For those of you keeping track of local sports fans disenfranchised by cable stupidity, please add the followers of the Maryland Terrapins and Virginia Cavaliers football to your list. Even though both teams represent leading state universities in the region, fans will not be able to watch them on their televisions (The Post) because of a dispute between ESPN which holds rights to ACC games and ComcastSportsNet which attempted to get the game on their channel. The specifics are unknown, but surely it comes down $, one way or another.

The only way to see anything about the game other than heading to Charlottesville is through ESPN360, a broadband service that is not available on many cable systems, including Comcast. An exception has been made for the University of Maryland community; anyone with a UMd IP address will get access on Saturday.

If I were a Terp or a Wahoo, I’d be really upset at the ACC for not locking down a TV contract that ensures all conference games are available on TV one way or the other. Other conferences like the Big11Ten have all their games broadcast over Pay-Per-View at the very least.

Then again that is no gurantee of succes either. Last weekend, MASN picked up the ESPN+ feed of the Penn State (my alma mater) vs. Minnesota game and provided completely inaudible sound. It figures the hated MASN would screw up. I would have rather paid $15 or whatever it was to have sound and no Anita Marks commercials.