Today, the city (mostly Q-tip Smith & MMM) announced the deal with Midcontinent. $1.6 million over 10 years (160K) a year. In the press conference, Smith said the sponsorship would go towards operating expenses at the EC.
So some questions;
1) Will Midco have the opportunity to sell air time to the NCAA or ESPN when games are played there?
2) Will Midco be supplying the equipment at their expense (fiber, servers, tv’s etc.)?
The council just found out about the deal today, and still does not have a copy of the contract yet, even though they have to approve the deal. Once again they were left in the dark on the negotiations but are being asked to approve a deal they were no part of. No surprise, standard operating procedures from the mayor’s office.
At first glance it seems like a good deal for the EC, but the devil is in the details.
As fast as people are ditching cable, I wouldn’t think Midco would have the spare funds.
Then again, this probably explains why Midco charges a premium while Wow (formerly Knology, and Prairiewave before that) is so much cheaper.
Not real certain just what midcontinent is paying for. They lost me with their last increase. Had em since cable was in infancy, but enough is enough. Got a much sweeter deal thru DirectTV.
I would imagine they will use the sponsorship to promote their Midco Sports Net Channels. The only reason to have Midco over other providers. If you are into local sports, they do a good job. They covered the Legion Baseball championship series and the State Amateur A & B Baseball just lately. They also do NCAA stuff during the seasons. But you need to get an upper tier for some of their channels, which I do not have. I get Midco basic/HD cable and Internet free or would not have the cable side.
Does WOW use dishes? Everybody that I know that has any type of dish TV gets rid of it as soon as the contract is done, because reception is awfully iffy during rain and snow.
160 grand a year….HOO HUM…. and how much a year does Dish or NOTWOW spend on the community?????? $0 and not to mention little or no local taxes. NOT WOW is owned by a Georgia hedge fund and Dish is a hedge fund in New York. Ive met all three owners of Midcontinent. 1 lives in SO FOO and 2 in Minnesota.
Sanford was not your liking (and no surprise to all of us the main funder) and now you don’t like Midco. For what reasoning? Locally owned and locally run. Give it a break… Who would be better for 160k a year, MCdickhead?
I know first hand that Midco already has fiber to the building and has been the primary source for most of nationally televised games at the event center for the last ten years. When MMW made an ass of himself on ESPN, it was on Midco owned cameras.
Not too many posts back you said “you know several cable advertising people” . Really????
You’ve been been casting an extra thin and wide net lately Scott E.
Has a Dish or WOW exec given you a tip lately?I’ve done a lot of business with Midco and I can for sure (with mine own eyes) say that Midco has given you a tip on a table at the Europe recently. If you don’t like their prices than don’t buy their product. I know they are in or have been in the process of building facilities with no TIFs.
I don’t care for big corporations gobbling up all the naming rights headlines. Especially those who pray on the less fortunate. This is not the case.
I don’t have a problem with the Midco sponsorship. I just have questions. Mostly for MMM and Smith, not Midco. They have a business to run, they are going to go for the sweetest deal, I don’t bum on them for that. Reread my post. Did I say the deal was sour? Did I say Midco was screwing us? Nope.
The biggest problem I have with this deal was that our legislative body, the city council was left out? Why? While I chide them, they are a group of very successful business people. Wouldn’t their 2 cents been worthy?
This announcement helps me make my decision.
I have been with Midcontinent for years. But, their service level is decreasing and their prices keep increasing.
I will be looking for another provider.
It is rather telling when the cable guy himself tells you, “these new cable boxes we switched to are junk.”
As usual in the USA anymore, the cable systems as a whole are junk. They charge too much for what they provide. Midco is right in there behind their cash register smiling and ripping off all who are there. Very shortsighted
I have more and more customers dropping the cable TV service. They do this by keeping only their internet service and watch TV through their computer or add-on device. Many are buying new TVs with Roku type service so they can get their entertainment. To get local television, simply buy a basic digital over the air antenna and you will have up to 14 TV stations to choose from.
Get a VOIP based phone service (like Magicjack) and just pay a flat monthly / yearly fee for all calls, no additional long distance charges.
When a family goes from almost $200.00 per month down to $50.00, maybe they could buy a few EC tickets when it opens.
You hit the nail on the head there Testor – that is exactly what I did. Dropped cable (well technically Satellite) and I use WOW for my internet (which is $20 a month cheaper than what I was paying to Midco – AND much more stable).
I use Netflix and Amazon Prime as well as several other apps like PBS and Crackle and they offer me more viewing options than I would ever need.
I have a Roku on my main TV and a Smart Blu-Ray player on another – and I’m thinking of getting a Chromecast as well, and I’ll probably pop for Apple TV as soon as they release the next generation. I planned to hook up an antenna but honestly haven’t really missed having the local channels as I’m not a fan of reality TV or Stormland news – and that seems to be all they offer these days.
