AMES, Iowa (Aug. 26, 2013) – Iowa State University fans, who cannot make it to Jack Trice Stadium for the home opener, should tune their cable boxes to the Cyclones’ brand-new, stand-alone dedicated cable channel on Mediacom Saturday night at 7 p.m. and see the debut of Cyclones.tv Powered by Mediacom.
The cable channel’s debut will feature a live telecast of the season opening football game vs. Northern Iowa. The Cyclones.tv production will include play-by-play and color commentary courtesy of the Cyclone Radio Network. A pregame show will precede the live game.
Cyclones.tv will be available in high-definition to HD subscribers on Mediacom channel 798, and in SD on Mediacom channel 165 or digital channel 59.2 (57.2 or 74.2 in some areas). Viewers in areas near Moline, Ill. and Dubuque will find the HD format on Mediacom channel 698. Fans throughout Iowa subscribing to Mediacom’s expanded basic cable option will have round-the-clock access to Cyclones.tv, as will fans in neighboring states if living in areas where Mediacom’s service crosses state lines.
A weekly schedule of events for the channel on Mediacom can be accessed online at Cyclones.com/tvschedule.
Cyclones.tv will showcase non-stop Iowa State sports and related programming, initially in repeating six-hour time blocks. Those packaged segments will be interrupted with live sporting events or other programming, such as news conferences.
Fans will be able to view live telecasts of nearly every Cyclone home women’s basketball volleyball, wrestling, gymnastics, soccer and softball event. Cyclones.tv will also telecast one football game annually (Northern Iowa on Saturday) and 4-8 men’s basketball games. Other programming will include specialty shows, classic games, features on Cyclone legends and coaches’ shows.
“We’re thrilled to be able to launch Cyclones.tv at the start of a new athletics season and just in time for our football game against Northern Iowa,” said Iowa State Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard. “We’re confident our fans will enjoy having a cable channel solely dedicated to Cyclone sports. A great deal of collaboration between various parties was critical to making the channel a reality, and Learfield’s role in orchestrating all of the moving parts has been phenomenal. We are positioned to deliver more Cyclone athletics content both online and throughout the Midwest with Mediacom’s cable network.”
“Mediacom’s long-time partnership with the Cyclone Athletic program has been strengthened by this unique collaboration that will elevate the success of student athletes across a wide variety of sports,” said Mediacom Group Vice President Steve Purcell. “We’re excited to use our Mediacom network to deliver quality programming from Cylones.tv to fans in more than 300 Iowa communities, and additional communities in neighboring states.”
Fans not currently subscribing to Mediacom’s cable system have the option of purchasing a monthly, quarterly or annual online subscription to Cyclones.tv to view the same sporting events and Iowa State sports programming.
The on-demand Cyclones.tv option online costs $9.95 per month, $34.95 quarterly or $79.95 annually. Fans can activate their viewing options on their iPad and mobile devices, with details outlined at http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=205422256
Learfield Sports’ local entity, Cyclone Sports Properties, oversees all aspects of the Iowa State multimedia rights relationship. Working alongside Iowa State Athletics, Learfield and Mediacom in the overall launch of Cyclones.tv is Encompass Digital Media, a full-service broadcast company specializing in network origination.
In addition to Iowa State, Learfield Sports manages multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate institutions and associations and titles the prestigious Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup. The company’s multimedia rights encompass numerous content distribution platforms to deliver the passion of college athletics across radio, television and digital networks to fans globally. Learfield Sports’ exclusive sports programming currently reaches more than 50 million television households nationally and delivers nearly 17,000 hours of radio programming on more than 1,100 radio stations. For additional information about the company’s 40-year history and complete collegiate portfolio, visit www.learfieldsports.com.
