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ESPN has announced its broadcast distribution for the BYU at Boston College football game on Saturday, Sept. 16 (noon ET). ESPN2 will televise the game on a split national broadcast, with Sean McDonough, Chris Spielman and Rob Stone handling the broadcast duties.

As a home game for Boston College, Saturday’s contest is part of the ACC contract with ESPN. The ESPN distribution map shows the broadcast coverage for the game. States in blue are scheduled to receive the BC vs. BYU game, while states in black will show the Michigan State vs. Pitt contest.

Finally we get to see a BYU game on TV. Plus, it should be an interesting game against Boston College. I wish I would have planned better and gotten a flight to Boston to see it live. I love Boston and so it would have been a lot of fun to see BYU beat Boston College after that embarrassment last year.

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I found another letter from Tom Holmoe about the MWC CSTV dealmess. He is right that this weeks game is on ESPN2. The problem is when we get past this weeks game and there is still no deal. I’m talking to my friend in Utah who is going to try and stream me the game. Desperate times require desperate measures.

Dear BYU Fans,

As you can probably imagine, I have received a large number of emails concerning last weekend’s game vs. Tulsa, and the lack of broadcast coverage outside the Wasatch Front. It is not feasible for me to respond individually to each email, but I know many of our fans are frustrated that a satellite distribution deal has not been finalized and I wanted you to have the most up-to-date information available.

Although I understand it is frustrating to miss a football game on television, our objective is to finalize a long-term deal that will give BYU and the MWC increased national exposure, and allow our fans across the country to enjoy live BYU events.

This weekend we travel to Boston College for a game that will be televised regionally on ESPN2. The following week we return home for a mtn. broadcast vs. Utah State. I understand the sense of urgency to finalize satellite and additional cable distribution for the mtn.

Negotiations with Dish and DirecTV continue around the clock. We also have daily communication with the MWC and CSTV. With each day that passes the stakes get higher, and I understand it becomes more frustrating for our fans.

I fully expected the negotiations for cable and satellite distribution would be finalized before our season opener, but that did not happen. Cable distribution — especially across the west — is growing everyday.

Am I frustrated that a satellite deal has not been finalized? Absolutely. Have the negotiations gone as quickly as I had hoped? No. Am I pushing for a deal to be completed in the near future? No question.

Five years ago BYU-TV launched with very little distribution. Now it is in more than 40 million homes and growing every month. It did not happen overnight. The same can be said for CSTV and even ESPN.

I understand it is imperative that we establish coverage on satellite. We also look forward to utilizing other mediums — such as video on demand, Internet broadcasts, and other pay-per-view options.

We are doing everything in our power to finalize a distribution deal on satellite television. My hope is that you — as a fan of the program — can understand the long-term importance of these negotiations and be patient as we work towards a resolution that is beneficial for everyone.

Thanks,

Tom Holmoe

BYU Director of Athletics

We are lucky that a nice BYU student posted a highlight video of the BYU vs. Tulsa game. Some of the quality isn’t the best and the audio is sometimes off, but this is a great thing considering so many of us were left with NOTHING. Eventually someone has to post the full game. I’ll keep watching and post it here when someone does.

This still doesn’t mean that BYU or the MWC are forgiven for not replaying the game on BYUTV.

The BYUTV 2006 BYU Football Broadcast schedule just recently announced the following:

Due to a change in broadcast rights, BYU Television will be unable to bring you highlights from the Tulsa vs. BYU football game played September 9th. Please enjoy this encore presentation of the BYU vs. SMU 1980 Holiday Bowl

This is crazy. I went all day avoiding any sort of scores or reports of BYU so that I could enjoy the rebroadcast. Now we’re screwed out of that. I can’t believe that BYU TV didn’t know until hours before the game was suppose to air that they didn’t have rights to the game.

Some theories are going around that it means that the MWC finally signed a deal with the satellite providers, but that is a joke to me. Why would a satellite provider care about BYUTV rebroadcasting a game that they didn’t show on their system and won’t in the future.

This is incredibly frustrating. Of course I’ve already seen the score now. I’m glad BYU won, but I want to see them play. I’m still looking for a download or streamed version of the game. If anyone who taped it can get it to me I would really appreciate it.

Post your comments and I’ll send them on to BYU Athletics, the Mountain West Conference, the mtn., BYUTV and whoever else I can find to send it to.

UPDATE: KBYU covered it and we’re working on getting an upload from someone who recorded it. Here are some highlights of the game in the meantime. Tonga just ran over someone to get in the end zone. That was nice.

Crashutah Sponsor:
Get the background and history of American football equipment here. This is a great site on the Notre Dame and the history of football. You can also discover the differences of Canadian football equipment that many probably do not even know. This site offers lots of interesting facts on Canadian football you can shock your friends with. If you enjoy being in the stands for the big game, then check out great information on football tickets.

