This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

In a few weeks, Comcast/Xfinity subscribers are going to have to pay more to watch most Utah athletic events on the Pac-12 Networks — but don't blame the cable company.

This is part of the Pac-12 Networks' master plan, and Comcast is acting at the behest of the league-owned television outlet.

As of July 21, the Pac-12 Mountain channel (both high definition and standard definition) will no longer be part of Comcast's Digital starter (basic cable) package; it will move to the Sports Entertainment package — which includes beIN Sports, CBS Sports Network, ESPN Goal Line, Fox College Sports, NFL RedZone, Outside Television and the Tennis Channel.

If you currently have the Digital Starter package, adding the Sports Entertainment tier will cost you and extra $10 a month.

At the same time, the Pac-12 Networks' national channels (SD and HD) are moving to the less-expensive Digital Starter tier.

If you're a Ute fan, this will slash the number of Utah events you'll be able to see with basic cable. The P12N national feed carries selected events from all six regional channels — Arizona, Bay Area, Los Angeles, Oregon, Washington and Mountain (which focuses on Utah and Colorado). Most Ute games — including men's basketball games — won't be on the national channel.

It may also affect the number of Ute football games, although that scheduling remains a work in progress.

Local Xfinity customers recently received notice of this in their monthly billing, but Pac-12 Networks president Lydia Murphy-Stephans said earlier this year that this switch had been planned since P12N launched in 2012.

In a statement released almost three months ago, Murphy-Stephans said, "We have been working diligently with all of our providers to make Pac-12 Network — which showcases all 12 schools — the primary network and offer it to their customers in HD. And in addition to that, if they would like to also offer the regional sports network, or all six of them, they're welcome to do that [with no change in the subscription fee]."

Expecting Comcast (or any other cable/satellite company) to offer its customers more channels at no additional cost was, at best, more than a bit naive. It's difficult to believe that anyone at the Pac-12 Networks actually believed that was going to happen.

Except for watching repeats of Utah games, this isn't going to make a big difference in July. It will make a big difference in the fall, so Ute fans should be prepared.

The Pac-12 has announced that there will be fewer late-night football games on the Pac-12 Network. But only a few fewer.

A grand total of four, that is. And, again, this is just on the Pac-12 Network.

The leagues presidents and chancellors announced they are modifying the league's agreements with ESPN and Fox so that games on P12N can overlap with games on those channels. So there can be more games that start at either 2:30 or 6 p.m. (local time).

I'm in favor of anything that's aimed at making the football experience better for fans who actually buy tickets and go to the games, because they're mostly treated as television props these days.

This will not in any way affect the start times on ESPN or Fox channels. And that means there will continue to be a lot of late-night Pac-12 games, because ESPN and Fox use the league to fill time slots aimed at West Coast viewers.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.