NCAA PLAYOFF GAME TO AIR LIVE ON WEST LIBERTY TELEVISION
Saturday’s NCAA Division II playoff game between West Liberty and Edinboro will be remembered as one of the biggest days in more than eight decades of Hilltopper football.
It will also mark a major milestone for West Liberty Television.
The NCAA has granted live television broadcast rights for Saturday’s game to West Liberty Television (WLTV-14), which is available to more than 50,000 Comcast cable subscribers in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. The game telecast will also be streamed live worldwide at WLTVOnline.com.
Reid Amos, Executive Director of Communications for the university, also announced that the West Liberty Television production of Saturday’s game will be picked up by FSN Pittsburgh for a prime-time tape-delay showing from 7-10 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24.
“Having the chance to produce an NCAA Division II playoff telecast is an outstanding opportunity for our university, West Liberty Television and our excellent WLTV student crew,” Amos said. “Sending a West Liberty Television production of Hilltopper football out to more than 2 million homes on FSN Pittsburgh is a momentous event for our broadcast program.”
FSN Pittsburgh, the television home of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Pittsburgh Pirates, is available in 2.3 million cable homes in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. It is also included in extended cable sports packages nationwide.
In the local area, FSN Pittsburgh is located on Wheeling Comcast Cable Channel 29, DirecTV Channel 659 and Dish Network Channel 428.
Saturday’s pre-game show on the West Liberty Sports Network will go on the air at 11:35 a.m. with kickoff set for noon. Amos, the “Voice of the Hilltoppers,” will call the play-by-play with Hilltopper Associate Athletic Director/Women’s Basketball Coach Lynn Ullom providing the color commentary.
The entire broadcast production crew is composed of West Liberty University students, with the majority enrolled in the university’s Broadcasting and Digital Media Design sequences. The production crew works under the guidance of Amos and Director of Media Arts Operations Theresa Gretchen.
“I’m so proud to see our students rewarded for the commitment they’ve made in the two years since West Liberty Television went on the air,” Gretchen said. “Having their work show up in 2.3 million cable homes is something you don’t see in many college or university programs.”