ISU Athletics and Mediacom partner to expand Cyclones.tv
AMES (ISU) — The Iowa State Athletics Department and Mediacom Communications today announced a five-year agreement that makes Mediacom the exclusive television partner of sports programming currently produced and streamed online by Cyclones.tv. Video coverage of live athletics events produced by Cyclones.tv will now be available exclusively to Mediacom’s customers in more than 300 Iowa communities, as well as viewers in several adjacent states, at no additional charge as part of a Digital Family cable subscription.
Mediacom will televise approximately 75 live Cyclone athletics events annually, including one football game and most home events in women’s basketball, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, gymnastics and softball. Live coverage also will include five to 10 men’s basketball games. Additionally, Cyclones.tv and Mediacom will televise the series of three coaches’ shows with Paul Rhoads, Fred Hoiberg and Bill Fennelly; the Applebee’s CYdlines Show; an Olympic Sports Spotlight; and live media conferences.
“This partnership is a game changer for our athletics program as it provides us the most comprehensive coverage our sports teams have ever received,” said Director of Athletics Jamie Pollard. “The deal improves our ability to reach fans and recruits throughout the Midwest, clearly strengthens the Iowa State Athletics brand and reinforces our strategic decision to launch Cyclones.tv. Mediacom’s interest confirms that we are producing excellent content on Cyclones.tv, which is in great demand.”
Programming initially will be shown on MC22 starting with a pair of December 9 basketball games being played in Hilton Coliseum. This Sunday, Mediacom customers can tune to MC22 to see the Cyclone women host Fairfield in a 1:00 game, and the men face the University of Nebraska-Omaha at 6:00 pm. Mediacom and ISU Athletics are working together to create a dedicated channel for Cyclone sports programming to be available in the near future. It will be a digital channel on Mediacom’s Family Cable lineup.
Cyclones.tv was launched this fall as a digital TV network available online for a nominal subscription fee. The department hired former state of Iowa Sportscaster of the Year John Walters to serve as its lead reporter. The network has gotten off to a great start and Cyclones.tv is ranked No. 2 for total viewers among all of NeuLion’s (web site provider) 200-plus schools.
Production of the events to be shown on Mediacom will be handled by the Cyclones.tv staff with a simulcast of the Cyclone Radio Network feed. All programming will be branded as “Cyclones.tv powered by Mediacom.”
