UND broadcasting decisions

[Nodak78]

GF Herald has a article on broadcast decision for UND and how it make change from Midco to gain national exposure by bring it in house.  I also see this may benefit football with the Big Sky.  It would be nice to broadcast all our games.   Any thoughts how this could work.

[UND-FB-FAN]

 

Midcontinent has great production value and quality but it just is not assessable enough. For instance, NDSU is shown statewide on NBC ND, and the majority of North Dakota does not get Midcontinent. If you have DirecTv or just local programming, you can't get the UND game. Making UND assessable statewide would be the best capability to implement and it would have the greatest impact moving forward; with that said, UND CAN'T afford to sacrifice HD quality or broadcasting features (UND hockey with Brad Berry, UND Sports Extra, etc.) in order to make it work. 

[Blackheart]

I don't care about the coaches shows, I just want to be able to see the games!  Midco is great if you are local, but the rest of us are relegated to watching webcasts of varying quality or listening to internet radio.  This has greatly impacted our teams' national exposure, especially the men's hockey team whose home games were almost always available on the Fox College Sports channels.  Love watching in HD but will take it any way I can get it.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Blackheart

[bincitysioux]

I agree that Midco's production quality is top notch, but like UND-FB-Fan said, it takes an act of congress to access it if you live out in the boonies like I do.  I'd really like to see WDAZ and their sub-channels utilized for the coaches shows at minimum.

[homer]

Midcontinent has great production value and quality but it just is not assessable enough. For instance, NDSU is shown statewide on NBC ND, and the majority of North Dakota does not get Midcontinent. If you have DirecTv or just local programming, you can't get the UND game. Making UND assessable statewide would be the best capability to implement and it would have the greatest impact moving forward; with that said, UND CAN'T afford to sacrifice HD quality or broadcasting features (UND hockey with Brad Berry, UND Sports Extra, etc.) in order to make it work. 

UND could go the way of the future for coaches shows and stream them on the internet.  Getting games available in all areas of ND and western Minnesota is way more important.  The channel that would be nice to get more games/sports on is FSN North.  It is right in our recruiting area and can be picked up nationally.  I'd sacrifice rural ND for that.

[Nodak78]

UND could go the way of the future for coaches shows and stream them on the internet.  Getting games available in all areas of ND and western Minnesota is way more important.  The channel that would be nice to get more games/sports on is FSN North.  It is right in our recruiting area and can be picked up nationally.  I'd sacrifice rural ND for that.

I guess I'm thinking a bit bigger.  Why not in house productions and cover all games Home and Away.

[geaux_sioux]

This is tough, Midco is great and expanding. They've been really good to us and we have the highest production value I've seen of any FCS school. But state wide and national broadcasting would be huge. I just don't want to sacrifice too much production value and look like NDSU, a joke, with the broadcast.

[jdub27]

I guess I'm thinking a bit bigger.  Why not in house productions and cover all games Home and Away.

They were doing that until Midco handed them $1 million over 5 years to take it over and pay to produce it, at least for the home games. At that point, it was a no brainer on what was more profitable and made more sense for UND to do.  On top of that, for the away games, UND would have to negotiate the rights from each hosting team. I'm not sure how profitable it would be for UND to take everything back over again, including buying the necessary equipment and staff, but as the article stated, something they will look into.

Midco has been very accommodating for UND in basketball and volleyball, releasing the games they aren't broadcasting. The athletic department has done a ton of hard work to get those games broadcasted on other stations.  The student run production has been excellent, exceeded expectations and has given those students great experience and one of the reasons they would even look at bringing games back in house.  As for hockey, it has been stated multiple times, but Midco doesn't want to release those because they would then become available to households in Fargo that have CableOne and give people one less reason to switch over to them in a market they are trying to move into.

I'm not sure how Big Sky conference games would work if UND were to take everything in house, assuming they would doing some sort of webcasting, which would cross over with Eversports. Tough to ask people to subscribe to a UND only service when all conference games are available streaming elsewhere for free (at least currently).

 

[geaux_sioux]

They were doing that until Midco handed them $1 million over 5 years to take it over and pay to produce it, at least for the home games. At that point, it was a no brainer on what was more profitable and made more sense for UND to do.  On top of that, for the away games, UND would have to negotiate the rights from each hosting team. I'm not sure how profitable it would be for UND to take everything back over again, including buying the necessary equipment and staff, but as the article stated, something they will look into.

