CSTV Networks, Inc., a division of CBS Corp., is offering the most extensive content that has ever been available to sports fans through more than 100 new broadband channels dedicated to live college sports. Each broadband channel will be a "virtual arena" -- a seamless Internet experience offering a total of more than 10,000 live events, including audio, video and live data feeds of press conferences, news, features, archived games, plus ticketing, e-commerce and much more.
"Exclusive Internet content has become a vital element as we segue from a mass media to a personalized media world," said Brian Bedol, President and CEO, CSTV Networks, Inc. "Oftentimes the only way passionate communities of college sports fans can stay connected and catch every play of every game is through original broadband content. We realize the best way to deliver this content is by establishing the most extensive network of broadband channels and CSTV has made it possible for every university to have its own broadband channel. We are going to broadcast 10,000 live events online during the coming year and felt it was important to make the experience the best it can be for our business partners as well as our shared consumers."
For a demonstration, paste the following link into your web browser:
http://www.cstv.com/\mediaoverview.
The unprecedented breadth of content is available at CSTV.com through CSTV XXL or individually through its industry-leading network of All-Access sites, which are devoted to many of the top athletic programs in the country. The unrivaled platform lends itself to a plethora of advertising opportunities for CSTV digital sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Pontiac and State Farm.
"College athletics are an extremely important arena for Coca-Cola and CSTV connects with the passion of this enormous segment," said John Egan, Group Director, Sports Marketing, Coca-Cola. "These new broadband channels are the next wave in college sports and illustrate CSTV's ability to stay at the forefront of the ever-changing media landscape. This is a huge step forward for college sports fans."
Consumers can subscribe to CSTV XXL via http://www.cstvxxl.com/ or CSTV.com, which includes the entire array of All-Access broadband channels and all 10,000 events. For fans who want to follow a specific athletic program, the platform will be utilized to create customizable broadband channels on CSTV's All- Access suite of more than 100 colleges including Auburn, BYU, Memphis, Miami, Navy, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Tennessee, Tulane, Villanova, UCLA, UNLV, USC and Washington. These individual broadband channels, named accordingly for each school such as "Fighting Irish All- Access," are tailored to give every school its own look and feel. The All- Access channel platform is available to every university and college regardless of who publishes its athletic web site.
"Our fans and subscribers will be able to enjoy multi media content on usctrojans.com like never before," said Joe Eskenazi, Associate Athletic Director, University of Southern California. "The look, feel and quality of the presentation are exactly in line with how we present USC content -- unique, dynamic and in a first class way."
Said Jeff Long, Director of Athletics at the University of Pittsburgh: "I am both proud and excited that our partnerships with CSTV and ISP Sports have made it possible to introduce Panthers-All-Access. This amazing new platform, combined with CSTV's direct collaboration with our staff and state-of-the-art technology, makes it possible for us to offer Pitt fans world-wide an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at Pitt Athletics, our teams, our student-athletes and the continuation of our commitment to excellence." Said Todd Turner, Director of Athletics, University of Washington: "CSTV Online has done another wonderful job of bringing innovation and quality to our fans through the new Dawg All-Access audio-video channel. The All-Access product is first-class in its presentation and provides Washington fans with another reason to visit GoHuskies.com more frequently and to extend the amount of time they remain on the site. This will give us a chance to provide more content to our fans on a more timely, nearly instantaneous, basis."
Fans who utilize this best-in-class platform will enter a world where they will get all of the content they desire without ever having to leave. The easy-to-use interface will let them navigate the channel by school, sport, audio, video and countless other criteria. Fans will also be linked to related content and they will be kept abreast on the progress of their favorite school with up-to-the-minute news, scores and highlights.
Powering the 100-plus broadband channels in CSTV XXL are the combined capabilities of thePlatform Media Publishing System (MPS) and Maven Network's Maven Media System (MMS). This comprehensive solution fulfills CSTV's requirements by making it easier to do business through advanced media publishing, and creating an engaging, highly interactive experience for fans. Content delivery will be provided by Akamai, the leading global service provider for accelerating content online.
"CSTV is an innovator in broadband sports programming with a strong college affiliate network and a deep understanding of consumer behavior online" said Hilmi Ozguc, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Maven Networks. "It is exciting to see that CSTV has fully leveraged Maven's technology platform to deploy the most engaging and interactive sports experience of its kind anywhere on the Web. This truly represents not just the future of Internet TV but also of television in general."
"Connecting so many college fans and alumni with the live events they care so deeply about is a perfect application for broadband channels," said Ian Blaine, CEO of thePlatform. "We are excited to support CSTV Networks with thePlatform's proven Media Publishing System (MPS) and our years of expertise gained from major broadband channel deployments."