Tuesday, November 23, 2010

MACON, Ga. – Less than two weeks into the college basketball season, the Atlantic Sun Conference announced that Cox Sports Television will carry 19 league games broadcast on CSS increasing viewership in the state of Georgia including homes in and around Macon, home of Mercer University and the Atlantic Sun Conference office.

Cox Sports Television will pick up the entire men’s and women’s CSS/Atlantic Sun Game of the Week regular-season package. CST will also carry both women’s semifinals and title game of the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Basketball Championships live. The network will broadcast one the men’s semifinal contests on same-day delay, set for 11 p.m. on Friday, March 4.

“We are proud to announce the extension of our CST distribution agreement and thank our partners at Cox Sports Television for sharing the value of A-Sun programming,” Atlantic Sun Commissioner Ted Gumbart said. “CST brings us into key media markets, including Macon. We have had tremendous performances by many A-Sun teams this year and it is exciting to showcase our outstanding schools and student-athletes to the Cox audience.”

The Atlantic Sun/CSS Game of the Week package will include two addititional games from the original slate of games, announced in September. The conference’s top intra-city rivalries – Belmont-Lipscomb and Jacksonville-UNF will air on CSS and CST will carry both contests

The conference’s most-played series, the “Battle of the Boulevard” between Belmont and Lipscomb, will again air on CSS. The 8 p.m. showdown on Tuesday, Jan. 25 will air one day later at 1 p.m. Since Lipscomb joined the A-Sun in 2003, five games between the Bruins and Bisons have gone to overtime. No two teams in the country have played overtime contests in that span.

Two weeks later, the latest installment of the River City Rumble hits center stage as Jacksonville hosts UNF at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8. CST will carry this matchup live and the women’s matchup between the Ospreys and Dolphins, set for a 5 p.m. tip, will air, on delay, at 9:30 p.m.

“CST is excited to be entering our third year of partnership with the A-Sun Conference,” said Cox Sports Television VP Regional Sports Rod Mickler. “With our recent launches across Oklahoma, the CST reach now includes eight southern states and we know our viewers enjoy seeing A-Sun hoops included in our comprehensive college basketball schedule”.

The addition of Cox Sports Television’s two million viewers boosts the total number of cable subscribers able to view Atlantic Sun action to more than eight million.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts five of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.

The New Orleans-based sports network launched on October 28, 2002 in front of 450,000 Louisiana viewers. CST has grown over 400% to nearly 2 million in the seven years since launch, making it one of the fastest growing regional sports networks in the south. CST is currently carried on cable systems in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia and is available to Dish Network subscribers (Channel 421) in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans markets. CST is owned and operated by Cox Communications Louisiana, LLC. Initially targeted to be a Louisiana sports network, CST has secured collegiate, professional and high school events that have expanded the networks reach throughout the south. For more information about CST, please visit our website at www.coxsportstv.com.