Viewing options for Sioux hockey games this season

[fightingsiouxfan86]

So I live in Minneapolis and I've got directv so I'll be able to get the handful of games that'll be broadcast this season but I'm a diehard fan so that's not enough. Previously I've subscribed to Fox college sports but that's obviously not an option anymore. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on the UND Insider webcasts for this season? I've bought the webcasts for home games in the past and they were not great quality; really grainy and in my opinion not worth the money. I see they're offering UND insider for $63 which gives you access to all 17 home games in HD. What I want to know is what all did they upgrade? If it's in HD I'm assuming that means the cameras at the Ralph have been upgraded? For me it's totally worth the money if the webcasts have been improved but I haven't really heard anything on that so I'm curious if anyone else has?? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

[82SiouxGuy]

So I live in Minneapolis and I've got directv so I'll be able to get the handful of games that'll be broadcast this season but I'm a diehard fan so that's not enough. Previously I've subscribed to Fox college sports but that's obviously not an option anymore. I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on the UND Insider webcasts for this season? I've bought the webcasts for home games in the past and they were not great quality; really grainy and in my opinion not worth the money. I see they're offering UND insider for $63 which gives you access to all 17 home games in HD. What I want to know is what all did they upgrade? If it's in HD I'm assuming that means the cameras at the Ralph have been upgraded? For me it's totally worth the money if the webcasts have been improved but I haven't really heard anything on that so I'm curious if anyone else has?? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

All of the equipment has been upgraded. All except 1 or 2 games are supposed to be broadcast in HD. No one knows what the end result will look like until they start broadcasting. The company that actually does the webcast is also supposed to be increasing their capability and capacity. But they are going to get a lot more traffic than they have had in the past so it may or may not take some time to get the webcasts right.

[Speez]

Seems like a good place to ask some questions of the tech savvy people.

I have directv with on demand wireless that is supposed to send shows to my TV.

Haven't really tried it yet.

Can Sioux games be sent to the TV with this setup or do I need a separate wireless connection?

[southpaw]

Seems like a good place to ask some questions of the tech savvy people.

I have directv with on demand wireless that is supposed to send shows to my TV.

Haven't really tried it yet.

Can Sioux games be sent to the TV with this setup or do I need a separate wireless connection?

It is highly unlikely that any program or service willl send any UND sports to your TV. It is going to be something where you hook up a computer to your TV to watch the hockey games.

To everyone else compaining aobut this... get over it. It sucks, its going to last for at least a year. Express your frustration to the ahtletic department and the NCHC but realize this is not a UND decision. Don't freak out if the first game or two are not high quality. The first UND football game was in SD and sucked. Game two, the video feed was great.

[Redneksioux]

It is highly unlikely that any program or service willl send any UND sports to your TV. It is going to be something where you hook up a computer to your TV to watch the hockey games.

To everyone else compaining aobut this... get over it. It sucks, its going to last for at least a year. Express your frustration to the ahtletic department and the NCHC but realize this is not a UND decision. Don't freak out if the first game or two are not high quality. The first UND football game was in SD and sucked. Game two, the video feed was great.

I didn't see him or anyone else in this thread complaining about anything.

[82SiouxGuy]

I didn't see him or anyone else in this thread complaining about anything.

It's called a preemptive strike. Someone complains about Midco and not being able to watch hockey on FCS this year in every thread that mentions television.

[sprig]

It's called a preemptive strike. Someone complains about Midco and not being able to watch hockey on FCS this year in every thread that mentions television.

And you and southpaw continually insist of re-opening this can of worms, attacking whenever someone has a TV/web stream question. Why must you respond at all? People who can't get hockey on TV are upset, that's not unexpected.

In regard to the web stream, in the past refunds have been quickly given when the stream just didn't work for a user. Hope it works well this year, but I think we're protected and can opt out for refund if the increased traffic turns the stream bad.

[82SiouxGuy]

And you and southpaw continually insist of re-opening this can of worms, attacking whenever someone has a TV/web stream question. Why must you respond at all? People who can't get hockey on TV are upset, that's not unexpected.

