Well, it looks like ESPN is planning on having an all college sports station, coming in 2005. They will broadcast about 300 live events a year, primarily college football and men and women's basketball, since those are the most popular sports. It does note that Cox Communications hasn't decided whether it will carry the new network.

ESPN plans college sports television

By Mel Bracht
The Oklahoman

ESPN plans to launch a 24-hour college sports television network in March 2005, the network announced Tuesday.
ESPNU will broadcast about 300 live events a year, primarily college football and men's and women's basketball, along with studio programming and replays of games on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television. ESPNU also will provide content for ESPN's other entities, including ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine.

Cox Communications has not decided whether it will carry the new network.

"From the early days of ESPN, college sports -- football, basketball in particular, but also the NCAA championships -- has really been a pillar of our programming for our company," said John Wildhack, ESPN senior vice president of programming. "Today's announcement is now we can give the college sports fan more of what they want on a 24/7 basis."

Wildhack said ESPN's top tier games would remain on ESPN and ESPN2.

"This is incremental programming and exposure for our conference partners and for the NCAA," Wildhack said. "It's not migrating from ESPN1 to ESPNU."

As an example of a replay, Wildhack said a Big Monday basketball game, such as OU-Texas game, would air first on ESPN and then be replayed on ESPNU.

ESPNU's studio programming would originate from Charlotte, N.C., home of ESPN Regional Television and not Bristol, Conn., home of ESPN. ESPN Regional Television, also known as ESPN Plus, is the nation's largest syndicator of college sports with more than 740 telecasts a year.

ESPNU will be offered as a digital channel to cable systems.

Cox Communications spokesman Pamela Gutel said company officials would need to learn more about the network's programming before making a decision on whether to carry it.

Cox, which signed a nine-year carriage agreement with ESPN in February, already carries ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic and ESPN HD on digital. Gutel said Cox will add Spanish-language ESPN Deportes in October.

The Big 12 won't gain much exposure from ESPNU, except in men's basketball, according to existing TV contracts. ESPN has rights for men's basketball through the 2007-08 season, but Fox Sports has rights to the other sports through the 2011-12 seasons, said Bob Burda, Big 12 assistant commissioner.

However, ESPNU would provide exposure for Big 12 teams in NCAA tournaments. ESPN is in the midst of an 11-year agreement (through the 2012-13 season) to televise numerous NCAA championships, including the men's and women's College World Series, Division I-AA football and men's and women's soccer.

University of Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said wrestling is an example of a sport that could benefit from exposure on ESPNU.

"I think wrestling is really one that has a chance to grow," he said. "I think they're trying to build all those championships. A case could be made for virtually every sport."

Castiglione, however, doesn't believe college football would necessarily benefit from more weeknight games on television.

"To some degree, it's worked out, but it's awkward," he said. "I don't know that it's healthy to have football every night of the week."

College Sports Television, which launched in April 2003, televises more than 35 men's and women's college sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling and volleyball. The network also televises NCAA championships in men's and women's lacrosse, women's ice hockey, field hockey, men's and women's water polo, gymnastics and track.

CSTV is available to 35 million homes, including the Comcast and Time Warner cable systems and on satellite through DirecTV, but is not carried by Cox.

The network recently signed a seven-year, $82 million deal with the Mountain West Conference, which Castiglione said may have played a part in ESPN's decision to launch a new network.

"With that move and some other moves CSTV has made -- acquisition of Internet companies, deals with conferences and institutions -- they are basically taking a college sports product not receiving any notable exposure and placing it on the air," Castiglione said. "We should tip our caps to College Sports Television. They have done it right.

"When they (ESPN) see those kinds of properties open up, they may have needed to see some acceleration of plans they had on the drawing board."

ESPN's announcement of its plans for the new college network drew criticism from CSTV chief executive Brian Bedol.

"College Sports TV has created a successful blueprint for total coverage of college sports from the CSTV network to the Internet with CollegeSports.com to College Sports Radio, our new partnership with Sirius Satellite Radio," Bedol said.

"It's so successful that ESPN is celebrating its 25th anniversary by following it to the letter."

Cox should definitely carry this, especially here in OKC where college sports are so popular. I think they'd be maknig a huge mistake if they didn't carry it in this market.

Although the channel might not cover major Big 12 events like college football and basketball, it would cover other college sporting events, and more college football games, other than just top 25 or Big 12.