Feb. 4, 2003
NEW YORK – College Sports Television, the first 24-hour television network devoted exclusively to college sports, will sign on Sunday, February 23, with a special presentation live telecast of the Notre Dame vs. Connecticut BIG EAST Conference women’s basketball game from Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. The game will feature the last two NCAA champions.
Outlets carrying the UConn vs. Notre Dame contest will be made available at a later date by CSTV. As scheduled the broadcast will be seen in Connecticut on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV).
The defending national champion Connecticut women upset top-ranked Duke Saturday to run their NCAA-record winning streak to 59 games and become the top-ranked team in the country. Notre Dame, the 2001 national champion, was the last team to defeat the Huskies, in the 2001 NCAA tournament semifinals enroute to its title.
The 2 p.m. EST telecast on February 23, will tip off “Countdown to CSTV,” a six-week free preview of CSTV: College Sports Television, that will culminate with the official launch of the network Monday evening, April 7, immediately following the final end of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Game. CSTV: College Sports Television will unscramble its signal for the Connecticut-Notre Dame telecast and throughout the six-week preview period, enabling cable and satellite operators to carry this and subsequent special presentations. CSTV: College Sports Television is telecasting the February 23 game in conjunction with CPTV.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our commitment to college sports, and to women’s sports in particular, to operators and fans alike,” said Brian T. Bedol, CEO, president and co-founder, CSTV: College Sports Television. “Our mission is to become the ultimate home of college sports programming, and this highly anticipated game will capture the passion and electricity we’ll present to viewers on a regular basis.”
CSTV: College Sports Television will telecast live regular season and championship games in more than 25 men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports via agreements with 27 major college athletic conferences representing more than 250 universities. It also has agreements with several national organizations, including the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). CSTV: College Sports Television will also air news and other studio shows, coaches’ shows, documentaries, profiles and classic event programming.
CSTV: College Sports Television was co-founded by President/CEO Brian Bedol, Chairman Stephen Greenberg and Executive Vice President Chris Bevilacqua. Bedol and Greenberg co-founded Classic Sports Network, which they sold to ESPN and which is now ESPN Classic. Bevilacqua is a former senior executive with Nike Inc., where he headed that company’s successful foray into the college market. For more information on CSTV: College Sports Television, log on to www.cstv.com.
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