actually using that to watch the games? Yes, it sucks for you if you were and now can't. But that number was probably in double digits, or low triple digits. There weren't thousands and thousands of people buying FTA rigs to watch UND hockey. UND has to look at the big picture, not the edges of the picture. Midco decided not to use that set up for whatever the reason. They are paying UND $200,000 per year for the broadcast rights. UND got paid nothing for the rights before. Midco gets some say in the process.

Triple digits, and not low, at a minimum. You are obviously not aware of how many people who live/in near cities do not pay for TV at all, but pick up lots of channels with a simple ota antenna. Many of those (not all Sioux fans) add an FTA system for more free channels. There are hundreds of Sioux fans with systems, and thousands more who have become Sioux fans watching them FTA. There are Sioux fans in/near Grand Forks who get their TV this way. In the TC, you can pick up 40+ channels ota.