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Sep 10, 2006
11:37:33am
BYU fans: How do you like being treated as a...
rented mule?

Even though we are in the age of motorized transport, you all have heard or at least read about mules, right? A cheaper beast of burden than a horse, that could take more abuse and neglect than a noble stallion, and was usually at the back of the pack train eating the dust of the mounted humans on horseback?

And, of course, the rented ones were treated even worse, because what connection did people have with a dumb animal they didn't even have an investment in?

So, with that in mind, I ask again: BYU fans. How do you like being treated as a rented mule?

If you are like me, I'd say that you all are ticked off...and you have a right to be. The past week has found us in the middle of a struggle titled CSTV versus Dish Network and DirecTV (the "satellite companies"), and instead of being enlisted on the side of CSTV as an ally, we have been treated like a dumb beast of burden--not worthy of courtesy, explanation, or respect--and used merely for our brute strength as a fanbase, and nothing more.

Now, in the midst of this struggle for access on TV to our beloved Cougars, many have pointed their fingers at BYU's athletic department, the Mountain West Conference officials, or other various groups with ties to BYU. These people claim that it was these groups that got us into this mess, so they should be forced to suffer as BYU's fanbase has suffered this past weekend. I'm not going to debate this, because for one, my opinion has already been stated for the record that I believe this to be misguided ( See: http://www.cougarboard.com/noframes/messa ge.html?id=1999862 ); and two, the BYU athletic department and the MWC have to live with us later, and so they realize the value of BYU's fanbase. They realize the price they pay when they treat us badly.

CSTV, on the other hand, has no connection with BYU's fans and they are insulated from our anger, so they have no qualms about treating us as mules because to them that is what we are: a dumb army of beasts of burden, to be used and abused as they'd like in their grasping for whatever golddust they can get their hands on from the satellite companies.

In fact, even if the MWC or BYU's AD WANTED to intervene, they cannot. The TV contract has already been signed, and the MWC and CSTV are at the mercy of CSTV and the mtn. to get distribution agreements in place. If BYU or the MWC tried, CSTV could tell them that it was none of their business what profit margins CSTV is able to get from the content which they already had agreed to pay top dollar for.

So, are CSTV and the satellite companies to blame for the current debacle which is distribution of BYU football television broadcasts? Let's look at the most recent events in the negotiations between CSTV and the satellite companies to get the mtn. on TV.

We don't know anything concrete about actual numbers, because CSTV won't deign to lower themselves enough to give us fans any explanation at all, and because satellite companies and cable providers lie so much that we are left to surmise that they enjoy it more than the truth.

However, even disregarding hard numbers, we do know a few things from the tumultuous past weeks:

*After a confernece call between CSTV and the MWC Athletic Directors this week, BYU's Tom Holmoe and the Univ of Utah's Chris Hill take the unprecedented step of issuing a joint statement asking for their respective fanbases to deluge the satellite companies with calls asking them to add the mtn. . This is on top of several weeks of the MWC already whipping the MWC fanbases into a frenzy to do the same thing. The BYU fanbase, already tired of pleading their case to Bangledeshian customer service reps for several weeks, reacts negatively to this request.

*A source from the mtn. tells a local media member that an agreement has been reached. The next day, it becomes apparent that this is not the case. Some surmise that the satellite companies nixed the agreement in principle the next day with further demands.

*CSTV refuses to stream the BYU-Tulsa game on the internet to try and stoke the flames of anger of the BYU fanbase against the satellite companies.

*It is reported that the satellite companies claim that they don't need to carry the mtn., since the MWC's biggest fanbase will see all the mtn. games on BYUTV on the satellite companies own satellites, anyway. In response, CSTV demands that BYUTV NOT rebroadcast the BYU-Tulsa game on tape delay--even though KBYU used their own resources to produce the game, and it was allowed in the CSTV/MWC TV contract for BYUTV to broadcast the game.

Throughout all of this, CSTV has remained mum, not bothering to EVER direct any explanation towards the fanbases of the MWC, and in particular, BYU.

Instead, CSTV--through the the schools and the conference--has demanded that we as fans continue "dialing for access" in some modern day version of Sisyphus rolling a rock to the top of a hill every day for eternity, with no explanation other than: "It will put pressure on the satellie companies". How much pressure? How close are we to gaining an agreement? How likely are our efforts to accomplish something? All of these questions go unanswered.

Now, in most sports negotiations, the side who thinks they have the best chance of getting sympathetic PR usually will scream their case from the rooftops, in hopes of getting the tide of public opinion to push against their adversary in the negotiations. So, why isn't CSTV doing this to a sympathetic audience of MWC fans? It certainly isn't out of a sense of honor, because they have shown none in how they have treated us as fans.

No, the silence of CSTV and the satellite companies is enough to make MWC fans wonder that if their positions became known, that BYU and other MWC fanbases wouldn't be sympathetic to either of their positions. That if the truth were known, CSTV AND the satellite companies would be revealed as lying, sleazy, money-grubbing entities content to use and abuse whoever they can in their thirst for 3 more cents per subscriber.

What has really enflamed the BYU fanbase, however, isn't the thirst for wealth on the part of CSTV or the satellite companies, but their willingness to abuse us over the BYU-Tulsa game in some executive-level pissing contest.

There was no reason to not broadcast the BYU-Tulsa game on CSTV's all access internet streaming except that CSTV wanted to tick off BYU fans in hopes we'd scream at the satellite companies all the louder.

There was no reason for CSTV to demand that KBYU not broadcast the KBYU produced telecast of BYU-Tulsa, except in a bid to make the satellite campanies eat their words that BYU fans don't need the mtn. to watch BYU. If CSTV actually cared at all about BYU and their fans, all they would have had to do is ask the satellite companies to pay close attention to the ratings for BYUTV's broadcast.

Instead of this, though, CSTV beat us like the mules they think we are, in hopes that our anger would once again be directed at the satellite companies. And, in pouring salt into BYU fan's wounds, CSTV virtually ignored the BYU-Tulsa game throughout the day, refusing even to show highlights on the CSTV college football show.


Speaking for myself, I don't like being so blatantly manipulated. I refuse to be treated like a beast of burden by CSTV any longer. If they want my help, then they can treat me and the rest of the BYU fanbase with respect and with courtesy. They can explain what they are trying to obtain, what their best guess timetable is, and why and how they'd like my help. The same goes for the satellite companies.

Until they do this, I refuse to spend one more minute dialing the satellite comapnies on behalf of CSTV. I may dial CSTV, though, and tell them what I think of them. And, lest the satellite companies think they have won, I have requested that my five year subscription to one of the satellite companies be cancelled effective next Saturday if an agreement isn't in place. It is time to remind CSTV and the satellite companies that the BYU fanbase is worthy of respect and is not something to be treated with disdain.
Jiminy Cricket
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Jiminy Cricket
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