In regard to the web stream, in the past refunds have been quickly given when the stream just didn't work for a user. Hope it works well this year, but I think we're protected and can opt out for refund if the increased traffic turns the stream bad.

I provided a straight answer to the original question. No one knows what the final product is going to look like because a lot of things have changed, like new HD equipment. And the product that will be shown by game 3 or 5 is probably going to be different (hopefully better) than what they show game 1. That has been part of my point all along. This is a work in progress. There are reasons that it happened. And people keep working to make it better. But there is a group that is complaining every step along the way, often before anything actually happens.

[sprig]

I provided a straight answer to the original question. No one knows what the final product is going to look like because a lot of things have changed, like new HD equipment. And the product that will be shown by game 3 or 5 is probably going to be different (hopefully better) than what they show game 1. That has been part of my point all along. This is a work in progress. There are reasons that it happened. And people keep working to make it better. But there is a group that is complaining every step along the way, often before anything actually happens.

There are schools out there (Montana, Montana State for instance) that care enough for their out of region alumni so that they changed directly from fta coverage to max media allowing their TV coverage to be available nationally, without a year or years of interruption. It would be nice if we could watch rather than hoping that dish/directv buy the midcosportsnet next year, or several years down the road, if at all. Possibly Montana football has a better national brand than UND, but I don't buy that. Maxmedia owns 7 TV stations in Montana, and could have chosen, like midco, to show it on just those stations while they try to sell their sports network nationally, but they did not. And I don't know whether the two schools negotiated this or maxmedia did it on their own.

If you had left your first post and not returned with southpaw to go on the preemptive attack I would not have posted in this thread. You guys chose to rehash what's been posted a thousand times, so have fun in yet another thread.

[Redneksioux]

Problem is, there are people that have lost their options for viewing und sports. You shouldn't expect them to be happy about it. I'm not complaining about it in this post. Just stating the obvious. Don't be upset that the complaining will continue because the season hasn't even started yet.

[Blackheart]

Problem is, there are people that have lost their options for viewing und sports. You shouldn't expect them to be happy about it. I'm not complaining about it in this post. Just stating the obvious. Don't be upset that the complaining will continue because the season hasn't even started yet.

Preemptive strike #2...

[yababy8]

No one knows what the end result will look like until th. ey start broadcasting. The company that actually does the webcast is also supposed to be increasing their capability and capacity. But they are going to get a lot more traffic than they have had in the past so it may or may not take some time to get the webcasts right.

If they don't know how its going to work or if it going to take a few games to 'figure it out' then they again deserve to be criticized.

The reason I say this is because the technology is known. It is available. Example, if you signed up with directv online Sunday ticket, you can watch every NFL game on your computer live in HD and the feed is great. Further, sites like justintv have been broadcasting very nice looking HD feeds of live sports events for several years now. The UND leaders should know what numbers will be signing up to watch Sioux hockey on the net and therefore have all the information they require to make it happen. Jason has continually communicated a message that, despite all of the 'unfortunate' set backs in SIOUX hockey coverage which have occurred, the athletic department will be providing an on-line HD broadcast(for a charge of course). So we should all expect that correct? As I said the technology to do so is prolific. Now perhaps they are choosing to cut corners on what is needed to get the job done because of cost issues. If this is the case as a couple of posters(not affiliated with the school I'm sure) seem to be insinuating then we should have an issue with it.

Why? Because they have continually and absolutely billed the on-line option as the answer to all that we have lost. If it doesn't work as a solution from day one it means they that they simply failed to do what they billed they would do. It ain't rocket science!

[82SiouxGuy]

If they don't know how its going to work or if it going to take a few games to 'figure it out' then they again deserve to be criticized.

The reason I say this is because the technology is known. It is available. Example, if you signed up with directv online Sunday ticket, you can watch every NFL game on your computer live in HD and the feed is great. Further, sites like justintv have been broadcasting very nice looking HD feeds of live sports events for several years now. The UND leaders should know what numbers will be signing up to watch Sioux hockey on the net and therefore have all the information they require to make it happen. Jason has continually communicated a message that, despite all of the 'unfortunate' set backs in SIOUX hockey coverage which have occurred, the athletic department will be providing an on-line HD broadcast(for a charge of course). So we should all expect that correct? As I said the technology to do so is prolific. Now perhaps they are choosing to cut corners on what is needed to get the job done because of cost issues. If this is the case as a couple of posters(not affiliated with the school I'm sure) seem to be insinuating then we should have an issue with it.

