Dear Comcast: Lick Sweaty Goat Balls

Dear Comcast,

You are holding The Mountain West Conference hostage. The universities comprising the conference are partly to blame for this, but I also assume that when you sold them the idea of starting a television network to support the conference, you told them that partial ownership of the broadcast entity by Comcast wasn't going to present a conflict of interest on your part. But that is exactly what you have done. You told the schools in the Mountain West Conference that you would provide a venue where more games would be on TV, and you would get more national attention for the schools in the conference. You also told them they could schedule games when THEY want, as opposed to being held hostage to the crowded sports programming of networks like ESPN, etc.

But there's a problem.

You see, "The Mountain Network", partly owned by Comcast, and in fact originating from the behemoth Comcast Campus in Denver is holding the local fans hostage for THEIR OWN GAIN. They show the network here in the states served by the conference on the Comcast cable system. But it's not available on any other cable or satellite provider's system. If we don't subscribe to Comcast, we don't get the coverage. Period.

Comcast, you claim this is because those other providers are failing to see the value in your network, and they are not confident in the network being able to bring the viewers to the system. You are running ads on TV right now, asking those of us whom you are underserving to call DirecTV and DISH Network and ask them to change their minds and carry the network on their systems so we all can see.

But here's the other thing. YOU HAD A DEAL WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE SATELLITE PROVIDERS THAT WOULD HAVE BROUGHT THE PROGRAMMING REGIONALLY TO THE SEVEN STATES SERVED BY THE CONFERENCE. But you refused, thinking you could sell the deal to get NATIONAL exposure, rather than regional, and the bigger cash deal that would have garnered.

So, you are asking us to call THEM and tell them to carry the programming? Every person not getting the coverage of our local schools' athletic activities should be CALLING YOU to complain about the monopoly you have created because you were too greedy to let the conference have coverage in the states where the most eyes would be for the programming anyway.

And shame on the Mountain West Conference leadership for allowing you to even enter the door. Network ownership by a competitive cable provider was a bad idea from the outset, and they allowed the monopoly to be born, from the very beginning. Shame on the Mountain West Conference.

BOO!