Quaker fans nationwide are now able to watch Penn's basketball teams compete at home and on the road, thanks to a new deal between the Ivy League and two television broadcast services.
For the first time in two years, this season's Ivy League basketball games are being broadcast nationally through HDNet and DIRECTV.
During the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 basketball seasons, DIRECTV offered a "gold package," broadcasting Ivy League conference games every Friday night as part of its sports tier program.
The packages were put on a two-season hiatus after DIRECTV's increased demand for financial support from the Ivies.
According to Chuck Yrigoyen, associate director of the Ivy Group, "schools were being asked to give [more and more] money to the packages."
He attributes this year's return of the programming to being "able to get HDNet to increase their financial investment."
This was an investment well worth it to HDNet co-founder Philip Garvin, a 1969 graduate of Yale University.
Garvin, holding a special connection to the Ancient Eight, eagerly agreed to the broadcasts when approached by DIRECTV, hoping that as a "kind of young operation" the network would appeal to the college demographic and Ivy alumni nationwide, according to Yrigoyen.
HDNet, a broadcasting company used by networks such as NBC and now DIRECTV, began its service on Sept. 5.
"We're a young network so we'd like to get as much great programming as possible," HDNet spokeswoman Sherry Manno Yeaman said. For HDNet, this year's basketball season is the first it has broadcast, and the Ivy games are its first basketball package.
This year's package is a hybrid of new and old -- former Ivy seasons producer Bill Stone is working on the project, and HDNet is adding the clarity of high definition. This is a type of digital broadcasting that, according to Manno Yeaman, creates the "premium-ultimate, highest quality broadcasting" due to a wider screen with "more lines on the screen so it's much clearer."
Yrigoyen, too, praised the "amazing form," calling it "the closest thing to being there on television.... You just have to see it to appreciate it."
Penn Athletic Department spokeswoman Carla Shultzberg said the clarity of HDNet will be put to good use, calling the package a "great way to connect with alumni and fans that follow you."
It "may even help with recruiting to be able to see Penn athletes on a great network like DIRECTV," she added
Shultzberg also noted the importance of the coverage for the Penn's women's team.
"Women aren't on TV as much, so this may be a good thing for them," Shultzberg said.
"In the past six to seven years, women's basketball has come a long way in the media and the fact that an Ivy League team is getting on [national television] proves that," women's basketball coach Kelly Greenberg said.
Greenberg added that the broadcasts would be a "big plus" in terms of recruiting "because we recruit across the country."
On the men's side, Coach Fran Dunphy characterized the package as a type of "advertising," saying that the team was looking for "as much exposure as we can get."
Over 10 million viewers will be able to watch the Ivy games on channel 199 with HD-capable TV sets and without additional charge on channel 205, CNN/SI, if they have DIRECTV.
