J. Ford: C-USA needs work when it comes to media rights

On the heels of being the first Group of Five (G5) conference to have its media rights package expire in the cord cutting era and being in the inaugural season in what very well may be the future of G5 football, Conference USA has its work cut out for itself when it comes to media rights.

To say the new deal is complicated is an understatement.

Conference USA has four broadcast partners. ESPN has the rights for the football conference championship game this season and next. The mothership will also carry five games during the regular season. CBS Sports will have six regular season football games (including Tech's win over Western Kentucky earlier in the year) and six men's basketball games. Plus, they will have future basketball championships. The American Sports Network (ASN) will cary at minimum 15 football games, but has the option to carry more.

The most obscure addition to the new package is beIN SPORTS, an offshoot of Al Jazeera, known for their coverage of international soccer. Thus far, this appears to be the most intriguing partnership as beIN has ramped up the resources devoted to its broadcasts as it is their first foray into American football. They are likely using this as a proof of concept of sorts to approach other conferences down the road to broadcast their games too.

Games not on television (including channels you may wonder where they are in yoru lineup) will be streamed online by ESPN 3 or another streaming platform like CUSA.TV.

The streaming component needs some serious work as evidenced by Louisiana Tech's game at Florida International this past weekend. Also, ASN has been using in-studio talent to do play-by-play and streaming is not what you would call excellent.

More on the Tech at FIU game. This stream was staffed and done by FIU and if there were tests done before the game began it sure didn't seem like it. The stream began on time with no audio or score bug (time, score, down and distance, etc.). The audio begins and the talent is apologetic of the technical difficulties then you hear one of them say something about the score bug appearing and it did appear, but then the stream went dark for some time. Eventually the stream came back, no score bug but there was audio. They added the score bug back and the video was choppy. It went out and then disappeared from ESPN 3. Anytime the stream went out, DirecTV customers also lost their view of the game on ESPN College Extra. While the game was gone from ESPN 3, it worked on DirecTV for some time before it went out and never came back. It felt as if ESPN finally said, "You know what? Forget it," and moved on with their night.

[RELATED: Tech avoids "trap game" taking care of FIU, 44-24]

Undoubtedly, the Conference USA league office was squirming throughout that ordeal but what can be done from Dallas? Not much.

ESPN sends every institution technology specs when they agree to stream. FIU agreed to it or the game never would have been attempted to be streamed. If FIU can't handle ESPN specs, they need to admit it and stick to just streaming on CUSA.TV.

"When it comes to third-tier games, each institution needs to make a commitment to the broadcast product. And if they're not willing to do so, then admit their limitations," an industry source told BleedTechBlue.com. "If a school isn't willing to buy the right equipment and hire the right people, don't try to do an ESPN 3 show simply out of pride. That'll only leave people angry, since when they turn on an ESPN 3 broadcast, they expect ESPN quality."

According to the industry source, the issue with ASN and having off-site, in-studio talent is all about negotiations. Other ASN conference agreements stipulate conference offices approving the talent assignments. Not having talent on location is becoming more normal but is not nearly the norm. NBC has done the best job of this during the Summer Olympics. When done well, the viewer has no idea the talent is not on location. When done poorly, it's obvious they are not on location.

ASN's talent was not on location for Tech's game at Middle Tennessee nor the next week when UTEP traveled to Ruston. To avoid this, ASN should be using a regional pool of talent that can drive in to the game in order to save on travel costs, something C-USA needs to put in its contract with ASN going forward.

As far as being able to put on a good streaming product, some universities are more prepared than others. This all comes down to equipment and staffing. If a school cannot produce a product worthy of ESPN 3 then they should not be allowed to as it gives the conference a black eye and in the world of constant jockeying for position in the world of G5 sports, a black eye is never a good thing.