CSTV TO LAUNCH 32 DAYS OF MADNESS
CSTV TO LAUNCH 32 DAYS OF MADNESS, 64 HOURS A DAY, THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE AND UNIQUE MULTI-MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE 2004 NCAA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Coverage Includes Official Men's NCAA Tournament Highlight Show, Live Studio and Remote News Programs, Exclusive Coverage From CollegeSports.com and Nearly 150 College Athletic Sites
CSTV Analysts Include Former North Carolina and Notre Dame Coach Matt Doherty and Former National Player of the Year Rebecca Lobo
NEW YORK, March 2, 2004 - CSTV: College Sports Television (www.cstv.com), the first 24-hour college sports network, is launching 32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day, the most comprehensive, most unique multi-media coverage of the 2004 NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. Launching Thursday, March 4, 32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day will include more news and information, more analysis, more detail, more highlights, more correspondents and more Web sites devoted to coverage of college sports' premier event than any other media entity.
Anchoring 32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day will be College Sports TV's live production of the official NCAA Men's Basketball Championship highlight show, which will originate from the CSTV Fieldhouse in New York and the Men's Final Four in San Antonio and will air on College Sports TV and Spike TV. Other 32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day highlights include the network's regularly scheduled live CSTV Primetime and CSTV Scoreboard studio shows originating from the CSTV Fieldhouse and from San Antonio, additional live reports from the Women's Final Four in New Orleans, an unprecedented schedule of pre-game and post-game tournament press conferences, and the premieres of the interactive Tourney Talk studio program and other CSTV original programs.
CSTV's lead analysts throughout the tournaments will be Matt Doherty, the former North Carolina and Notre Dame head coach, and Rebecca Lobo, the former National Player of the Year while at Connecticut.
Unparalleled Online Coverage
College Sports TV will take coverage of the NCAAs to a new level through its partnership with CollegeSports.com, the #1 college sports destination on the Web, and the nearly 150 official college athletic sites that comprise the Official College Sports Network (OCSN). CollegeSports.com and the official athletic sites will have the most news, information and analysis from the men's and women's NCAA tournaments and will also provide real-time scoring and statistics.
The audio of CSTV's innovative Tourney Talk call-in program will be streamed live on College Sports.com, as well as on CSTV.com. Among the schools whose athletic sites comprise OCSN are Top Ten teams Stanford, Gonzaga, Duke, Tennessee, Purdue and Texas Tech. CSTV announced in November 2003 its intention to purchase OCSN, and the deal is expected to close first-quarter 2004. The combined resources will transform College Sports TV into the largest multi-media college sports media company.
"32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day takes advantage of the unparalleled combined resources of College Sports TV and CollegeSports.com to bring fans the broadest and deepest coverage of the biggest month on the college sports calendar," said Brian Bedol, president and CEO, CSTV. "We are re-inventing the way the NCAAs are covered by producing and programming the most exhaustive, most innovative on-air and online coverage."
Highlights of CSTV's 32 Days of Madness, 64 Hours a Day
Official NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Highlight Shows - College Sports TV is the exclusive producer of these live shows, originating from the CSTV Fieldhouse in New York and the Final Four in San Antonio; the highlight shows, airing live on CSTV and Spike TV at the conclusion of each day of NCAA action, will feature exclusive highlights, pre- and post-game press conferences and player and coach interviews, along with the latest scores, news, statistics and features from throughout the tournament; host Penn Holderness will be joined by analyst Matt Doherty.
CSTV Primetime and CSTV Scoreboard - the live CSTV Primetime and CSTV Scoreboard studio shows will bring viewers all the action from the men's and women's tournaments; the programs, which usually originate from the CSTV Fieldhouse in New York, will be broadcast live from San Antonio during the Men's Final Four; they will feature news, scores, highlights, analysis and press conferences; the shows will feature regular CSTV Primetime and CSTV Scoreboard hosts Greg Amsinger and Adam Zucker, along with Matt Doherty and Penn Holderness.
NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championships Selection Specials - CSTV will air a pair of live specials, The First 65 and The First 64, on Sunday, March 14, that will break down the men's and women's tournament brackets, respectively; Rebecca Lobo, Greg Amsinger and Debbie Antonelli will analyze the women's tournament at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT, while Matt Doherty and Penn Holderness will analyze the men's brackets at 7 pm. ET/4 p.m. PT; College Sports TV will also present the official, live selection special for the NCAA Men's and Women's Division II Basketball Tournaments on Sunday, March 7 (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT), hosted by Adam Zucker and Division II basketball expert Stephen Zerdelian.
Tourney Talk - College Sports TV's Sid Rosenberg will host a live program on all play days of the men's tournament in which he will field phone calls from fans, coaches, media members and other guests to discuss the on-court action and off-court storylines from the tournaments; audio from the Tourney Talk shows will be streamed live on CSTV.com and CollegeSports.com.
Retrovision Tournament Edition - starting March 4, CSTV's Retrovision series, which presents the "best of the best" of classic college sports events, will present great college basketball games from the past; actor Billy Baldwin and veteran sportscaster Bonnie Bernstein will host Retrovision Tournament Edition.
25th Reunion: The 1979 Michigan State vs. Indiana State NCAA Championship Game - the culmination of Retrovision Tournament Edition will be the April 4 25th Reunion special presentation of this monumental event which pitted future Hall of Famers Ervin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird against each other in a prelude to their NBA battles; the April 4 special will include a special CSTV interview with Dick Enberg, who handled play-by-play duties for this legendary game and who will provide a unique look back at this seminal moment in college basketball.
Documentaries and Original Programming - College Sports TV will present the television premiere of Skywalker: The David Thompson Story, a documentary profiling the legendary North Carolina State player who guided the 1974 Wolfpack team to the NCAA Championship; CSTV will also televise The Glass Slipper: The 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack, which chronicles that team's improbable run to the 1983 NCAA Championship under colorful coach Jim Valvano.
CSTV will also air installments of its critically acclaimed Coach original series that will profile former North Carolina men's coach Dean Smith, the winningest college basketball coach of all time, and Geno Auriemma, who has led the Connecticut women's program to four NCAA national championships; in addition, the network will televise episodes of its Nike Training Camp original series exposing the secrets to success of the St. Joseph's, Indiana, Maryland and Cincinnati men's basketball programs; College Sports TV will present UConn Nation: Huskymania, as well, which chronicles the rise to prominence of the Connecticut men's and women's basketball programs
Live Championship Basketball - throughout March, CSTV will televise live conference tournament action from Conference USA, Mountain West, the WAC and the Big South, and will also present live telecasts of the NAIA Men's and Women's Division I and II Championships
CSTV, the first 24-hour college sports network, is available to more than 15 million homes nationally on cable and satellite. The network is available on Adelphia and Insight cable systems, among others, and is also available on DirecTV (channel 610). For information on CSTV availability in particular markets, consumers can log on to www.cstv.com or call their cable or satellite operator.
CSTV has covered more college sports than any other network since launching last April. The network has televised more than 3,500 hours of original programming spanning 30 men's and women's college sports, including basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer, lacrosse and volleyball. College Sports TV's event, studio and original programs have covered more than 1,000 colleges and universities across all NCAA divisions and the NAIA. College Sports TV televises regular season and championship event coverage from every major collegiate athletic conference, and also televises nine NCAA Championships. The network also has a programming and marketing agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
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 the company's successful foray into the college market.
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Eric Handler
CSTV: College Sports Television
212-342-8760
ehandler@cstv.com
posted by Don at Tuesday, March 02, 2004
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