Is Midco On the Way out for UND Hockey?

I am going to make a prediction here, either Midco allows UND hockey to be on Fox College Sports or some other television option, or Midco will no longer be doing UND hockey broadcasts after the contract is up.
I say, enough is enough, UND hockey fans want to be able to watch their team play hockey. Especially if they don't live in the regional area. This is very good news for UND hockey fans.

Brad E. Schlossman, Grand Forks Herald --- In the past, UND has put nearly every home game on Fox College Sports and DirecTV. But for the past two seasons, Midco has allowed Fox College Sports to pick up only five games.

Midco is trying to move into the Fargo market and realizes that Cable One subscribers may be able to get games on Fox College Sports. They’d prefer those subscribers to have to cancel Cable One and move over to Midcontinent in order to see UND games.

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.

Again, UND hockey fans don't want to watch a hockey game on the web, they want to watch hockey games on television without having to monkey with computers and connections. As we saw last weekend, not all is equal when it comes to NCHC.TV. Some NCHC schools aren't as good as others. I have been told that WMU's online broadcasts will be much improved this season.

DirecTV and News Corp. Avert Channel Blackout

Image via WikipediaThis is some of the best news that I have seen all day. This means that people that have DirecTV and watch college sports and NHL hockey on Fox Sports Net or Fox College Sports will not have an interruption of their service and will still be able to watch their favorite teams games if they have DirecTV.

Good news for Gopher and Sioux hockey fans that have DirecTV and are not able to attend this weekend's game on Friday. Saturday's game is on the Big Ten Network.

Brian Stelter; New York Times blog --- Representatives for DirecTV and News Corporation said Monday evening that they had averted a looming blackout of regional sports networks, FX and other Fox-owned cable channels.

After warring in public for a week and a half, the two companies said they had come to a new contract agreement.

“We both know the past ten days have been challenging, but we’re pleased that both sides could eventually come together to ensure our viewers continue to enjoy Fox programming,” the companies said in a joint statement.

Both sides had been warning that many Fox-owned channels would be blacked out on DirecTV’s system beginning on Nov. 1 if a new contract agreement was not accepted. Such spats are usually resolved close to the self-imposed deadlines, but occasionally they do result in blackouts; Fox network programming was removed from Cablevision’s systems for two weeks last October.

DirecTV Threatens to Drop FSN On November 1

Last night while I was watching the Sioux and Badgers game on FSN (Wisconsin) I found this little nugget of news. Apparently, Direct TV is now in a dispute with Fox/News Corp right now and Direct TV customers might suffer because of it.

This is a bad deal because it would affect Sioux fans directly, if you have Direct TV you will not be able to watch next weekend's game against the Sioux vs. Gophers 4th and 5th of November  on FSN.

If "no" agreement is signed between DirecTV and News Corp you will not be able to watch the Minnesota Wild games either until this dispute is resolved.

From Fox Networks: --- Despite Fox Networks’ offer of an extension during our ongoing negotiations, DirecTV has informed us and their customers that unless we agree to their demands, they “will suspend our networks on November 1.”

DirecTV sent us a proposal on Tuesday afternoon. They have given us no chance to respond before taking an unnecessarily aggressive posture and going public. It is disappointing that they have chosen bad faith tactics over meaningful negotiation.

We have proposed to keep the Fox Networks on DirecTV for the same price, and on the same terms as they are currently carried while we attempt to work out a fair agreement. Unfortunately, DirecTV has decided that unless they get their way, they are going to pull the plug on their customers November 1.

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