Why? Because they have continually and absolutely billed the on-line option as the answer to all that we have lost. If it doesn't work as a solution from day one it means they that they simply failed to do what they billed they would do. It ain't rocket science!

They have people using brand new equipment that they have not used before. They are doing things differently than they have before. They may run into issues that they have not run into before. That is why the product that you get for the first game may not be as good as what you get a few games into the season. The first football game this year is an example. They had some tech issues that they did not know they would run into. By all accounts, the next game was much better. Any time that you change the technology there is going to be a learning curve. But I'm sure that you were perfect at your job right from day 1, and you have never had problems with new computers or new technology. And as far as Neulion goes, the company that is providing the online service, they have estimates of what kind of demand to expect. But those are just estimates and they too are getting a new feed for the games, so they may have things that they need to adjust after the first couple of games. Things might work perfectly. But they also might have some bugs to work out as everyone adjusts to the current situation.

[82SiouxGuy]

There are schools out there (Montana, Montana State for instance) that care enough for their out of region alumni so that they changed directly from fta coverage to max media allowing their TV coverage to be available nationally, without a year or years of interruption. It would be nice if we could watch rather than hoping that dish/directv buy the midcosportsnet next year, or several years down the road, if at all. Possibly Montana football has a better national brand than UND, but I don't buy that. Maxmedia owns 7 TV stations in Montana, and could have chosen, like midco, to show it on just those stations while they try to sell their sports network nationally, but they did not. And I don't know whether the two schools negotiated this or maxmedia did it on their own.

If you had left your first post and not returned with southpaw to go on the preemptive attack I would not have posted in this thread. You guys chose to rehash what's been posted a thousand times, so have fun in yet another thread.

And who would be the potential Maxmedia for North Dakota in this situation? If someone had wanted to put in a bid for something like that, I'm sure UND would have gladly considered that. It didn't happen. Midco put in a bid for their brand new sports channel. And WDAZ was willing to do something similar to what they had done before, except that was part of a partnership with UND and Midco. I doubt that Midco was interested in continuing that partnership if they were trying to get the package for themselves. There wasn't a good competing bid. Midco was the choice. And the NCHC contract with CBS Sports also is a part of the scene. Some of you just are never going to accept that this was the best option available for UND right now. If you don't like it maybe you can put together a different package and outbid Midco in 2017 when the contract is up. It will probably cost you about $1,000,000 in upfront costs and at least $200,000 per year in rights fees, so that gives you a target to work toward.

[Frozen4sioux]

HD ...SD..streaming this ....midco that...who gives a !@#$......

Dan hammer still has a job butchering games and referring to the team as "North Dakota State".......not much matters after that.

If they canned the douche nozzle stopped making excuses about the problems and just laid it out they would be much better off...

Jason has done a much much much better job of that ( and I'm not really sure it is his responsibility to do so...so credit him for suffering the slings and arrows) going into this year and I think you will hear less bitching about quality of broadcast....

although I think we all still deserve to know why the Fargo failure was hired for a job both Sweeny and Hennessy applied for.

However....In my opinion I think that that will be drowned out by the screaming of those who haven't paid attention to it and are soon going to find out just then that they won't be turning their tv on and watching their Sioux games.

The politician approach of denying a problem and then passing off the blame and then telling people be patient,...guess what people are going to be pissed....deal with it it's not directed at you ....unless you are the one who is responsible for all this.??.....and if that's the case try pulling your lower lip over your head and swallow.

[ScottM]

So why doesn't UND think about creating its own "channel" that could be picked up on Roku or some other service? The could charge a subscription or per-game fee and reach a much wider audience than some deal with a regional TV carrier. If any number of churches and other organizations, including some sports can do it, it may be a more viable option as content moves away from traditional cable and satellite.

