Mtn. Launches On DirecTV
Satellite Rollout Precedes Saturday Kickoff Of MWC’s 30-Game Football Slate
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 8/27/2008 8:37:00 PM
In time for college football season’s kickoff Saturday, the Mtn., Mountain West Sports Network, launched on DirecTV Wednesday.
The deal, reached in February after lengthy negotiations, gives the Mtn, which covers the Mountain West Conference.on channel 616 a presence on DirecTV's Choice package within the conference’s footprint of
Colorado,
while also making it available on the satellite leader’s Sports Pack in other markets.
With the deal, Mtn officials expect distribution for the service, which already counted well over 1 million subscribers through a number of cable deals, to approach 6 million over the next few months.
The Mtn. begins its 30-game college football coverage with a doubleheader Aug. 30 with Ohio visiting Wyoming at noon (MT), followed by Northern Iowa invading BYU at 4 p.m.
Owned and operated by Comcast Corp. and CBS College Sports Network, the Mtn. will carry a host of weekly volleyball and soccer events this fall. On the studio side, its lineup is highlighted by two 30-minute episodes of The Mountain View, presented by Dodge on Thursday and Friday nights and MWC Football Saturday, a new one-hour football preview show. The network will also air coaches' press conferences from Air Force, BYU, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, TCU, Utah and Wyoming on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays during the college pigskin campaign.
The network’s cable affiliates include Cable One in Boise, Ida.; Cox Communications in San Diego and Las Vegas; Bresan Communications in Wyoming and Colorado; and Baja Broadband in New Mexico, Nevada and St. George Utah.
Comcast, which owns 50% of the regional sports network, has placed the Mtn, on an expanded basic in Salt Lake City and digital classic in Denver and Albuquerque, among other areas
