Thursday, August 30, 2012

Big Sky TV Launches Tonight

[OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE]
The Big Sky Conference and America ONE Sports recently agreed to a three-year contract extension, allowing fans and alumni to enjoy free video streams of most football, volleyball and men’s and women’s basketball games held in Big Sky venues.  The new contract also calls for events to be available through iOS and Android mobile devices free of charge. 

With the additions of North Dakota and Southern Utah as full members, and Cal Poly and UC Davis as football affiliate members, Big Sky TV will feature more events than ever.

“America ONE Sports has done a tremendous job distributing our video stream feeds for the last three years,’’ said Big Sky Conference assistant commissioner for media relations Jon Kasper. “Now, America ONE and the league are taking Big Sky TV mobile, something we think fans will appreciate.’’

Big Sky TV is entering its seventh season of service, and fourth with America ONE Sports. Through the years, Big Sky TV has brought thousands of events live and free of charge to computers, giving fans access to events that were previously unavailable to be seen. Fans can begin creating new accounts effective immediately.

“Big Sky TV represents the best of college sports and its members’ fans love their teams,” said Bruce Levine, America ONE Sports Director of Programming “We are extremely pleased to continue our association with the Big Sky Conference and for our part in keeping their fans connected with their favorite teams.”

In order to view games, viewers will need to log on to www.bigskytv.org , and create an account. Fans will then need to click on the Big Sky All-Access Pass to receive access to all events during the season. PC viewers also need to have the One Vision Plugin and Adobe Flash installed on their computers. Accounts created last season will work in 2012-13, however fans will need to make sure to click on this year’s Big Sky All-Access Pass.

Mobile viewing through iOS devices is available immediately. The Android version won’t be available until next week.

This season’s schedule of more than 500 events starts Thursday with football action. At 7 p.m. Central, North Dakota takes on South Dakota Mines from the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, N.D. At 7 p.m. Mountain, two-time co-Big Sky champion and fourth-ranked Montana State opens its season against Chadron State. At 7 p.m. Pacific, UC Davis takes on Azusa Pacific.

On Friday, volleyball makes its debut on Big Sky TV. North Dakota, Northern Colorado and Sacramento State are all hosting tournaments this weekend.

North Dakota opens against South Dakota at 7 p.m. Central, while defending Big Sky champion Northern Colorado takes on Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Mountain. At 6:30 p.m. Pacific, Sacramento State battles Boise State.

On Saturday, North Dakota plays at 1 p.m. and at 7 p.m. Central. Northern Colorado hits the court at Noon Mountain and 7 p.m. Mountain. Sacramento State plays at 1 p.m. Pacific, and again at 7:30 p.m. Pacific.

Saturday’s football slate includes two games. At 4 p.m. Pacific, Cal Poly welcomes San Diego to San Luis Obispo. At 5 p.m. Mountain, Portland State takes on NAIA power Carroll College at JELD-Wen Field. Montana’s home game against South Dakota will not be available on Big Sky TV, only at gogriz.com.

The 2012 football season will feature 12 games televised by ROOT SPORTS. Those games will not be available on Big Sky TV, but will be widely available across the nation in high definition on DirecTV and Dish Network, as well as through many cable providers in the Big Sky footprint.

In all more than 50 games will be video streamed on Big Sky TV.