UPDATE: New Mexico vs. BYU 2007 Streaming Options

BYU Television is doing all of us outside of Utah a big favor by replaying the BYU game on BYU TV. The good part is that BYUTV can be streamed on the internet so I don’t even need to get BYU TV on my cable or satellite provider. I can get it all right on my computer. I’ve used the streaming for other special church events at the conference center and I’ve been very pleased with the streaming. They even added a second option for those Mac and linux users that want to stream the video, but don’t have internet explorer(for obvious reasons).

For some reason BYU Athletics only wrote a link to the BYUTV streaming page. First, BYU Athletics needs to learn how to make what’s called a hyperlink so that I don’t have to cut and paste the link from their site. Second, BYU Athletics should have posted a link to the 2006 BYUTV Football Broadcast schedule. They could have even posted a link to the BYUTV Sports Broadcasting schedule or the BYUTV Program Guide. Thankfully, I’ve taken care of that for you.

I know that seeing a replay of the BYU and Tulsa football game tonight at 9pm MT isn’t as good as seeing the game live, but it will have to do for now while the Mountain West Conference figures out how to get the mtn. distributed in more places. From my perspective the FREE BYUTV live stream is much better than paying a cable provider for the mtn. anyway.

Today, BYU Sports’ marketing department is ready to debut the “Touchdown Towels” in BYU’s first home game at Lavell Edwards Stadium. Here’s a little history from a Daily Herald article on how the Touchdown Towels came about:

It all started this summer when Brian Thomas, a 24-year-old BYU student who goes by the name “Blue Crew” on the Daily Herald’s CougarBlue Web site, saw pictures of fans of Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers waving their “Terrible Towels.”

“I thought we could do something like that at LaVell Edwards Stadium,” Thomas said. “Something to set it apart and help improve our home record over the past few years. I threw the idea out to some guys online at CougarBlue.com on the message boards. I came back a few hours later and had hundreds of responses. People were willing to help whatever way they could.”

The idea was eventually pitched to the BYU marketing department. Thomas and his cohorts managed to raise more than $1,200 in donations to get the project started.

“We started to hear a little about this group on the CougarBlue Web site, and then it started going to other BYU sites,” said BYU Marketing Coordinator Bill Hoops. “We began working with Cougar United, which is our student fan club, and they threw in some of their own money. The BYU Bookstore also got on board and ate some of the cost so we could sell them at the stadium.”

I think the idea is decent. It’s something that people could really get into. I could see people starting to make their own towel and bringing those. I just wonder how well you can see the game with the towels waving. Maybe next year they should make it part of season tickets so that all of the season ticket holders will have a towel. That covers a good portion of the stadium and paying $1 extra for a season ticket seems reasonable.

I must still make the observation that the tortilla’s being thrown when we were thinking Fiesta Bowl are still the most fun. I loved going to the BYU games and seeing the tortillas getting thrown everywhere.

At his weekly news conference, Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe spoke of his time growing up in Provo. For 10 years, ending in 1979, Kragthorpe’s father, Dave, was BYU’s offensive line coach.
He looks forward to reconnecting with former coach LaVell Edwards and others associated with the football program.
“Just growing up around Coach Edwards . . . a lot of the things we do here programmatically is from what LaVell did at BYU. I learned a lot from him. You guys heard me tell the joke before, I wonder where my dad went wrong because he raised a coach and a sportswriter and LaVell raised an author, a doctor and a lawyer. It’ll be good to see Coach Edwards. It’ll be fun to see he and [wife] Patti and a lot of the people that played at BYU while my dad was there.”

Here’s a list of other Articles written about Steve Kragthorpe and his relationship with BYU.
http://www.sltrib.com/byucougars/ci_4298865
http://www.tulsaworld.com/SportsStory.asp?ID=060907_Sp_B1_Frien48202
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060906/SPORTS030104/609060357/1097/SPORTS
http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/192597/3/

Today I received an email with the subject: “BYU – Mountain West Conference Broadcast”

Sounded interesting. Well, it then said:

Dear BYU and Utah Alumni and Friends:

As rivals on the field, it is not very often where the Utes and Cougars join
athletic forces, but that is exactly what we are doing as we rally our alumni
and friends on a cause that is extremely important to the success of both
institutions.

What is BYU sports marketing thinking? If you want to petition support from BYU alumni you shouldn’t mention anything about Utah. Just tell BYU alumni that you need help. Mentioning Utah needs to do the same for us to really get the Mountain West Conference Games on Cable TV doesn’t do anything but hurt the process. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Here’s the full email for those that are interested. Getting the Mountain West Conference and the mtn. on TV really is a pretty big deal and something that should be supported. However, helping the Utes be on TV has NOTHING to do with it.

Dear BYU and Utah Alumni and Friends:

As rivals on the field, it is not very often where the Utes and Cougars join
athletic forces, but that is exactly what we are doing as we rally our alumni
and friends on a cause that is extremely important to the success of both
institutions.

Many of you know the Mountain West Conference recently entered into a new,
ground breaking television partnership with CSTV and Comcast. This partnership
has lead to the creation of the mtn. — the first television network devoted to
an athletic conference.

