The CIAC Partners with CTSN

The Connecticut Sports Network (CTSN), a combined effort of WFSB and CPTV and the state’s first-ever 24-hour local sports network, was officially launched today at 5 p.m. in a live broadcast on CPTV and Comcast cable systems throughout Connecticut on channel 185, 187 and 744 and Cox Communications Systems channel 144. The debut broadcast featured congratulatory comments by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell and UConn women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma. 

Comcast, Connecticut's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services, is the founding media sponsor of CTSN and the first cable system to offer the programming to its customers throughout the state. Additionally, all event programming will be archived and available as streaming video on the networks Website; www.ctsn.tv.  The new network will provide the state's cable television and Web viewers with a 24-hour channel featuring high school and college sporting events, special programming and news. 

"Today is 'game day' for sports fans throughout the state," said Jerry Franklin, President and CEO of the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, the parent company of CPTV. "They get to see all their hometown heroes as we begin to broadcast 14 different high school and college sports from every corner of Connecticut." 

Franklin noted that CPTV will also be creating sports-oriented community and educational programming to air on CTSN. 

"This new network is a natural extension of WFSB's commitment to covering local sports while giving advertisers a highly efficient new way to reach an important market," said WFSB VP and General Manager Klarn DePalma. 

Governor Rell lauded the initiative for its "commitment to cover the broadest range of scholastic sports and to complement its event programming with community-oriented and educational content." 

Coach Auriemma compared the launch with the initial broadcasts of UConn women's basketball on CPTV 15 years ago. 

He said, "There's a huge appetite out there for the genuine excitement of scholastic athletics and it's wonderful that the state will now get to see our future stars at the high school as well as the wider college level. We all look forward to the success and growth of this network."

“We're proud to be the founding media sponsor of The Connecticut Sports Network, providing our customers with exclusive sports programming," said Dan Glanville, Regional Vice President of Government Affairs for Comcast.  "Comcast is committed to delivering a robust channel lineup in order to provide the best TV viewing experience for our customers." 

“Cox is pleased to be a partner with CTSN in providing Connecticut sports fans a source for local sports events and programming,” said Doreen Studley, vice president of marketing, Cox Communications New England.  “The addition of CTSN to a lineup that already includes Cox Sports ensures our customers receive the best coverage of local sports in the region.”

 “We are excited to have Comcast and Cox Communications on board and it is our hope that other cable franchises will soon follow to bring this programming to a television audience of student athletes, their families and scholastic sports enthusiasts throughout the state,” said Anthony Meliso General Manager of CTSN.

 “CTSN is an historic achievement for high school sports in Connecticut and the

CIAC is proud to partner with WFSB and CPTV in this venture,” said Michael Savage, Executive Director of CAS-CIAC.  “There are so many extremely talented teams and individual players representing well over 100,000 high school athletes who will now have a regular opportunity to showcase their talents,” added Savage.

CTSN will be the exclusive broadcast network for the 2008 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) football championships and all six title games will be broadcast starting the week of December 8th.  

During the year ahead, CTSN plans to cover hundreds of high school and college games in 14 different sports ranging from college basketball to high school field hockey (see charts attached). Initially, CTSN will broadcast a minimum of two to four hours of original programming each day with re-broadcast programming filling out the remainder of the schedule. The percentage of original programming will expand as the network builds viewer and advertising support.