Mark Allen
Irish Blue And Gold (www.irishblueandgold.com)
Editorial
This Saturday, Notre Dame travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take on ther Air Force Academy. For the most part, everyone will say the Air Force Academy has classy people and is a first rate, honorable institution. Likewise, most of the time the University of Notre Dame is a very classy, honorable institution of higher learning.
On Saturday, for the first time in decades, a Notre Dame football game will not be seen on television. Well, it is offered by CSTV. However, CSTV will only be offering the game as a pay-per-view.
On the surface, my initial reaction was anger against CSTV. Once again, I thought, the media is ripping off Notre Dame every chance they get. They can’t do it to Notre Dame when games are played in South Bend. Those games are televised, nationally, on NBC.
Upon further review – and contemplation – I thought, wait a minute. What is the url (site address to those of us who are almost computer illiterate) of Notre Dame’s official site. The clue to what is happening might be found in the url. Notre Dame’s official site address is http://und.cstv.com/.
Say what?! und.cstv.com? Is it CSTV ripping off Notre Dame or is Notre Dame going to reap the profits from the pay-per-view broadcast? There are things I absolutely love about Notre Dame. Those things far outweigh the negative. However, when one loves someone or something, it does not mean you don’t love them or it because you criticize them or it. In this case, criticism seems warranted.
The University of Notre Dame hold up ideals that everyone likes and believes in. They talk about the spirituality of the place. But, since when has greed and money been synonymous with spirituality?
I don’t know who is behind all of the cstv fiasco. But, if it is John Heisler and Kevin White – you ought to be ashamed of yourselves! There is more to love than love of money. The irony is that most subway alums understand this. It is a shame that the Notre Dame administration, most of the time does not!
3 Comments
November 8, 2006 at 1:41 am
Cannot agree with your analysis of this situation. In fact, the exact opposite of what you argue is the real problem.
Notre Dame did not exercise business acumen in not having a major network carry the game. Notre Dame could have made much more money had they insisted, in their contract with Air Force, that the game be carried by a major.
This is the first time since 1992, that a major has not carried an Notre Dame game. Shouldn’t that tell us something? A steady diet of CSTV pay for view will never support various programs of scholarship and other aid at Notre Dame.
Of course, Notre Dame will receive revenue from this deal. The revenue will be nowhere near what it would have been had the game been carried by a major network.
Criticism is warranted here but not the the criticism you suggest. The e-mail address has nothing to do with this. Notre Dame messed up.
November 8, 2006 at 1:42 am
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November 8, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Mark, I agree with the previous poster that this is probably not the product of KW trying to squeeze more money from suckers like us. ND should have requested national TV coverage in its contract with AFA and was careless.
That being said, the CSTV web site said that it will be on many cable systems nationwide as part of a free preview this weekend.
I called my local cable operator (Comcast-NJ) and they said that CSTV will be added to the lineup on Nov. 15. When I asked about the free preview, the operator said that she thinks that the game will be on this weekend.
Since CSTV’s web site said that the free preview starts this Friday, I guess that I will have to tune in to find out, or shell out $5.95 to watch the game.