Nearly two months ago, Comcast and CSTV announced a new partnership and
distribution agreement. We were excited to see Comcast, as well as other
independent cable companies across the Wasatch Front, add the mtn. and CSTV to
their programming.

CSTV and the MWC are now in difficult negotiations with satellite television
providers to make the mtn. available to its subscribers. Many of our alumni and
supporters live outside the Intermountain West and broadcast options such as
satellite, on demand, and Internet broadcasts are very important. It is
imperative that we establish coverage on satellite and various new mediums.

As we entered negotiations with Dish Network and DirecTV, CSTV anticipated a
tough, drawn-out process. Negotiations have been ongoing for months. Broadcast
deals are complicated and take time; however, CSTV will continue to work
tirelessly until a satellite distribution deal has been finalized.

With our first games on the mtn. approaching, we’ve received hundreds of emails,
phone calls and letters from our fans. Many have wondered what to do. Most
have asked “how do I get Utah, or BYU on television?” Others have wondered how
they can help.

Our message is, you can help. You can make a difference in these negotiations.
In recent conversations with the MWC and CSTV we learned the satellite companies
have questioned the degree of interest by our fans in our television product.
As alumni and supporters of our two institutions, you have the power to affect
the outcome of the negotiations.

We need your help. If you live in an area where your only option for getting
the mtn is through satellite distribution, we need you to contact the satellite
companies. Let them know you are interested in satellite if they add the mtn.
If you already subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, please contact the company and tell
them you want the mtn.

Listed below are several ways to contact the satellite companies. Please make
an effort to call, email or write. It is imperative the satellite companies
hear from you, the consumer.

DirecTV
1-800-824-9081 (existing customers)
1-888-238-7177 (new customers)
directvcustomercare@directv.com
www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=1100070 (log a request
online)

Dish Network
1-888-284-7116 (existing customers)
1-888-825-2557 (new customers)

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/faq/index.shtml

Cable TV
Time Warner Cable Dallas (972) 742.5892 – three prompts
Cox Cable Las Vegas (702) 383.4000 – two prompts
Cox Cable San Diego (619) 263.9251 – one prompt, hit “0″
Time Warner Cable San Diego (858) 395.3220

Many of you have called your satellite provider, and your efforts have helped in
the early negotiations. This weekend is the first Utah and BYU football games
on the mtn., and it’s important to keep the pressure on the satellite providers.
A big push by our alumni and friends could lead to a quicker resolution.

In the short term, we understand the new broadcast partnership may be confusing
and not perfect for everyone. An undertaking of this magnitude will take some
time to work out the details. There have been, and will continue to be,
obstacles to overcome.

Looking at the big picture, we believe the new contract with CSTV/Comcast will
help elevate the Mountain West Conference and its institutions to new heights in
exposure, recruiting, national fan interest and success. As of Friday, Sept. 1,
the MWC is the only conference in America to have its own regional television
station. Distribution will come, but it may take some time and patience.Â

With your help we can make it happen.

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Hill
Director of Athletics
University of Utah

Tom Holmoe
Director of Athletics
Brigham Young University

Crashutah Sponsor:
Discover the great history of American football equipment here. This is a great site on the "Fighting Irish" and the history of football. You can also research the differences of Canadian football equipment that many are not aware of. This site offers lots of interesting facts on Canadian football you can share with friends. If you enjoy being in the stands for the big game, then check out information on football tickets.

CougarFan announced the following about a program that will air on the mtn. and CSTV.

OREM, UT — In cooperation with Brigham Young University and Mitchell Productions, Cougar Diary will air on the Mountain West Network (the mtn.) beginning September 7th. Each episode will be broadcast multiple times each week.

Cougar Diary on the mtn.:

Tuesdays at 11:30 pm MT
Wednesdays at 8:00 pm MT
Thursdays at 4:00 pm MT
Thursdays at 11:00 pm MT
Fridays at 10:00 am MT

Cougar Diary will also air Fridays at 3:00 PM MT on CSTV beginning September 15th.

Cougar Diary is your home for BYU Sports on and off the field. This season’s format features a new weekly guest host. Our first host is Mens Head Basketball Coach Dave Rose.

I love the idea of a show like this. The most interesting part is a guest host that is a coach. I’m interested to see what he talks about and what his role as host will be. This looks like a Tivo program to me. How many people can really watch CSTV at 3pm?

Freshman kicker Ben Jaekle was sitting in the stands with his parents watching UNLV dominate visiting Division I-AA Idaho State when his cell phone rang.

It was coach Mike Sanford, telling him he was kicking the in the second half.

When senior Rebels kicker Sergio Aguayo suffered a knee injury in the first half, Sanford got Jaekle’s cell phone number from players sitting near the UNLV sideline.

Sanford told Jaekle he had to report to the locker room, suit up and play the second half.

“He asked, `Who is this?’ I said this is coach Sanford, and this is not a joke,” Sanford said.

Jaekle responded well, converting a field goal and three extra points during UNLV’s 54-10 win over Idaho State.

I guess Mike Sanford is more resourceful than I thought.