Move Over ESPN and FOX, Here Comes College Sports TV

ESPN. FOX. CSTV.

ESPN and FOX may currently be the channels to watch for sports, but now fans will have a new place to flip if they want to watch their favorite college team in action.

CSTV, College Sports Television, made its debut last Sunday with the broadcast of the Notre Dame against University of Connecticut women's basketball game, kicking off a six-week free preview. The "Countdown to CSTV" will conclude with the official launch of the network April 7 after the NCAA men's basketball championship game.

Although a new network, there is no lack of experience in the team running the show. Prior to starting CSTV, President and CEO Brian Bedol was the creator, co-founder and CEO of Classic Sports Television. Launched in 1994, the network soon took off and was sold to ESPN in 1997 to become ESPN Classic.

While Bedol is attempting to launch another sports network amidst those already in place, his success would create opportunities for colleges and universities across the country.

According to its Web site www.cstv.com, CSTV, headquartered in Manhattan, will provide coverage of 25 men's and women's sports. The network has also signed agreements with 27 conferences, representing more than 250 teams, to televise their events.

"The breadth and depth of our coverage will be unparalleled," said Eric Handler, CSTV director of corporate communications, in an e-mail interview.

Among those conferences CSTV has an agreement with is the Big West. Although the details have not been finalized, Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell said the agreement will provide new opportunities for the conference.

"I like the concept of an all-college sports network," he said. "The Big West is very proud of the success on a national level of sports like softball, volleyball, soccer and baseball."

CSTV will be covering 17 Big West-sponsored sports, including men's and women's basketball, tennis, cross country, track and field, soccer, women's volleyball and softball. Farrell said he likes the idea of being able to have the opportunity to show the world the quality of the Big West.

"That to me is what the value of CSTV is," he said.

Another potential benefit for the Big West is the increased coverage, putting it more level with the major conferences.

The smaller conferences, and even the smaller sports, will be getting more coverage than has been traditionally available to them, Handler said.

"We look at [CSTV] as a marketing tool disguised as a programming service," he said. "We can provide invaluable and unprecedented national exposure to 'Olympic' sports such as baseball, wrestling, ice hockey, track and field, and swimming and diving, as well as all sports at smaller schools."

At Utah State, the Athletics department is looking at CSTV as a great opportunity for the teams in increasing exposure and recruiting.

"If we can get on TV, we'd play at noon in a foreign country to get on TV. So it's important to us," said Rance Pugmire, USU Athletics director.

He said at this point it's still too early to tell how much coverage USU can expect to get, but he is supportive of the network and believes it will be successful.

"I think they'll have success because of the proliferation of sports," Pugmire said. "I think there are enough people that sit around and do nothing but watch sports that it will work. It's just going to take some time."

For Aggie Athletics to get some exposure, Mike Strauss, assistant Athletics director for media relations, said USU will send story ideas and games, hoping they get picked up, but may also have to pick up some costs itself.

Pugmire said it is pretty standard for a team or conference to help cover the costs, though, and it doesn't outweigh the benefits.

One possible benefit for Utah State, and the Big West in general, is better recruiting due to increased exposure.

"My hope is the more television the conference has, it will give our coaches more tools to go out and recruit," Farrell said.

Pugmire said it could help to increase awareness of the Big West schools in the South and the East, areas where there are more players due to a larger population.

"Every one of our schools relies so much on California. I think it would help us get more into the Midwest, more into the South, more into the East," he said. "Anytime you can get on TV, that's the first real contact with a recruit. The relationship between our coaches and either [the recruit's] junior college or high school coach is No. 1 and TV is right there with it."

Another potential benefit, with the number of sports covered on CSTV, is the increased exposure of the smaller sports.

"I think that a lot of conferences, certainly we would, welcome any other exposure we can provide for other student-athletes outside of football and men's basketball," Pugmire said.

Handle said he thinks the coverage of the "Olympic" sports can also help to increase their popularity.

"Whenever a sport is viewed by a new audience, you have a chance to lasso new fans," he said.

As for a downside, Farrell said he doesn't think there is one and can only foresee positive results from increased publicity, especially for sports other than basketball and football.

Pugmire said he sees it as an opportunity to give student-athletes a better experience and showcase their abilities, and will make attempts to get USU on the network.

He said the Big West's involvement will most likely be discussed at the league's conference meetings in May. Until then, no final decisions will be made.

"We're going to be pushing to get us on, that's for sure," Strauss said.

For availability information on CSTV, check its Web site at www.cstv.com.

By Landon Olson; slbk5@cc.usu.edu