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Post by Men's League Waterboy on Mar 27, 2024 14:35:35 GMT -6
Well it didn’t save any Midco jobs it doesn’t appear.
Best of luck to all who lost them. The sports media landscape locally and nationally just continues to get bleaker.
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Post by kiyoat on Mar 27, 2024 14:49:22 GMT -6
Well it didn’t save any Midco jobs it doesn’t appear. Best of luck to all who lost them. The sports media landscape locally and nationally just continues to get bleaker. Oh, dang! sounds like several layoffs including Brian Shawn, David Brown and Jody Norstedt.
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Post by Men's League Waterboy on Mar 27, 2024 15:01:13 GMT -6
Shitty deal. They’re all pretty good. Hope they land on their feet somewhere.
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Post by elcoyote on Mar 27, 2024 15:02:02 GMT -6
Hope Midco doesn't go the way of the Argus. We're lucky to have Elsen as are commentator. I certainly hope nothing happens to him.
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Post by Men's League Waterboy on Mar 27, 2024 15:25:31 GMT -6
Sounds like he’s good for now.
TV should be a tad more resilient than the paper. If only for a sad reason.
As a boss in TV told me after I switched from paper to screen.
“At least when somebody called you to complain there you knew they could read.”
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Post by kiyoat on Mar 28, 2024 11:13:30 GMT -6
Jason Andera (Jandy) gone too. I think I read that Midco is scaling back coverage of High School sports to focus on the three Universities they have contracts with (UND, USD, SDSU). Andera did a great job with HS sports.
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Post by Men's League Waterboy on Mar 28, 2024 14:04:29 GMT -6
Sheesh.
That’s all just too damn bad.
Is Nieman out too? His recent presence seems to have waned as well?
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Post by Yotes on Mar 28, 2024 18:33:32 GMT -6
From what I can infer it seems like they are done with high school sports and original programming (e.g. Midco Sports Magazine). That's rough because I know they are giving coverage and telling stories that no one else would. No one ever touches our region and MidcoSN was putting a spotlight on it.
Smaller colleges surely will get less coverage. Am I reading correctly that MidcoSN had a broadcaster dedicated to Augustana hockey, a very long time Midco employee, and have let him go during their inaugural season?
Seeing anyone let go stinks tremendously. Every broadcast I've ever tuned into has been absolute top quality. The money can't be great though. Even big regional sports networks with pro deals are going bankrupt.
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Post by Yote 53 on Mar 29, 2024 9:50:41 GMT -6
It's shortsighted. Literally the only thing keeping me subscribed to Midco cable is MidcoSN. Easy access to USD games and shows like Midco Sports Magazine and especially the Friday Night HS Football show. If the quality slips too much it will be time to get a cheaper streaming service like YouTube TV or the DirectTv app. Those apps are actually portable and can be used on my phone when travelling, something I can't do with Midco.
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Post by nodak651 on Mar 29, 2024 12:39:37 GMT -6
I was always hoping that Midco would leverage the Summit agreement in a way that would allow them to broadcast more out of market conference basketball games, in an effort to grow the TV network with carriage agreements in new markets, such as Omaha, or through more cable providers in the twin cities (already on Comcast). Unfortunate that they seem t be moving in the opposite direction.
Given that they are going to focus more on streaming, I think that they go after the rights to the CCHA for hockey, as I believe their contract with Flo expires this year. Not sure when the NCHC contract expires, but they kind of cut out a middle man with NCHC.TV, so I would be surprised if Midco and the NCHC would be able create an agreement that would work for both sides.
MVFC, NSIC, and MIAC all signed new streaming deals in August.
I'd think that Midco would want the streaming rights to the hockey games that they currently produce and broadcast on TV. The agreement between the MVFC and ESPN allows Midco to stream the games they broadcast, but the NCHC and CCHA have complete exclusivity right now for streaming, even when Midco handles the production.