[ChesterFritz90]

And who would be the potential Maxmedia for North Dakota in this situation? If someone had wanted to put in a bid for something like that, I'm sure UND would have gladly considered that. It didn't happen. Midco put in a bid for their brand new sports channel. And WDAZ was willing to do something similar to what they had done before, except that was part of a partnership with UND and Midco. I doubt that Midco was interested in continuing that partnership if they were trying to get the package for themselves. There wasn't a good competing bid. Midco was the choice. And the NCHC contract with CBS Sports also is a part of the scene. Some of you just are never going to accept that this was the best option available for UND right now. If you don't like it maybe you can put together a different package and outbid Midco in 2017 when the contract is up. It will probably cost you about $1,000,000 in upfront costs and at least $200,000 per year in rights fees, so that gives you a target to work toward.

Have you guys looked at Max Media's broadcasts? Go to the Video on Demand section on watchbigsky.com, and go look up one of their games...they looked WDAZ quality. As far as North Dakota's version of Max Media, you are looking at it. Midco is the big one in this state, and they have pretty much made UND their new main school. They are broadcasting more UND games than any other school they cover, and they are actively trying to get on DISH an DirecTV.

[82SiouxGuy]

So why doesn't UND think about creating its own "channel" that could be picked up on Roku or some other service? The could charge a subscription or per-game fee and reach a much wider audience than some deal with a regional TV carrier. If any number of churches and other organizations, including some sports can do it, it may be a more viable option as content moves away from traditional cable and satellite.

I was thinking about that myself. I just started using Roku. The quality is pretty good. Money might be a factor. Especially if they would want to go with HD quality. By the time they hired people and bought the needed equipment, it would probably take $1,000,000 or more to get started. The guaranteed $200,000 per year is nice to have in the Athletic Department budget. The number of people using the service, especially in this region, is probably still pretty small and it could limit the potential pool of available customers. It might be a nice additional service to go with something else right now. But it might be the direction of the future. Or maybe it's something that Midco would want to look at for their sports channel.

[82SiouxGuy]

HD ...SD..streaming this ....midco that...who gives a !@#$......

Dan hammer still has a job butchering games and referring to the team as "North Dakota State".......not much matters after that.

If they canned the douche nozzle stopped making excuses about the problems and just laid it out they would be much better off...

Jason has done a much much much better job of that ( and I'm not really sure it is his responsibility to do so...so credit him for suffering the slings and arrows) going into this year and I think you will hear less bitching about quality of broadcast....

although I think we all still deserve to know why the Fargo failure was hired for a job both Sweeny and Hennessy applied for.

However....In my opinion I think that that will be drowned out by the screaming of those who haven't paid attention to it and are soon going to find out just then that they won't be turning their tv on and watching their Sioux games.

The politician approach of denying a problem and then passing off the blame and then telling people be patient,...guess what people are going to be pissed....deal with it it's not directed at you ....unless you are the one who is responsible for all this.??.....and if that's the case try pulling your lower lip over your head and swallow.

Does the public have a right to ask your employer why you were hired? Midco is a private company and they can hire whomever they want. For whatever reason they want, as long as they don't break laws that protect against discrimination. North Dakota is a right to work state. You don't have a right to know why they chose one candidate over another. They also don't have to explain to you about any of their other decisions. You don't have to like it, but you don't have any rights to any of that information.

No, I don't work for Midco. I have never applied for a job with Midco. I do know several people that work for Midco. I also know several people that work for WDAZ, UND Altru, the City of Grand Forks and many other major employers in town. I know that everyone involved with UND athletics and Midco have the best interests of UND athletics in mind. I also know that Midco is balancing those interests with their interest in profit. I get tired of the negativity about almost everything. As fans of the University of North Dakota, we have it pretty good. We have had a history of success in many sports. We get better access to those sports than most schools. We have better facilities than most schools this size or even larger. We have great support for the athletic department and the school. But, in spite of all of that, people are always looking for something to complain about.

[ChesterFritz90]

I was thinking about that myself. I just started using Roku. The quality is pretty good. Money might be a factor. Especially if they would want to go with HD quality. By the time they hired people and bought the needed equipment, it would probably take $1,000,000 or more to get started. The guaranteed $200,000 per year is nice to have in the Athletic Department budget. The number of people using the service, especially in this region, is probably still pretty small and it could limit the potential pool of available customers. It might be a nice additional service to go with something else right now. But it might be the direction of the future. Or maybe it's something that Midco would want to look at for their sports channel.

