The America Channel announced today that it has entered into multi-year, comprehensive video broadcast agreements with the Southern Conference. In addition, The America Channel has reached agreements to provide broadcast services to the Big South Conference, Southern Conference, Big West Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Big Sky Conference, America East Conference, Patriot League, and Atlantic Sun Conference.
Under these agreements, The America Channel has secured video broadcast rights to more than 200 games and matches per year, including basketball, football, and Conference championships of men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, track and field, lacrosse, field hockey and other sports. The agreements include games involving over 80 Universities in about 50 markets, including most of the top 20 television markets.
In addition to the sports broadcasts, The America Channel unveiled its new SportLife initiative. Specifically, The America Channel and the Conferences, their Student Athletic Advisory Committees (SAACs) and Universities, will cooperate to create video content about the aspirations, achievements, challenges, adventures, community service, and lifestyles of students and student athletes. The programming will be jointly developed and produced for The America Channel, and a substantial portion of the content will be created utilizing the talents of University students. The groundbreaking initiative will generate dynamic original content for The America Channel, from and about a highly desirable demographic. Target viewer demographics include young women and men, and teens approaching college age who are seeking athletic and academic role models. At least 50% of the sports programming and the jointly developed campus programming, will profile and showcase women students and women’s athletics.
The Conference agreements permit the acquisition by The America Channel of additional sports events. The America Channel’s SportsLife ? initiative will merge life and sport, providing real-life drama about students and student athletes who aspire, achieve, overcome, help others, and have fun.
“We are pleased to be entering into a relationship with the America Channel. The association will provide the Southern Conference, its schools and student-athletes exposure on a national level,” said Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino. “The America Channel will provide viewers with a unique perspective that will underscore the aspirations, goals and hopes of student-athletes. It is a unique concept and we are excited to be able to share our story to television viewers throughout the country.”
Broadcasts of the games will commence in early November of 2007. The network will launch in advance of that date.
About The America Channel
The America Channel? is a new programming network that will explore and celebrate our communities, campuses, real heroes, and ordinary people who accomplish the extraordinary. The America Channel’s SportsLife ? initiative merges life and sport ? combining broadcast of over 200 NCAA Division I sports games and matches, with real-life drama about the aspirations, achievements, challenges, adventures, community service, and lifestyles of students and student athletes. For more information please visit www.americachannel.us.
About the Southern Conference
The Southern Conference, which began its 86th season of intercollegiate competition in 2006, is a national leader in emphasizing the development of the student-athlete and defining the league’s role in helping to build lifelong leaders and role models. The Southern Conference is the nation’s fifth-oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association. Only the Big Ten (1896), the Missouri Valley (1907), the Pacific 10 (1915) and the Southwestern Athletic (1920) conferences are older in terms of origination. The Southern Conference has also excelled as the premier Division I-AA football conference since earning that classification in 1981. The Conference currently consists of 11 members in four states throughout the Southeast and sponsors 19 varsity sports and championships that produce participants for NCAA Division I Championships. Academic excellence has been a major part of the Southern Conference’s tradition. League athletes have been recognized countless times on Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America and district teams. A total of 19 Rhodes-Scholarship winners have been selected from the conference. The Southern Conference office is located in the Beaumont Mill in Spartanburg, S.C. A textile mill that was in operation from 1880 until 1999, the Beaumont Mill was renovated in 2004 and today offers the SoCon a first class meeting area as well as a spacious library for storage of the conference’s historical documents. For more information, visit www.soconsports.org