Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest Athletics News
|
Wake Forest, Yahoo! Sports To Offer Live Audio Internet Package
Aug. 18, 2003 The Wake Forest ISP Sports Network has reached an agreement with Yahoo! Sports to be part of a national network of real-time sports programming on the Internet beginning with the 2003 football season that will generate revenues for the athletic program. Demon Deacon football, men??s and women??s basketball, and baseball broadcasts, as well as the ??Jim Grobe Show?? and ??Skip Prosser Show?? will now be available via the university??s official athletic website, www.wakeforestsports.com, on a subscription basis. By logging on to wakeforestsports.com, alumni and fans across the country will be able to support WFU Athletics by selecting one of two subscription options provided by Yahoo! Sports. A portion of all revenue from each subscription goes directly to the school??s athletic department. Listeners may subscribe to Deacon programming (??School Pass??) on a monthly basis ($4.95) or at a reduced rate on an annual basis ($29.95). Programming from nearly 40 other major colleges (??College Pack??) will also be offered for a monthly ($9.95) or yearly fee ($59.95). This package allows listeners to access all college broadcasts from all schools participating in the program. In addition to Wake Forest, schools such as Alabama, Arizona State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech have committed to participate. Free audio service on the Internet is no longer available through dependable providers such as Yahoo,?? Bill Merrifield, general manager of the ISP Sports Wake Forest staff, says. ??We were fortunate in being able to have free service this past year when more than 50 athletic programs and many professional organizations were already using a subscription plan. The cost to continue to provide this service would have been in the thousands of dollars and we feel that this plan is a fair one to the consumer in that the pricing is certainly affordable and there are choices available. We will evaluate the plan after the 2003-2004 season but are confident that this is the best solution at this time.?? Wake Forest revenues will be dependent on the number of subscribers to Demon Deacon programming, as well as the number of total listeners and amount of listening time for WFU sports by all subscribers, even those who may initially enroll via a site other than the school??s website. FAQ's Why the subscription plan? The landscape of the Internet has evolved in many ways as the medium has grown and become a part of millions of households. Internet service providers and companies that provide specialty services on the Internet (such as audio & video streaming) have found that the current advertising marketplace will not support continued free services. In order for such services to continue to be provided, companies must have a means of financially supporting their technology. Professional sports such as Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, as well as sports entities such as NASCAR, have already gone to a pay-to-listen model. Some collegiate athletic programs also chose this direction a year ago. It is not a surprise that we, too, must now take this step in order to maintain the level of dependable quality service that our fans have become accustomed to enjoying. Why have you selected Yahoo as your partner in this endeavor? Yahoo??s experience in Internet service is second to none. The company has also been a loyal and valued partner of Learfield/ISP Sports in the area of audio streaming the past three years. In fact, last year when other collegiate athletic programs first decided to use a pay-to-listen model, Yahoo was willing to continue to provide streaming for our schools at no cost in order to be better prepared to make this changeover at this time. Yahoo brings vast experience in this industry and will be a reliable and cooperative partner for our fans.
What programming will be included? The same programming that has been provided in the past will be included in the subscription package. In most instances, this includes game broadcasts for football, men??s basketball, women??s basketball and baseball. Call-in shows featuring the football and men??s basketball head coaches will also be offered, if they are a standard part of the Learfield/ISP Sports network programming. Additional selected audio features such as news conferences could be included as made available by the university. Who receives the revenues? Yahoo, Learfield/ISP Sports and the university athletic programs involved in the pay-to-listen model will share in all revenues received from all subscribers and listeners. The percentage of payment to Learfield/ISP and the universities will be dependent upon three factors: (A) the number of subscribers who enlist at each university??s website; (B) the number of times that all subscribers access that university??s programming; (C) the amount of time that all subscribers spend listening to the programming. This way the university will benefit from both the quantity of subscribers that it brings into the program (through its website), as well as by the interest in its programming as measured by all listeners, even those who may not initially sign up via the university??s website.
What options are available to a subscriber? Subscribers may subscribe to their favorite team??s programming on the ??School Pass?? package on a monthly or annual basis. This is intended to satisfy the fan who may be interested in only one sport (i.e., football for three months) as well as the fan who wants to receive all programming available. The annual subscription cost will involve a savings over a month-by-month subscription. Each subscriber will also be able to add the overall ??College Pack?? option which will include nearly 40 additional major college athletic programs for a monthly or annual fee.
How will users know how to find my school content? There should be little change in this area. The school content will be accessible primarily through the official athletic website, but will also be promoted by Yahoo more extensively than in the past.
Is there any special software required for users to access the content? No. All school broadcast content will be available in the Windows Media format, which is the same format that was used on Yahoo this past school year and is the most widely available streaming format. If any users do not have this software already installed on their computer, Yahoo provides a Media Helper that allows foolproof installation of the necessary software at no charge. |