A group of Alabama businessmen is planning to launch a 24-hour regional television network dedicated exclusively to college sports.
The planned College Sports Production Network Southeast would debut Aug. 16, two weeks before college football season begins in earnest. The network would be operated by veteran sports media marketer Kirk Wood's Regional Sports Network and built on the foundation of the recently acquired Alabama Cable Network.
Organizers say they'll have no trouble attracting viewers.
"College sports is the professional sport of the South," said Jimmy Adams, the network's public relations director. "College sports is the most important to the vast majority of the people."
CSPN Southeast expects to offer a smorgasbord of college sports from the nine states that have SEC schools. Plans are to expand the concept to other regions eventually, creating, for example, CSPN Atlantic Coast and CSPN Big Ten.
A big draw, organizers say, will be select SEC football and basketball games broadcast on tape delay. CSPN Southeast must honor existing contracts with other networks but can buy rebroadcast rights from the host school. All 11 University of Alabama football games this fall would be replayed on CSPN Southeast.
Crimson Tide coach Mike DuBose sees the extra coverage as a recruiting tool.
"It will be great exposure for us," DuBose said. "The opportunity to see our games not just once, but several times, gets you into the living rooms of prospective student athletes you otherwise wouldn't."
SEC baseball also will be a major programming focus for CSPN Southeast, but network officials say they will showcase plenty of other conferences as well.
CSPN Southeast will be offered free to cable operators with hopes its popularity will provide the leverage to charge for the service later. Both CSPN Southeast and the local cable system that carries the network will sell advertising for each broadcast. CSPN Southeast executives declined to provide any financial information or revenue projections for the network.
Gilbert Nicholson writes for the Birmingham Business Journal.
