ESPN will not air nay M. Hoops games

Although a number of Penn athletic teams will have broader regional television exposure this year with the recently arranged Comcast television deal, the Quakers men's basketball team -- which has played to national audiences in each of the last two seasons -- will not have any games on ESPN or ESPN2 this season, according to Decker Uhlhorn, Penn's director of athletics development and public affairs. "I am not aware of any games this year that would be on ESPN or ESPN2," Uhlhorn said. This season, ESPN and ESPN2 will each show one Princeton basketball game, according to ESPN Senior Publicist Dean Diltz. ESPN will carry the Tigers first-round preseason NIT game against Indiana, while ESPN2 will broadcast Princeton's regular-season matchup with North Carolina. Since neither ResNet nor Wade Cablevision is affiliated with Comcast, Penn students will not be able to view any Penn broadcasts carried on the Comcast Network. Uhlhorn -- who returned to Penn in 1995 after spending nine years handling the Philadelphia Eagles' television contracts -- explained the athletic department might discuss with Comcast the possibility of supplying UTV13 with tapes of some games. "I know Comcast has been very cooperative," Uhlhorn said. Robert Smith, Comcast's area director of public and government relations, emphasized that Comcast is providing its subscribers with "a heavy dose of high school and intercollegiate sports." "I don't mean to be cavalier, but what we're trying to provide is services to Comcast customers," Smith said. "We simply can't serve the areas that we don't serve." Uhlhorn said Penn is only one of several institutions to have athletic events covered by Comcast. The cable company's schedule includes contests featuring numerous New Jersey and Philadelphia-area schools, including Princeton and Villanova. "One of the things that drove the Comcast people? was that they were looking for programming," Uhlhorn said. "We're just one piece of this system." So far, Philadelphia-based Comcast Cablevision has broadcast three Penn sporting events on its Comcast Network, which reaches approximately 1.2 million subscribers in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area. But Uhlhorn said the Penn athletic department has not inked an official agreement with Comcast. "Even though they have begun to televise, we do not have a signed document yet," Uhlhorn said. According to Uhlhorn, Penn began negotiating with Comcast earlier this year to broaden regional television exposure. "The issue as far, as the [athletic department] was concerned, was to try to bring exposure across a wide variety of sports," Uhlhorn said. Comcast has already broadcast two Quakers soccer matches -- one men's and one women's -- and will probably carry women's basketball, wrestling and men's and women's lacrosse -- sports "that would normally not have the opportunity to be televised," Uhlhorn noted. Uhlhorn added that the ongoing Comcast agreement does not preclude Penn from other television agreements. "We are not limited in the Comcast deal," Uhlhorn said, noting that Penn basketball coach Fran Dunphy "has a relationship with the ESPN people." At this point, the Big 5 has not announced a television schedule for the coming season, although Comcast is tentatively scheduled to broadcast all of Penn's Big 5 games. "Each of the Big 5 schools is negotiating their own separate package," said Big 5 Acting Executive Director Paul Rubincam, adding that the schools' athletic directors will discuss television coverage at a meeting next week.