Campus Watch: CSTV To Be Renamed CBS College Sports Network

By John Ourand, Staff Writer

CBS plans to rebrand CSTV as CBS College Sports Network in March, coinciding with the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The move comes a little more than a month after CBS' sports division officially assumed control of the cable channel. CBS execs clearly hope the CBS brand will help convince cable operators to carry the channel, which is in about 25 million cable and satellite homes. The channel originally launched in spring '03. "We believe this rebranding will better position our college sports cable network in the competitive world of cable television distribution," said CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus. "It's hard to imagine a cable company going forward that will not welcome the CBS Sports-branded channel to its cable systems." The change also is expected to lead to more original CBS Sports-produced programming, including the launch of a nightly news program called "College Sports Tonight." As part of the switch, the cable channel will incorporate the on-air style and graphics of CBS Sports. The rebrand has a precedent at CBS. Last August, CBS rebranded CBSSportsline.com to CBSSports.com.