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CSTV
announces partnership with SWAC, MEAC and SIAC
April 26, 2005
NEW YORK, – In conjunction with New Vision
Sports Properties, CSTV Networks, Inc. has secured an exclusive
multi-year multi-media and marketing rights partnership starting
this fall featuring the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC),
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (SIAC). As a result, the three conferences
will receive national exposure on-air, online and
on-campus.
The agreement, created through the exclusive marketing and
television agency of the MEAC, SWAC and SIAC, New Vision Sports
Properties, gives CSTV exclusive rights to televise regular
season and championship football, men’s and women’s
basketball and all other men’s and women’s sports
from these conferences, and also includes all broadband, high-definition,
Internet, video-on-demand, and terrestrial and satellite radio
rights.
The cornerstone of the relationship will be an expansion of
CSTV’s pre-existing football agreement with the SWAC
and will result in the creation of an annual Football Classic
Series premiering on CSTV this fall. CSTV’s Football
Classic Series will be a national showcase not only for the
actual games on Saturday, but also for the entire weekend experience
unique to historically Black universities and colleges.
CSTV’s Football Classic
Series Schedule (more games
will be added this spring)
Sat., Sept. 24: Atlanta Football Classic, Florida A&M vs.
Tennessee State – 4:00 PM ET
Sat., Oct. 1: Gulf Coast Classic, Alabama St. vs. Southern – 4:00
PM ET
Sat., Oct. 15: Big Easy Classic, Southern vs. Jackson State – 8:30
PM ET
Sat., Nov. 19: Capital City Classic, Jackson State vs. Alcorn
State – TBD
In addition to televising athletic events featuring SWAC,
MEAC and SIAC member institutions, CSTV will develop original
programming that celebrates the rich cultural heritage and
the pageantry, tradition and rivalries that permeate throughout
each of these conferences. CSTV original programming will focus
on the legendary bands and drum lines, the great student-athletes
spanning all sports who have represented the schools, elaborate
tailgates which are transformed into massive family reunions,
weekend cultural events surrounding the Classics including
concerts and art exhibits, and other elements which make the
historically Black college and university experience so unique.
Consistent with CSTV’s mission utilizing the latest
technologies to connect more college sports fans with more
college sports, CSTV Online will bring its industry-leading
technology and marketing platform and create HBCU Broadband
featuring live streaming video and audio, as well as live in-game
statistics, scores and play-by-play, of hundreds of men’s
and women’s athletic events from all 32 schools represented
in this partnership. As a result, an unprecedented amount of
fans and alumni will have access to Black college athletics
in a broadband environment, creating unsurpassed awareness
of the SWAC, MEAC and SIAC conferences, schools, athletic programs
and student-athletes.
“The historically Black colleges and universities which
comprise the SWAC, MEAC and SIAC boast a tradition of fielding
some of the finest teams, and developing some of the finest
student-athletes, in the country,” said Brian Bedol,
president and CEO, CSTV. “Walter Payton, Jerry Rice,
Marquis Grissom and Edwin Moses are among the many legends
who excelled at historically Black colleges and universities
before enjoying stellar careers in the professional and Olympic
ranks. We are eager to showcase the next generation of great
student-athletes from these conferences and schools.”
Bedol, along with CSTV co-chairman Steven Greenberg, also
founded Classic Sports Network in 1995. They later sold the
network to ESPN. Re-named ESPN Classic, network, it is now
in more than 55 million homes.
“Southern is proud to be a featured program in this
new television partnership between CSTV, New Vision Sports
and the HBCUs,” said Dr. Edward Jackson, chancellor of
Southern University. “This agreement delivers the exposure
our university and our followers deserve, and will provide
CSTV with an extremely large base of viewers.”
“This is an unprecedented agreement for HBCUs that Morehouse
and the SIAC are excited and honored to be part of,” said
Andre Pattillo, Morehouse athletic director.
“The ability of New Vision Sports and CSTV to properly
provide our universities and fans with a national television
schedule is a great opportunity for everyone involved and will
open doors for HBCUs for many years to come,” says Patrick
Carter, Alabama State athletic director.
“CSTV will deploy new and traditional interactive technologies
to bring the unique Black college culture to a whole new audience,” said
Chris Bevilacqua, co-founder and executive vice president,
CSTV. ”CSTV’s unsurpassed on-air, online and wireless
coverage will shine a spotlight on these schools’ passion,
traditions and rivalries which make college sports so special.
We will connect more alumni and fans with more SWAC, MEAC and
SIAC sports and student-athletes than ever before.”
CSTV Networks is a multi-media company that consists of the
first-ever 24-hour college sports television network, College
Sports TV; the leading college sports online network, CSTV.com;
and the first ever 24-hour college sports radio network, SIRIUS
College Sports Radio. Through its numerous platforms, CSTV
provides more live college sports games, events, news, information,
analysis and broadband content.
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