Updated 1/3/06 – new items underlined

Wildcat fans from across the country have voiced questions regarding the 2005-06 distribution of UK?s Big Blue Sports Network men?s basketball games. The information below should answer some of those questions. Keep in mind that broadcast rights aren?t always black and white, and that the answer for someone living in Kentucky may differ from the answer for someone living elsewhere.

There are two basic issues, depending on what part of the country you live in.

Fans living outside the SEC region:

Due to the SEC’s exclusive ‘national’ cable rights deal with ESPN (which includes football and men’s basketball), Fox is not allowed to show UK games beyond the SEC’s region. For the exhibition games, there is no current way for fans outside the South to watch these games live at this time. However, the regular-season games have been offered to ESPN’s Full Court package. ESPN informed UK Athletics in the afternoon of Jan. 3 that they WILL be showing the Central Florida game on ESPN Full Court. UK Athletics and Host Communications are committed to working closely with ESPN to ensure that all future Host-produced games are available outside of the SEC?s region via Full Court..

Fans living in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina:

These games are available live on FSN South exclusively. FSN Ohio provides live coverage only in the markets that overlap Kentucky (i.e. Cincinnati, Huntington/Charleston, Evansville). This distribution package allows UK games to reach 11 million households throughout the Southeast.

If you live in Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina but do not receive FSN South, contact your local cable or satellite provider to let them know of your desire to watch the Cats.

A list of cable providers throughout Kentucky that provide FSN South (along with channel numbers) while a list to FSN Ohio cable providers that are being allowed to distribute the games . More than one million Kentucky households currently have access to FSN South via either cable or satellite.

Another piece of the coverage puzzle is that all the regular-season FSN games will also be available on a tape-delayed basis to all statewide .

UK Athletics truly appreciates your patience as our relationships with our television partners expand. It is our sincere intention to provide Wildcat fans as much access as possible. Through the SEC?s TV contracts, Kentucky will have eight CBS appearances, up to 12 games on ESPN?s family of networks – ESPN [five], ESPN2 [three or four] and ESPNU [three or four] – and six games on Jefferson-Pilot.

For those of you who have expressed concern regarding these TV arrangements, please keep the information and feedback coming. All the communication from across the country greatly assists us in our constant quest to make the Cats available across the nation. Feel free to contact me directly () should you have additional questions.

Scott Stricklin
Assistant AD/Media Relations