Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson announced a 7 p.m., Sept. 1 launch time for the league’s TV channel, The mtn., but couldn’t reveal any more carriers beyond previously listed Comcast subscribers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Thompson had hoped to use Thursday’s annual Front Range Kickoff Luncheon to announce an agreement with Bresnan Communications, the Wyoming cable carrier. But he said more issues prevented an agreement, although he remains optimistic for a resolution.
Thompson said an appeal by the league’s members to their fans to contact satellite providers has worked.
“These carriers are saying: ‘Enough of the calls. We know you want it,”‘ said Thompson, a Colorado Springs resident, who added: “I’m like any consumer. I have DirecTV. By Aug. 29 if DirecTV doesn’t pick up The mtn., I’m calling Comcast.”
He outlined the advantages of the CSTV/The mtn. contract for the several hundred Air Force, CSU and Wyoming fans, specifically the Saturday kickoffs. He tossed the rhetorical question of how many CSU fans would want to tailgate at Hughes Stadium at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon (for an ESPN game). A table of Rams fans seemed amenable to a Tuesday tailgate whether it was for a Tuesday or Saturday kickoff.
While emphasizing the all-sports recruiting platform of an all-MWC network, Thompson admitted: “It’s going to be frustrating. Not everyone in every nook and cranny will be able to get it this year.”
CSTV was in negotiations Thursday at corporate headquarters for DirecTV and Atlanta-based Cox Communications, the primary carrier for San Diego and Las Vegas.
The Big 12 Conference has a $400,000 incentive for members that schedule nonleague games broadcast nationally to at least 42 million homes. Although CSTV is available in about 50 million homes, Thompson said it does not have that many actual subscribers. At stake is the Colorado-Colorado State game Sept. 9 on CSTV.
AFA assistant update
Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh reiterated Thursday there is no timeline for completing the inquiry into offensive line coach Pete Hurt “inappropriately striking” a player during an Aug. 9 practice.
“I don’t really expect any surprises,” Mueh said. “What we have is pretty straightforward. It’s an event that happened. It’s pretty unfortunate. … We’ll look at it, and I want to be fair.”
Mueh said the issue wasn’t whether the unnamed player was injured. He called it a “respect and dignity issue.”
“There’s all sorts of ways to coach, but that’s not one of them,” Mueh said. “We are the Air Force Academy. We stress positive motivation, leading by example, core values, integrity and service.
“This just didn’t fit. Coach Hurt is very apologetic and knows he did wrong. You have to be accountable for your actions, no matter how quickly they happen.”
Footnotes
AFA coach Fisher DeBerry, CSU’s Sonny Lubick and Wyoming’s Joe Glenn have won and lost against each other so many times, they tempered the usual barbs at each other. Glenn, as per his tradition, pounded out “Ragtime Cowboy Joe” on a piano. DeBerry had one of the best lines, explaining that with new artificial turf at each school, “We should all be faster this season.” … CSU’s 2006 sports hall of fame class was announced Thursday. To be inducted at a Nov. 3 ceremony are: new assistant track coach and two-time NCAA champion Bryan Berryhill; former football player Mark Mullaney (1972-75), who has a daughter on the Rams’ basketball team; basketball player (1966-69) and current Morgan State athletic director Floyd Kerr; volleyball player Angela Knopf (1998-2001); and track-football competitor Ivan Dykeman (1929-32).
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