Midco has been very accommodating for UND in basketball and volleyball, releasing the games they aren't broadcasting. The athletic department has done a ton of hard work to get those games broadcasted on other stations.  The student run production has been excellent, exceeded expectations and has given those students great experience and one of the reasons they would even look at bringing games back in house.  As for hockey, it has been stated multiple times, but Midco doesn't want to release those because they would then become available to households in Fargo that have CableOne and give people one less reason to switch over to them in a market they are trying to move into.

I'm not sure how Big Sky conference games would work if UND were to take everything in house, assuming they would doing some sort of webcasting, which would cross over with Eversports. Tough to ask people to subscribe to a UND only service when all conference games are available streaming elsewhere for free (at least currently).

 

As a current cableone subscriber and someone waiting for midco to finally be available I can tell you that getting a hockey game is the least of their worries. Cableone is trash. You pay more for less. Midco is such an upgrade its unbelievable. Cableone will crumble in fargo once Midco is available.

[Dustin]

This is tough, Midco is great and expanding. They've been really good to us and we have the highest production value I've seen of any FCS school. But state wide and national broadcasting would be huge. I just don't want to sacrifice too much production value and look like NDSU, a joke, with the broadcast.

I think a win-win would be for Midco to keep the production, pay the school a nice sum, and be more lenient with releasing to Fox College Sports.  Maybe Midco has made enough in-roads in Fargo that the Cable One competition is a moot point.  UND could still pick up in-house broadcasts where Midco leaves off as far as Basketball and Volleyball go, but wouldn't have the total burden.

[UNDBIZ]

It's a tough decision to make.  Revenue up front with limited exposure vs. expenses up front with greater exposure, providing potential for increased donations, enrollment, and apparel sales.

[jdub27]

As a current cableone subscriber and someone waiting for midco to finally be available I can tell you that getting a hockey game is the least of their worries. Cableone is trash. You pay more for less. Midco is such an upgrade its unbelievable. Cableone will crumble in fargo once Midco is available.

Knowing multiple CableOne subscribers, I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, it appears Midco isn't taking the chance and that is the stance they've taken, at least until they are integrated into the Fargo market.

[UND1983]

Midcontinent has great production value and quality but it just is not assessable enough. For instance, NDSU is shown statewide on NBC ND, and the majority of North Dakota does not get Midcontinent. If you have DirecTv or just local programming, you can't get the UND game. Making UND assessable statewide would be the best capability to implement and it would have the greatest impact moving forward; with that said, UND CAN'T afford to sacrifice HD quality or broadcasting features (UND hockey with Brad Berry, UND Sports Extra, etc.) in order to make it work. 

You realize Midco is in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, West Fargo and soon to be Fargo, right?

[Nodak78]

What about Alumni living in AZ, CO, CA  Etc.  Thinking Big Sky.  Increasing revenue streams.  Not Cable.  Satellite channel for UND Sports.

[ericpnelson]

MidcoSN is available if you have NDTC though (I'm pretty sure, my parents have it and they get games)? Can't they just starting selling the broadcast to everyone not named Cableone and make everyone happy. 

The increased exposure thing is huge... I just don't know a ton of casual fans who will go too far out of their way to buy/set up a webcast. You don't pick up casual fans that way.

[Westside]

You realize Midco is in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, West Fargo and soon to be Fargo, right?

It's in most of South Fargo at this point. Not sure about North Fargo. 

[fightingsioux4life]

Knowing multiple CableOne subscribers, I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, it appears Midco isn't taking the chance and that is the stance they've taken, at least until they are integrated into the Fargo market.

Then we tell Midco they won't have our content anymore and we go in-house with everything and sell our product to whomever we want. We could negotiate deals with Fox College Sports and whomever else was interested. After they are integrated into Fargo, what else will they dictate to us? If we go in-house, Midco is more than welcome to purchase broadcast rights from us.....if they think it is worth it.

Controlling our own product, which a lot of people work hard to make possible, will be more profitable in the long-run. It takes money to buy whiskey and this is no exception. Accepting $200,000/year to give up critical exposure of our product to our large and rabid fan base is penny-wise and pound-foolish. We can't just worry about balancing the budget, we have to also look at the untapped potential our programs have in the area of television coverage and access for our fan base. We are Division I in all sports and it is time we act like it.

Besides, this would be a sure-fire way to get rid of Dan Hammer on hockey coverage, which 95% of the people on here seem to want.

