Courtesy the North County Times

(December 3, 2010) The CIF San Diego Section high school football championships are one of Cox Communications' highest-rated programs, but also one of the most expensive to produce.

So what is usually a four-game prep football marathon on Channel 4 has been reduced to a doubleheader this year.

With the Chargers hosting the Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Qualcomm Stadium, a game that will be televised on CBS, and four CIF championship games set to start at 10 a.m. Monday in the same facility, there is little time for Channel 4 crews to set up.

"Usually, we can get into the stadium the day before the high school games and get things set up," said Dennis Morgigno, station manager at Channel 4. "But we can't get into the stadium Sunday until the CBS crews leave.

"So I'd have to use two completely different crews on the high school games, and that would put me 50 percent over my budget."

Morgigno said production costs for the prep championships run upward of $30,000. Setup time for the championship games could take as long as five hours.

"So 50 percent over that would kill me," Morgigno said. "The high school championships are a big commitment for us. We've been doing them for 10 years, and we love it. But they're not a money-maker. In fact, we actually lose a little money.

"The games are among the most popular things we do, a real favorite in the community, but like any other business, we have to watch our costs."

So Channel 4 will carry only the Division II and Division I games live, at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. respectively. Craig Elsten and John Kentera will call those games.

Morgigno has a plan to accommodate the other games. For the Division IV game at 10 a.m. and Division III game at 1 p.m., Cox will pick up the feeds from KBCsports.com and make them available the next day on Cox On Demand. You can go to Cox Local on Channel 1 and navigate to high school football.

"We think KBC is a decent solution," Morgigno said. "It was either incurring a huge cost increase, ignoring the early games altogether or finding a way to carry them. We've worked with KBC before and think this is a good plan."

KBC will also do the Division V game on Dec. 10 from San Diego Mesa College. It will also be available On Demand at Cox.

"We send two games a week to Cox for use On Demand," Jeff Kurtz of KBC said. "And it has worked out very well. Hopefully, this is a good solution for everyone."

Kurtz said KBC's coverage is "basic," with one camera anchored at the 50-yard line, compared to four-to-six cameras on Cox. There is a score box in the upper-left corner of the screen on KBC games. DVD copies of the games will be available at KBCsports.com.

T.C. Wardle and Mark Gruman will call the Division IV game. Kurtz and former Torrey Pines High and Stanford kicker Derek Belch will work the Division III game. Sean Hennessey and Bob Osuna have been assigned the Division V game.

For many years, KBC was the official Internet outlet of the CIF San Diego Section. This season that contract fell to IBN Sports, an Orange County-based company that hasn't poured itself into the San Diego scene and hasn't communicated with the local media.

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