San Diego TWC Subscribers Expected To Be Unable To View SDSU Tournament Game

Time Warner Cable is "disputing the assertion by The Mtn. network and Channel 4 San Diego" that tomorrow's Utah-San Diego State game in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament "cannot be aired in homes served by the cable operator" in San Diego, according to Jay Posner of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The game "will air on The Mtn. and Channel 4 only in Cox Cable homes," and Channel 4 Station Manager & Programming Host Dennis Morgigno said that TWC homes "will receive other programming during those hours." However, the New Mexico-Colorado State and Air Force-UNLV games "also will be shown on CBS College Sports, which is available in Time Warner homes." The Mtn. Senior Manager of Communications & Marketing Hayne Ellis said that it was "a 'mistake' that tournament games exclusive to The Mtn. were shown in past years on Time Warner." Ellis: "Time Warner subscribers were never to have access to San Diego 4 simulcasts of Mtn. games because Time Warner isn't a network distributor. What's happening now is not a change of policy. What happened in the past was a miscommunication at the time." Posner notes "top SDSU officials, including university president Stephen Weber and Athletic Director Jim Sterk, met last week with a Time Warner regional vice president and executives from The Mtn. and CBS College Sports to seek a resolution on the issue." Sterk: "We encouraged them to make a move and (carry The Mtn.) because there's increasing demand and our teams are doing well" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/9).

LOOK TO THE STARS: In K.C., Matt Campbell reported the reason some viewers missed the end of CBS' telecast of Saturday's Kansas-Missouri game was likely something called the "equinox conjunction," which "happens when the sun, a satellite and a receiver on Earth line up just right." The experience is "so intense the receiver can't cope," and it "can last for five to 15 minutes before the alignment is broken." It is called the equinox conjunction because it "only affects satellites in orbit above the equator, and it occurs as the Earth approaches the equinox." That "means a couple of weeks in early March, when it can happen daily" (K.C. STAR, 3/8).