BYU-TV has become an ace in the hole for BYU right now. It is found on basic packages of both Dish Network and DirectTV and is on approximately 200 cable TV systems.

I have stated several times, most recently in my thread entitled "A call out to Tom Holmoe", that it is time for us to tell The Mountain that unless games are broadcast on an available channel (i.e. Versus or CSTV) that BYU will broadcast the games on BYU-TV. I agree 100% with the article that BYU-TV is our ace in the hole. NO one, not even ESPN, can have leverage over us. What a beautiful thing to have Versus decide to walk out of the BYU/MSU game last week and we STILL get to show the game to millions of Cougar fans throughout the world. It's nice to see BYU-TV being used in this way. It makes people like me believe that Tom and many others have put their fans first.

BYU's games in the Marriott Center with Jackson State and Hartford and the Louisville game in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas were all seen live on BYU-TV. Because these games were part of a tournament, they fell into a category, like the neutral site clause, that enables BYU-TV to step in on the back of BYU's retained rights to broadcast. The Portland game in Oregon also became available for broadcast.

Niiiiiiccccceeeee!!!!!!!! Now this is what you pay lawyers for!! From now on every game in the Marriott Center and at LES needs to be a "One Game Tournament". This is the loophole that we need. According to the contract if the game is tournament game the location is considered to be a "Neutral Site". So when UCLA comes to town next year it will be the "Battle of BYU and UCLA Tournament". With every game a tournament then all home games will be considered to be on a neutral site, which can then legally be broadcast on BYU-TV!!!!

I can't wait to go the "Battle of BYU and Lamar Tournament" tonight.

Allcoug,

One problem with you statement about telling the mtn that any game that is not on CSTV or VS will be broadcast on BYU-TV. It would be breach of contract on BYU's part, would probably lead to millions of dollars in fines and penalties, and would probably wreck the athletic program quicker than the mtn contract will (because its not like putting the game on BYU-TV is any revenue stream for the department). If you really feel this way, remind me not to sign any contracts with you.

I think we are not placing enough blame on the Presidents and ADs. They signed a contract that wasn't even completed yet. How stupid could you be? These people have advanced degrees, many in law, and they signed a basically blank contract.

I know that many on this board like satellite more than cable. I am not one of them due to some issues I had with the dish network product. I may be a little biased, but its not like the satellite carriers aren't putthing forth any effort to get the mtn. They had a chance at the beginning to get the channel, to even have ownership of the channel, yet they refused. Comcast was at least willing to get it going (something that the satellites were apparantly not willing to do).

We all agree its a mess. If it were a simple answer, it would have been figured out by now. Please don't just blame one party, because there is plenty of blame to go around. The only people that are not to blame are the fans of the teams in the conference.

I heard one of the problems with BYU-TV is that they can not have advertisements like traditional television. Every advertisement has to be about the school, religion etc.

Does anyone know if this is true?

stuckinbig10country wrote:

Allcoug,

One problem with you statement about telling the mtn that any game that is not on CSTV or VS will be broadcast on BYU-TV. It would be breach of contract on BYU's part, would probably lead to millions of dollars in fines and penalties, and would probably wreck the athletic program quicker than the mtn contract will (because its not like putting the game on BYU-TV is any revenue stream for the department). If you really feel this way, remind me not to sign any contracts with you.

If there is one thing I've learned over the last 10 years its if it is not in writing - forget it. I've learned this lesson the hard way. My whole point was that the contract, as it is currently written, apparantly allows for BYU to broadcast any game played on a neutral site (i.e. Michigan State) or tournament game (even if it is played in the Marriott Center such as Hartford) on BYU-TV. Apparently BYU feels that the contract does allow them to tell the Mountain to "stick it" since it went ahead and broadcast the game last Saturday. I realize that calling every game at the Marriott Center a "Tournament Game" is a bit unrealistic - but this is exactly why BYU was able to broadcast the Jackson State and Hartford games. I understand the importance of abiding by contracts. And I also understand the importance of knowing exactly what the contract states. It is the great thing about contractual law. Good for BYU for exposing a weakness in the contract and not simply bowing to an "assumption" in the contract that gives the Mountain all power when it comes to broadcasting rights.

You might be right that you should never sign a contract with me. Not because I would break the contract - but because I would make sure that I understood yours and my obligations to perfection before I ever signed it. I'm sure the question being asked at the Mountain board meetings is "Who the hell put verbage in the contract to allow the schools broadcasting rights to tournament games played on their own court - IN NOVEMBER!!"

Thankfully, BYU understands that it is morally acceptable to not give into contractual assumptions.

allcoug wrote:

You might be right that you should never sign a contract with me. Not because I would break the contract - but because I would make sure that I understood yours and my obligations to perfection before I ever signed it. :)

Why weren't you in the room when all the people were signing the contract. You could have told them that they might want to have it all written down before it is signed. It might also have helped had they been able to get a deal done with regard to the mtn (with either cable or satellite) more than a couple days before the first weekend of games.

I don't know why the league, due to the lack of distributorship, is not forcing more of their games onto CSTV. From what I understand, VS is a whole different deal (one of the good things that came along with Comcast, the owner of VS). Why does CSTV insist on putting NW Louisiana State College vs. Biloxi University on instead of the people that they are paying the most money to (the MWC). Imagine if they put all of BYU's games on CSTV. CSTV would be making more money then they ever had before.

Oh, and karma to you.

stuckinbig10country wrote:

I don't know why the league, due to the lack of distributorship, is not forcing more of their games onto CSTV.

And for that matter, what would it take to get into a contract with CBS? I know they're not the "four-letter network", but my goodness, they're much bigger than CSTV! Obviously, we all know that the Mtn. is owned by CSTV, who is owned by CBS. I know that CBS loves the SEC, but why couldn't they have a Mountain West game of the week on Saturday night and have all the other games on CSTV? You know for a fact that BYU would be on CBS at least 4 or 5 times a year in that scenario, including the BYU-Utah game. I wonder if the conference and the presidents have even considered that and how much it would cost.

Anybody concur?