[jdub27]

Then we tell Midco they won't have our content anymore and we go in-house with everything and sell our product to whomever we want. We could negotiate deals with Fox College Sports and whomever else was interested. After they are integrated into Fargo, what else will they dictate to us? If we go in-house, Midco is more than welcome to purchase broadcast rights from us.....if they think it is worth it.

Controlling our own product, which a lot of people work hard to make possible, will be more profitable in the long-run. It takes money to buy whiskey and this is no exception. Accepting $200,000/year to give up critical exposure of our product to our large and rabid fan base is penny-wise and pound-foolish. We can't just worry about balancing the budget, we have to also look at the untapped potential our programs have in the area of television coverage and access for our fan base. We are Division I in all sports and it is time we act like it.

Besides, this would be a sure-fire way to get rid of Dan Hammer on hockey coverage, which 95% of the people on here seem to want.

The $200,000/year is straight profit that UND gets.  UND taking over wouldn't cost them that $200,000, it would be a lot more.  You're discounting the actual costs involved with buying an HD truck (or multiple) along with having to hire a whole new staff to do both the production and advertising.  Midco has the ability to spread those costs out among their multiple shows and schools they have the rights to, UND does not.  I'm not saying it couldn't be beneficial for UND to take it in house (which remember they have tried in the past and moved on from) but someone offered to pay UND for the right to do something that was costing them money. Ignoring the actual monetary impact would be incredibly short-sighted, especially as the athletic department continues to look for new revenue.  If it makes sense to bring it in house, by all means, do it. But if its going to be a financial drain then why not let someone else deal with the headache if they are willing to pay for that right?  That also means negotiating the best deal possible for the fans, which with the work they athletic department has went through the past few years to get as many games televised as possible, I'm confident they would do.

[westsidesioux]

I'm just throwing this out there as something to think about but what about UND developing a relationship with Learfield Sports?  I'm afraid that our "in-house" services are too limited compared to what we'd get from Learfield.  Admittedly I'm not sure I've seen what their television capabilities are, however, I've been impressed by every radio broadcast that I've heard.

[Goon]

You realize Midco is in Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, Williston, Dickinson, West Fargo and soon to be Fargo, right?

Let's not forget Midco is also all over Minnesota and South Dakota. 

[Goon]

The $200,000/year is straight profit that UND gets.  UND taking over wouldn't cost them that $200,000, it would be a lot more.  You're discounting the actual costs involved with buying an HD truck (or multiple) along with having to hire a whole new staff to do both the production and advertising.  Midco has the ability to spread those costs out among their multiple shows and schools they have the rights to, UND does not.  I'm not saying it couldn't be beneficial for UND to take it in house (which remember they have tried in the past and moved on from) but someone offered to pay UND for the right to do something that was costing them money. Ignoring the actual monetary impact would be incredibly short-sighted, especially as the athletic department continues to look for new revenue.  If it makes sense to bring it in house, by all means, do it. But if its going to be a financial drain then why not let someone else deal with the headache if they are willing to pay for that right?  That also means negotiating the best deal possible for the fans, which with the work they athletic department has went through the past few years to get as many games televised as possible, I'm confident they would do.

This is the key of the article right here. If things don't change UND will find another option to have their hockey games on TV. 

That’s understandable from Midco’s point of view, but when UND’s hockey fan base is a national one that expects to see nearly every game, this is unworkable.

If Midco continues to control how many games are distributed nationally, it’s doubtful that UND will be able to continue the partnership, no matter how much it may want to. (Link to the Rest of the Story)

[Vegas_Sioux]

Let's not forget Midco is also all over Minnesota and South Dakota. 

it seems the problem is midco isn't in Fargo.

[Goon]

it seems the problem is midco isn't in Fargo.

That makes no sense to me whatsoever. Fargo residents deserve better. 

[UNDColorado]

 

This is the key of the article right here. If things don't change UND will find another option to have their hockey games on TV. 

Exactly, If Midco releases more hockey games to FCS or even FSN this likely would not be a conversation at this point. I understand their business case in Fargo but if they want to keep a good thing going there needs to be a bit more compromise in their end. 

I dont mind NCHC.tv and Watch Big Sky but it sure would be nice to see more games on FCS.

[UND1983]

it seems the problem is midco isn't in Fargo.

They are boring in the lines as we speak all over South Fargo.