Showing posts with label Midco Sports Net. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Midco Sports Net. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Time for a National College Hockey pay per view television package

English: Logo for DirecTV
English: Logo for DirecTV (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
As most of you know, as of right now, home UND Hockey games are not going to be on DirecTV anymore.  As of right now, there will be “no" UND Hockey games shown outside of the regional area unless the games are on CBSSN… So, going forward, you will have to use the webcasts if you want to watch the games live.

Now, here’s what we “could” do, I suggest that we flood the lines at DirecTV 1-800-531-5000 and tell them that we would like to have MidcoSportsnet.com from Midcontinent Communications on DirecTV. I would even suggest that you’re willing to pay extra so you can have those games on your DirecTV programming. 

Also, let's start a campaign to call MidcoSportsnet at (605)-274-7638 and flood their lines as well.


College hockey needs to have a hockey television packed like the NHL does. Recently, I touched on some of these issues at the Hockey Writers. 

Obviously, the Big Ten has the Big Ten Network, which is a financial gold mine. The NCHC has a new television deal with 
CBS Sports Network. In its current form, the WCHA has no current television deal.

Without a current television deal, the WCHA will get little exposure on the national level.

I am not sure, how a web deal is going to do much for national exposure. Hooking up a desktop computer or laptop to your home television can be a bit difficult, if you’re not very tech savvy.

During the 
2012-13 NHL Lockout, college hockey played a major role in filling the gap left by the NHL lockout, especially in the USA. NBC Sports Network and CBS Sports Network allowed college hockey fans to see firsthand that Division I college hockey is a viable game and gave them an option to the NHL. Some hockey fans, decided to stick with the NCAA Hockey after the NHL lockout ended.

If you have DirecTV package – with the sports package – you can watch many regional broadcasts of college hockey. This season, thanks to DirecTV, I watched both Monday’s of the 
Beanpot Tournament, as well as both games of the 2013 Hockey City Classic.

Why not develop a college hockey television package like the NHL and the NBA have? I know many fans that would pay extra money to subscribe to a college hockey television package 



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Thursday, January 31, 2013

MidcoSN to broadcast outdoor game at UNO

GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Midco Sports Network (MidcoSN) announced today that it will broadcast the University of North Dakota's outdoor hockey game at Nebraska Omaha on Saturday, Feb. 9, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, the site of the College World Series.

The game will air live on MidcoSN at 4 p.m. Central and is part of a doubleheader billed as the Mutual of Omaha Battles on Ice that will also feature a United States Hockey League (USHL) game between the Omaha Lancers and Lincoln Stars.

MidcoSN is picking up the Cox Communications production of the game, with veteran hockey broadcaster Gary Sharp handling play-by-play duties.

UND's Friday, Feb. 8 game at UNO will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network, with Dan Parkhurst and former National Hockey League player Ken Hodge calling the action. The puck drops on Friday at 7:37 p.m. Central.

MidcoSN is avaialble on channels 27 and 622 in the Grand Forks viewing area. Consult your local listings for additional information.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Hump Day Links

Hockey season is right around the corner – we’re on the stretch run now. There are roughly 38 day’s until UND plays it’s first Exhibition game against the University of Manitoba Bison.

As of right now there isn’t any good news for UND Hockey fans that watch their UND hockey on Cable one in Fargo, ND. Midco and Cable have yet to reach a deal.
Kirsten Stromsodt (@FargoNewsroom)8/29/12 8:31 AM Cable One, Midco yet to reach deal for UND coverage | INFORUM | Fargo, ND
Here is more on that story from the Fargo Forum – it doesn’t look good right now for the viewer’s in the Fargo area.
Tom Miller, Forum Communications – University of North Dakota fans living in Fargo might be left in the dark when it comes to television coverage of their team’s games.

On Tuesday, the UND athletic department announced the television coverage for the football team’s season opener Thursday night against South Dakota School of Mines.

There was a noticeable absence from the list of cable providers that have opted to pick up Midco Sports Network’s coverage.

