CSTV Builds Broadband Launch Pad for Schools

By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 8/31/2006 6:32:00 AM MT

CBS Corp.’s CSTV unit has put together a program that lets colleges and their conferences use broadband rights they hold to create sites with game footage, coach interviews, ticket sales and other content and services.

The schools can make their own decisions about what to put on their sites and how much content will be free or paid, CSTV Networks CEO Brian Bedol said. He said CSTV learned a lot in streaming "March Madness" college basketball games over CSTV.com – the first year CSTV charged $19.95 for the service, the second year it was free.

"The goal is to make it a very compelling price-value offer and give people a chance to try it," he said during a conference call Thursday. The service starts with advertising support from Coca-Cola, State Farm Insurance, Pontiac and the Sonic restaurant chain, he said, with Sonic advertising only on the broadband sites and not on CSTV’s cable channel.

To get things going, Notre Dame University is going to make its content available for free, Bedol said, while other sites might charge $4.95 to $9.95 per month.

Full access to all the sites will cost $14.95 per month or about $100 per year, he said. The all-access site is www.cstvxxl.com.

The amount of content schools have rights to, and have assembled in digital form, varies but will likely grow over time, Bedol said.

The all-access service will be programmed by such schools as Auburn, BYU, Memphis, Miami, Navy, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Tennessee, Tulane, Villanova, UCLA, UNLV, USC and Washington, CSTV said.

Channels will be customized with such branding as "Fighting Irish All-Access" for Notre Dame.

CSTV cited as technology components the Media Publishing System from ThePlatform Inc., a company Comcast Corp. recently acquired, and Maven Network’s Maven Media System.

Bedol put in a plug for cable affiliates such as Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, saying the service could drive interest in their cable-modem platforms and saying there could be revenue opportunities for those affiliates down the road.

CBS bought CSTV in January for $325 million. Bedol said last week was the 10th anniversary of CSTV's Internet precursur, which he said was called Fans Only, putting content online from the University of Southern California, the University of California and Notre Dame.