ESPNU, a 24-hour college sports network, has reached a five-year agreement (through 2010)
with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), a prominent Division II HBCU
(Historically Black College/University) league, for coverage of football and men's and women's
basketball.
Specifics include:
- ESPNU will televise at least three SIAC football games annually; the 2005 matchups will include
Benedict vs. Morehouse Thursday, Aug. 25; the Turkey Day Classic featuring Tuskegee vs. Alabama State
from Montgomery, Ala. Thursday, Nov. 24; and the Pioneer Bowl pitting the SIAC and CIAA champions
against each other Saturday, Dec. 3.
- ESPNU will acquire exclusive rights for the SIAC men's and women's basketball championships
during Championship Week, featuring 99 men's and women's basketball tournament games in 11 days on
ESPNU, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Classic. ESPNU will also televise at least two additional men's
basketball games annually.
"We are excited to provide unprecedented national exposure for the Southern Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference, its member institutions and student-athletes," said Burke Magnus, vice
president and general manager, ESPNU. "This agreement is another example of how ESPNU will serve
as the home for college sports fans seeking a schedule of diverse, quality programming,
encompassing a variety of sports from many conferences and division levels."
SIAC Commissioner William Lide added, "This is a historic event to have guaranteed television for
five years on ESPNU. This will give the SIAC exposure we never had for all of our institutions on
a nationwide basis. This represents tremendous growth for us."
The new pact also includes distribution rights for SIAC programming across multiple ESPN platforms,
including ESPN Mobile (wireless), ESPN Interactive, ESPN360 (formerly ESPN Broadband), ESPN.com,
ESPN Pay-Per-View, ESPN Video-on-Demand, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPN Deportes and more.
The SIAC consists of 12 member institutions, including Albany State, Benedict, Clark Atlanta, Fort
Valley State, Kentucky State, Lane, Lemoyne-Owen, Miles, Morehouse, Paine, Tuskegee.
ESPNU
The ESPNU schedule will feature approximately 300 live events (regular-season and championships) in
the network's first year. Action will include a variety of top football and men's and women's basketball
mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU will
also offer comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional
Television games, plus specials and more.
ESPNU has secured distribution agreements with DIRECTV, Adelphia, Mediacom, several smaller affiliates
and is close to distribution agreements with others. The 24-hour television network is the key
component of the multi-media ESPNU initiative that will deliver college sports content across ESPN's
family of services, such as ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Mobile (wireless), ESPN Radio, ESPN Interactive,
ESPN360 (broadband), merchandising and more.
Original Dream Job winner Mike Hall serves as ESPNU's signature anchor, hosting the majority of
the network's studio programming from Charlotte, N.C., headquarters of ESPN Regional Television (ERT),
which handles production responsibilities for ESPNU.
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