Quality of CSTV is valid concern

By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret Morning News

As we quickly approach the dawn of The mtn./CSTV era for the Mountain West Conference, we've got more to worry about than just whether we'll have access to the channels.

I'm more than a bit worried about what the football and basketball telecasts will look like.

Because, to be blunt, the quality of CSTV's football and basketball coverage to date has been minor league. Even if the Mountain West is a mid-major conference, its fans have been accustomed to BCS conference-like coverage on ESPN and ESPN2.

The ESPN-regional telecasts haven't been up to that level of excellence, but even those have been at a level of production quality that CSTV has only aspired to.

I was encouraged back in 2004 when Dave Checketts became not only a major investor in but co-chairman of CSTV and folded his SportsWest Productions into the company. Over the years, SportsWest's coverage of BYU football and basketball has matched — even exceeded — the quality of ESPN's telecasts.

But Checketts no longer has anything to do with CSTV. His investment was bought out when when CBS acquired CSTV back in January.

Of course, that CBS acquisition raised my hopes. Nobody knows more about broadcasting football (both college and pro) and college basketball than CBS, the home of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

But when I asked CSTV president Brian Bedol a few weeks ago if the cable channels would receive production support from CBS, he said that CBS's assistance would be "mainly promotional" and went on to talk about how CSTV operates on a different business model.

That was sort of scary.

I'm not saying CSTV and The mtn. haven't stepped it up. I'm not saying they can't put on telecasts that rival the quality of those on more established cable and broadcast networks.

I am saying that, given the track record, we have reason for concern. And that I'll be watching when Utah State takes on Wyoming on The mtn. on Sept. 2 — not just to see who wins, but to see how well The mtn. plays the game.

TO ALL OF YOU who keep e-mailing me from all over the country, I don't have any idea if your local cable company will carry CSTV and/or The mtn. You'll have to call them and ask.

And annoying them with repeated phone calls won't hurt.

It won't hurt in Utah, either.

CARD ME: As I wrote last week, a Fox Soccer Channel sportscaster did indeed say that when Real Salt Lake's Atiba Harris was penalized during the game against Real Madrid, "When we looked on our replay right there, it looked like a yellow card for sure. A red card seems a little bit harsh to me." But it was Christopher Sullivan, not Sean Wheelock, who said it.

That's at least a yellow card, if not a red, on me.

---

The mtn.'s channel

The mtn. — the Mountain West Sports network — will be available on Comcast Ch. 37 (or Ch. 53 in Heber, Nephi and Morgan) on expanded basic service beginning Sept. 1.

---