• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 1, 2006

CBS's CSTV Networks has launched a new broadband service comprised of more than 100 channels dedicated to individual college athletic programs and conferences.

CSTV plans to Webcast 10,000 live events across the channels. It will also offer archived clips, live press conference feeds, news and features, and e-commerce features. Access to the new broadband site, dubbed CSTV XXL, will cost subscribers either about $15 a month or $100 annually.

Prices for individual channels, which may be linked from colleges' sports Web sites, will typically range from $5 to $10 a month. Third-party sites such as alumni and local media sites will also be able to offer links to CSTV XXL in return for revenue-sharing opportunities.

"This is really for the fan that either doesn't have access to a game on TV, or the sports and teams that they follow don't get on TV," said Brian Bedol, president and CEO of CSTV, which also operates a cable network. And for fans of big college teams that may appear on TV once a week, it's a chance to see more live coverage.

Participating schools include Notre Dame, BYU, UCLA, Washington State and Cornell. But Bedol emphasized that the new network was opened to small as well as large schools, and that he expected the number of channels to expand accordingly.

He also said that schools would have flexibility in deciding how much to charge for access to their channels as well as deciding the balance between free and paid content. The Notre Dame site, for instance, will be free.

Initial sponsors for CSTV XXL include Coca-Cola, Pontiac, State Farm and fast-food chain Sonic.

Bedol said live programming would be blacked out when other broadcasters have rights to a game. In other cases, regional games will be available outside a specific geographic area.

Partnering with CSTV to power the 100 channels are digital publishing firm thePlatform Media Publishing Systems and broadband video company Maven Networks.

Previously, the college sports network had introduced CSTV All-Access, a subscription broadband service that allowed users to obtain video and audio content only for a particular school or conference. Since 2004, CSTV has also teamed up with CBS to stream live games during the NCAA men's college basketball tournament. CBS acquired CSTV in January for $325 million.