Horizon League, CSTV Networks Partner To Provide Free Live Video Web Casts of Men's, Women's Basketball Games - Loyola University Chicago Official Athletic Site

Dec. 28, 2005

Indianapolis, Ind. - The Horizon League and CSTV Networks, which operates CSTV: College Sports Television and CSTV.com, announced Wednesday (Dec. 28) an extended partnership to provide free live video web casts of all conference men's and women's basketball games not otherwise cleared on television outlets. The first Loyola web casts will be tomorrow night, as the men open their Horizon League schedule at Cleveland State while the women play host to UW-Green Bay.

Horizon League All-Access will feature more than 125 live men's and women's basketball games during the 2005-06 season featuring each of the conference's nine member institutions. The webcasted games, which will also be archived for later viewing, can be accessed via the "All-Access" link on the league's official web site, www.horizonleague.org. In addition, some televised games may be available via CSTV.com. Unlike many video web casts, all games will be available free of charge, provided viewers have registered on the site.

The web casting initiative with CSTV.com is a product of the Horizon League's new television budget redistribution plan, which was approved by the League's Executive Council in June. The new plan focuses resources on the institutional level and allows the schools the freedom to broadcast their teams in their local markets or make them available via the All-Access web casts. Under the plan, all 144 of the League's men's and women's regular-season conference basketball games will be available on local, regional or national over-the-air or cable television, or via web casts.

"We are excited to be able to take advantage of this new technology, which we believe is the future of television, and expand our partnership with CSTV," said Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone. "With the broadband distribution platform, our member schools will be able to market their basketball programs to fans across the country and around the world via the web. It should be especially beneficial to reaching potential recruits' and current student-athletes' families as well as displaced fans and alumni."

"College fans have voracious appetites for their teams and their sports," said CSTV CEO Brian Bedol. "CSTV is dedicated to making games available through as many platforms as possible, and online programming certainly provides one of the most convenient and effective delivery systems for fans anywhere in the world."

CSTV Networks has been the web site provider for the Horizon League since November, 2004. Its network of nearly 250 official athletic web sites includes those of League schools Butler, Cleveland State, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola and UW-Milwaukee.