As far as phone – I haven’t had a landline in a decade, but if I needed one for business I’d do exactly what you describe… VOIP all the way.
I hate all this stupid unnecessary jargon that the Good Ol’ Boys Club in this town uses. It’s just their way of patting each other on the back.
Honestly, who cares that Midco is a ‘Signature Partner Sponsor of the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center’? Just say that they got naming rights to the events center. All the extra gobbledygook is just elitist ego-stroking.
I wish they would have called them the ‘Sooper-Dooper-Out-of-this-World-Peachy-Keen-and- quite-delightful-Sponsor’
To get local television, simply buy a basic digital over the air antenna and you will have up to 14 TV stations to choose from.
I have one tv in the house hooked to nothing. Been thinking about trying out the digital over air antenna on it. If I like it, it will be my next move when my current contract is up. Does the over air antenna by chance pick up the city channel? I miss my favorite comedy channel.
Still using midcontinent x-stream package tho. That’s $40 I’d like to cut out but need it for my PC and hand held devices. Any cheaper alternatives out there?
Here is a listing of “local” Digital. You can easily get 17 of these channels with a good easterly view to the antenna farm out by Rowena. No city channel. MN Public (20) is a strong signal.
You may need more than a cheap OTA antenna, depending on your location. TV Fool website has great technical info to determine the signal you will get at your location. You can even Google Earth a reception map to see your reception strength.
Poly, if you are in a location with the east face open toward Rowena you should be in good shape with most over the air. I live in a restricted by hills area of SF and still receive 13 channels with the on the roof antenna left over from the decades before cable. Like I said nothing fancy but it works for someone who does like television but for basics.
I use sire and other internet based city web services. Break the city link habit, it will do your blood pressure good…
Can someone (Craig, perhaps) comment more specifically about WOW’s pricing? Their website is terrible and judging by the prices they charge in communities similar to Sioux Falls, their pricing doesn’t appear to be much different than Midco. Promotional offers specific to this area perhaps? More interested in internet than cable.
As it is, I am a happy DTV customer. DTV is always willing to negotiate with out-of-contract customers (unlike Midco) and so I end up with a bunch of extras and the equivalent of promotional pricing ad infinitum.
I’d consider cutting the cord but I love sports too much for that to be a viable option.
In setting up new TV units for customers lately and for myself, the internet based televisions are getting many more sports packages.
Knology / WOW is still an internet provider but are offering interesting packages. I had to renegotiate my ‘WOW’ package because the contract signed with Knology was made null and void when they sold out to WOW. I was able to regain my contract when I releaized what they had done to me. Midco would have just told me to stick it as they have with several of my customers.
The WOW internet based offers suck. You may need to negotiate with the in person salesperson or possible with phone support.
Midco will not come close to matching the speed or $ deal I now have or will they try.
I have lost all faith in Midco. When customers wonder if they should transfer to a different provider my first question to them is “who is available in your neighborhood?” If it is Midco, you have to do Midco for Internet. IF you have a choice between Midco and any Centurylink package, its Midco hands down. If you are lucky to have WOW and Midco in your neighborhood, push for a deal from Knology / WOW.
Knology / WOW cable TV is no different from Midco. I do not have Cable TV and do not care, so I will not offer a solution for the service. As I have stated before, I use over-the-air digital for the limited TV viewing I do.
Just negotiate your service by deciding what is important to you. When you get your bill, make sure you are paying for what was agreed. Get and keep a copy of the contract. Buy your own router, do not depend on theirs. They all will screw you over if they can get by with it and they will, believe me.
Dakota Coop/”Pwaiwie Wave” (Think Elmer Fudd voice) Knology/WOW had been the only option available in Lennox until Midco came to town last year. Generally good for consumers. Some people switched – some renegotiated with K/W. I got a better deal from K/W – includes free long-distance. have lots of friends sand relatives I can talk to for free now.
Knology came to my door and was selling in the neighborood. The guy admitted that if you’re willing to call them once a year they will negotiate your rate and you will NEVER pay “regular” price for the service. In my case there was a free month and then a special price the first year and a slightly higher price the second year which means it wouldn’t be until the third year that I would ‘catch up’ to the price I was paying for Midco.
When I called to cancel my Midco Internet they acted as if they didn’t even care. It wasn’t until a few weeks after cancelling that I started getting their mailings offering a significantly lower rate for the same service (yet still not as low as Knology was).
The only thing I didn’t like about their packages was that they would require me to have a landline phone. The package with phone, Internet, and cable was cheaper than anything Midco offered – but I still didn’t want a landline that I had no desire to use. In the end I just signed up for Internet only, and I’m fine with Netflix and Amazon Prime.
I did have Dish Network for a while, but honestly aside from a very few select shows I don’t feel I’m missing anything. I spend more time reading and writing on the web than I do watching TV anyway (which I’m sure is shocking to anyone who reads this blog).