Go do some research on the subject. Come back and tell us how many other schools have Roku apps...

[82SiouxGuy]

Go do some research on the subject. Come back and tell us how many other schools have Roku apps...

Do your own research, I think they have a list of available channels on their website. BYU, Northern Arizona and a few other schools have had their own channels that have shown up in various places. Most of them are set up around the school, not athletics. Major college athletics will remain on the networks for a while, or the conferences will set up their own networks like the Big 10. But the television landscape is changing and it will be interesting to see how things play out for schools like UND over the next 10-20 years as more people change their viewing habits and watch more television online or on mobile devices.

[letsSIOUXum]

I've got a question that I hope someone can answer. Can I stream the webcast using my PS3? I live in Fargo, and can't get Midco where I live. If I need to go and get a laptop before the season starts, it'd be nice to know to do it now, rather than later. (I'm not very tech smart, sorry.)

[ChesterFritz90]

Do your own research, I think they have a list of available channels on their website. BYU, Northern Arizona and a few other schools have had their own channels that have shown up in various places.

Sorry if mine sounded snippy, didn't mean to. I did look and it looks like BYU and NAU are the two big schools on there, and NAU is a private channel. If UND decided to do this, i'm pretty sure it would have to be through Neulion, but it would be nice.

I've got a question that I hope someone can answer. Can I stream the webcast using my PS3? I live in Fargo, and can't get Midco where I live. If I need to go and get a laptop before the season starts, it'd be nice to know to do it now, rather than later. (I'm not very tech smart, sorry.)

Currently, yes, since their video player uses flash, but Jayson said that Neulion was in the testing stages of making their video player into HTML 5, so if/when they switch to that, i'm pretty sure you would be able to use that on your PS3 browser. I'm not 100% sure that PS3 supports HTML5, though.

[ScottM]

I was thinking about that myself. I just started using Roku. The quality is pretty good. Money might be a factor. Especially if they would want to go with HD quality. By the time they hired people and bought the needed equipment, it would probably take $1,000,000 or more to get started. The guaranteed $200,000 per year is nice to have in the Athletic Department budget. The number of people using the service, especially in this region, is probably still pretty small and it could limit the potential pool of available customers. It might be a nice additional service to go with something else right now. But it might be the direction of the future. Or maybe it's something that Midco would want to look at for their sports channel.

I did a quick skim through Roku's developer site. There does not appear to be a cost to get an app/channel on Roku. Even PBS has a Roku channel. The developer is responsible for content, technology, etc. Roku merely acts as a conduit and does not host the channel. As content developers/owners, including major sports, seek more avenues to consumers on their terms, Roku and similar services may be the death knell of cable TV at some point, especially as more people cut out cable TV. Perhaps it's something UND and/or the NCHC might consider beyond their TV deals if they want to expand the eyes and potential ad revenues from broadcasting their games to dedicated fan bases.

[82SiouxGuy]

I did a quick skim through Roku's developer site. There does not appear to be a cost to get an app/channel on Roku. Even PBS has a Roku channel. The developer is responsible for content, technology, etc. Roku merely acts as a conduit and does not host the channel. As content developers/owners, including major sports, seek more avenues to consumers on their terms, Roku and similar services may be the death knell of cable TV at some point, especially as more people cut out cable TV. Perhaps it's something UND and/or the NCHC might consider beyond their TV deals if they want to expand the eyes and potential ad revenues from broadcasting their games to dedicated fan bases.

Cable companies are very worried about the changes coming in viewing habits. I've read that viewers under 30 are trending toward using mobile devices and online viewing rather than paying for cable. Even older demographics like myself have started moving in that direction. Cable companies are looking at options like ala carte menus of channels, or allowing customers to buy only the channels they want instead of making everyone pay for set packages. Smart people running leagues, teams, or schools will look at all of the potential options and try new things like Roku. The difficult thing may be making multiple options work together for the broadest exposure.