Cable One, the lone cable provider in Fargo, has yet to agree to a deal with Midco Sports Net for the upcoming season.
Here is a pretty good read on the CBA labor negotiations – while Bettman thought that the owners’ proposal was a major step forward it seems like the players and the NHLPA have taken a more cautious if not non-committal approach to the latest proposal. From what I have read last night and today – it does appear there is a reason for the non-committal.
Rob Rossi, Triblive Sports --- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday that the league’s “counterproposal” represented a “significant step” toward avoiding a second work stoppage since 2004.

“I’m trying to get us onto a common language and hopefully this will do that,” he said of the NHL response to the NHLPA’s recent proposal, which called for players’ share of hockey-related revenue to drop from 57 to 54 percent.

The NHL has proposed a plan to gradually slide toward a 50-50 split of that revenue, though the specifics of what makes up that revenue are not completely defined, sources told the Tribune-Review.

The NHL and NHLPA each declined to divulge details of the latest proposal, and members of the union were hesitant to label it a “counter” to their plan.

Penguins union representative Craig Adams had not seen the latest NHL plan as of late Tuesday, but he planned to be among the players in attendance for the meeting today.

“You’re looking for baby steps, to move in the right direction,” Adams said. “I don’t want to say this is the right direction ... but anytime you can get to the table, discuss things and hopefully negotiate and find any type of common ground, that’s a positive.
It seems like that Bettman and the NHL owners are looking at the CBA’s of the NBA and the NFL and are trying to move their share to a 50/50 split with the NHL players, I don't think that is an unreasonable or unrealistic stance.

The 50/50 split seems very reasonable on paper – but is it doable? I don’t know how some NHL teams are going to be able to get the teams under the 70 million dollar salary cap – for example the Boston Bruins according to Joe Haggerty are 12 Million over the salary cap and there would be 16 teams over that threshold as well.

(Photo: AP/Julio Cortez)
I also wonder what kind of a proposal we will see from the players in the next couple of days. It's no mystery that both sides want to come to an agreement and find some common ground so they can get a CBA signed and the players can play hockey.
Bettman said he wouldn't ''feel better about this process until it is successfully completed.'' He defined successful completion as having ''a collective bargaining agreement.''
Here is what Former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise has to say about Gary Bettman, I think you'll find his comments interesting.
There's a growing feeling throughout the sport that it's an inevitability. Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise, who signed a monster US$98-million, 13-year deal in free agency, became the latest to voice that opinion this week when he told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that "Gary's pretty adamant about his third lockout of his tenure."
While there are teams that have enjoyed great financial success the New York Islanders are in dire straits – things are so bad that the Islanders have a student radio station doing their games.
John Ismossi, The Hockey Writters --- Since the failure of the many arena proposals the Islanders have been fairly quiet on their financial situation, but the state of their finances is no secret. Shackled to a terrible lease in a rundown arena with little hope to attract players and little hope for their increasingly small fan base the team has been losing money for years and they certainly are now as well. Cost cutting measures have been evident in recent years as the Islanders have turned their radio broadcasts over to Hofstra University and reduced payroll to the salary floor. In fact only by using the buyout of Alexi Yashin and the dead salary of Rick DiPietro have the Islanders done that. And this year the Islanders have barely tried to even reach the proposed salary floor, still nearly five million below it.
Darren Dreger of TSN lays out the NHL's newest proposal

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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Sioux vs Huskies on MidcoSN3 Friday night...

Jayson Hajdu the Assistant Athletics Director/Media Relations at the University of North Dakota confirmed on Twitter.com this afternoon that Friday's game between the Sioux and Huskies will be on Midco Sports Net 3 that's channel 323 in Grand Forks, ND. Unfortunately, Saturday's game between the UND Fighting Sioux and SCSU Huskies will not be televised on any Midco channel but will only be seen on Charter.You can watch Saturday's game on B2TV.com

Men's Hockey Location: UND @ St. Cloud State
Available on MidcoSN3
Logo for St. Cloud State Logo for UND