Saturday’s TV and radio coverage produced a bizarre day for CU football fans.
The Buffs’ discouraging 30-28 loss to Sacramento State was aired on the new Pac-12 Network, carried locally on Comcast’s digital sports channel — not part of basic cable service. Such scheduling obviously sent many CU fans to their favorite bars.
The Dish Network signed a deal with the Pac-12 on Saturday morning. DirecTV still doesn’t have a contract with the sports network.
Meanwhile, followers of Air Force, Colorado State and UNC had easy TV access to their teams. KMGH-7 carried the Air Force-Michigan clash, while the CSU-North Dakota State game was featured on KTVD-20 (Channel 5 on cable) and the UNC-Colorado Mesa contest was aired on Altitude cable.
This Saturday’s CU game against Fresno State will be on the CBS Sports Network, also not part of Comcast’s basic cable system.
Meanwhile, KOA 850 AM left coverage of the CU game for pregame Rockies coverage before Sacramento State kicked the winning, game-ending field goal, a decision that added to the frustration of numerous Buffs fans. Beginning at 4 p.m., KOA began a CU simulcast with sister station 760 AM after announcing it would leave the game at 4:30 p.m. because of its Rockies commitment.
With a second remaining, Sacramento State took a timeout that produced roughly two minutes of commercials and moved the time to 4:30 p.m. Thus KOA listeners missed hearing the winning kick.
So why didn’t KOA stick around for the finale?
Sports director Mark Johnson, the play-by-play broadcaster for CU football, noted “a contract is a contract,” adding that many regional stations on the Rockies’ network have automated control rooms or are not part of the Buffs network.
“We didn’t have a choice.” Johnson added.
