The University of North Dakota just announced a new television deal and one of the questions that others have asked is will UND Hockey be part of the new television deal on a national level. The answer is no.
Tom Miller, Grand Forks Herald --- As has been the case for the past few seasons, Midcontinent’s UND broadcasts will be available for Fox College Sports to broadcast nationwide.I know not having the UND hockey games on a national television level is a going to cause a problem for many, because I know a lot of people that watch UND Fighting Sioux hockey games on DirecTV and or Dish Network.
That will change in the 2013-14 men’s hockey season when UND joins the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The NCHC’s television contract with CBS College Sports gives CBS national exclusivity for national broadcasts.
UND’s other sports could still be aired on FCS, but UND and FCS will have to renegotiate a contract after the 2012-13 season.
Midco Sports Network has three channels at its disposal in case of scheduling conflicts, although UND is expected to be primarily carried on MSN’s main channel. In the past, MSN has aired programming from schools such as South Dakota State, South Dakota, Augustana and a few others, as well as high school games from North and South Dakota.
Just how many "Fighting Sioux" hockey games are going to be broadcast on the new CBS Sports Network is unknown at this time. I do know that we have one more season of WCHA hockey before we have to worry about it. Living in North Dakota and South Dakota won't be a problem, it's the other 48 states.