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Post by nodak651 on Apr 27, 2024 7:11:42 GMT -6
I was always hoping that Midco would leverage the Summit agreement in a way that would allow them to broadcast more out of market conference basketball games, in an effort to grow the TV network with carriage agreements in new markets, such as Omaha, or through more cable providers in the twin cities (already on Comcast). Unfortunate that they seem t be moving in the opposite direction. Given that they are going to focus more on streaming, I think that they go after the rights to the CCHA for hockey, as I believe their contract with Flo expires this year. Not sure when the NCHC contract expires, but they kind of cut out a middle man with NCHC.TV, so I would be surprised if Midco and the NCHC would be able create an agreement that would work for both sides. MVFC, NSIC, and MIAC all signed new streaming deals in August. I'd think that Midco would want the streaming rights to the hockey games that they currently produce and broadcast on TV. The agreement between the MVFC and ESPN allows Midco to stream the games they broadcast, but the NCHC and CCHA have complete exclusivity right now for streaming, even when Midco handles the production. Nailed that prediction lol
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Post by Yote 53 on May 2, 2024 7:41:17 GMT -6
Midco drops Bally Sports North right in the middle of Twins baseball season. I was a longtime Midco loyalist but man they are really starting to suck. I look at my cable/internet bill and it is ridiculous and now they pull this? Bluepeak and streaming are looking better every day.
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Post by Yotes on May 2, 2024 11:50:42 GMT -6
Midco drops Bally Sports North right in the middle of Twins baseball season. I was a longtime Midco loyalist but man they are really starting to suck. I look at my cable/internet bill and it is ridiculous and now they pull this? Bluepeak and streaming are looking better every day. Xfinity is by far the largest cable provider in the Twin Cities and they dropped Bally too. MLB has a serious problem with their regional sports networks.
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Post by captaincoyote on May 2, 2024 21:30:12 GMT -6
Midco drops Bally Sports North right in the middle of Twins baseball season. I was a longtime Midco loyalist but man they are really starting to suck. I look at my cable/internet bill and it is ridiculous and now they pull this? Bluepeak and streaming are looking better every day. Bally is an absolute disaster. I’d bet they went to Midco demanding more money and Midco walked.
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jackjd
Senior Member
Posts: 655
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Post by jackjd on May 2, 2024 22:01:18 GMT -6
Midco drops Bally Sports North right in the middle of Twins baseball season. I was a longtime Midco loyalist but man they are really starting to suck. I look at my cable/internet bill and it is ridiculous and now they pull this? Bluepeak and streaming are looking better every day. Bally is an absolute disaster. I’d bet they went to Midco demanding more money and Midco walked. Bally's parent company, Diamond Sports, filed a petition in bankruptcy and as a consequence, Midco and others cannot get the Twins feed. Midco and others attempted to make a deal to continue coverage but couldn't reach agreement with Bally and company. (Wonder what the Twins organization is thinking at this point.) I'll find a link that attempts to explain what's going on. Ticks me off. I'm going in this weekend for a few family activities in the Twin Cities including Sunday's Twins vs. Boston. Added: Here's a link to a news story discussing Comcast losing the Twins broadcast due to dispute with Bally's / Diamond Sports. www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/twins-go-dark-on-comcast-in-dispute-between-company-and-bally-sports/ar-AA1nYYqqWe've all seen these disputes before over the years. (1) An entity like Ballys decides it wants more money for its product. (2) the cable companies protest and run ads on their channels telling their customers the cable company is trying to save money for the TV viewer. (3) eventually agreement is reached and programming resumes and a month later everyone's cable bill goes up. Which entity deserves the blame? I don't know but in this particular case, it looks like Diamond Sports has been losing its butt for a long time (gotta wonder about those companies who think there's an endless supply of customers standing around with open checkbooks) and the bankruptcy filing was done to try to save the company (e.g. Ballys still has its financial obligation owing to the Twins for those broadcast rights). When it comes to sports viewing, I personally think fans can easily drift away or find alternatives. Listening to the Twins radio broadcast on a nice summer evening, sitting on the deck with a cold beer is pretty enjoyable. The NCAA and the P5 schools could learn something from watching what happens with Diamond Sports, Ballys and Twins fans. Pretty easy for fans to find alternatives including entirely new activities on a Saturday afternoon. If college ticket prices creep up, fans will drift away. For now, I'm not blaming the cable companies on this one. Diamond Sports appears to have poor management (compare the "new" Gannett News-- it's not USD's Al Neuharth's company...it's some financial "wizards" who purchased Gannett's assets including the Gannett name, paid too much, and had no clue about living in an internet world). But I hope the cable companies have in mind that the primary reason I retain Midco cable is the sports coverage. There's a point at which decling sports coverage will cause me to say 'what the heck, internet service is pretty generic stuff and I'll go with lowest price for the speed I want. Maybe there's going to be a big course correction in how major sports -- pro and college -- are marketed.
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