October 12, 1998
CARLSBAD, Calif. and LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Wildcats,defending NCAA basketball champions, and the FANSonly Network, the premieraggregator of online college affinity audiences, will bring the localbroadcast of the Wildcats’ Midnight Madness basketball scrimmage to the worldvia the Internet on October 16.
The FANSonly Network will digitize the local television broadcast from WKYT,Lexington’s CBS affiliate, and broadcast it in real-time over the Internet instreaming video format for RealAudio’s RealPlayer(tm) browser plug-in.FANSonly will work with iXL, Inc., one of the nation’s leading interactivedevelopment companies, to enhance the video with bookmarks for easier viewingand hyperlinks to other resources on UK’s official athletic site, located atwww.ukathletics.com/mainevent.
The FANSonly Network, located at www.fansonly.com, manages the onlinepresence, brands, affinity audiences and revenue streams for more than 50major collegiate athletic departments around the country, including NotreDame, UCLA, USC, Virginia, Florida State, Ohio State, Arizona, Kentucky andmany others. The FANSonly Network is owned by University Netcasting, Inc.
According to C.M. Newton, athletics director for the University of Kentucky,”Through UK’s participation in the FANSonly Network, we have a partner who hasthe Internet experience and resources to turn our vision for a new,interactive relationship with Wildcat fans into reality. Kentucky’s officialathletic site is the only medium through which we can enhance WKYT’s localbroadcast and make it available instantly to Wildcat fans across the nationand around the world.”
Jeff Cravens, the FANSonly Network’s vice president of product development,said, “This is an extremely exciting period on the Internet, as we start tosee the beginnings of convergence. We believe that this will be a tremendouspiece of content for Wildcat fans. We feel that this will be a championshipeffort that will truly represent the storied history of Kentucky basketball.”
The UK Midnight Madness page is located at www.ukathletics.com/mainevent. Fanscan go to this page immediately for a Midnight Madness preview and to downloadthe RealPlayer plug-in. The preview page includes RealPlayer set-upinstructions and a test video so fans can make sure their browser isconfigured correctly to receive the Midnight Madness video. The enhanced gamevideo will also be archived on this site for later viewing.
The Kentucky Wildcats finished the 1987-88 season ranked number 1 in the USAToday/ESPN Coaches Poll, with a record of 35-4, 14-2 in the SEC. The Wildcatsthen went on to defeat the Utah Utes, 78-69, in the 1998 NCAA men’s basketballchampionship title game on March 30. It was UK’s third consecutive trip tothe title game and its second title in three years.
About University Netcasting, Inc. and the FANSonly Network–University Netcasting, Inc. is the parent company of the FANSonly Network.FANSonly builds and maintains Official Athletic Sites for more than 50universities, conferences and collegiate associations including Notre Dame,Florida State, Ohio State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Univ. of California, Arizona,Kentucky, Michigan State, the Atlantic Coast Conference and many others.FANSonly provides the Internet’s most comprehensive coverage of 650 NCAAvarsity teams, as well as a full complement of unique programming. UniversityNetcasting, Inc., enjoys equity positions from or strategic relationships withBrentwood Venture Capital (Los Angeles); The Collegiate Licensing Company(Atlanta); iXL, Inc. (Atlanta); Baccharis Capital, Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.);Lawrence & Company, Inc. (Toronto); and Sorrento Associates, Inc. (San Diego).
