In 2011-12, Southern Conference sports fans will have more televised and digital content available to them than ever before across multiple platforms.
The SoCon has agreements in place with public television stations in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee to carry an eight-game football package from October 1 through November 19. Certain markets in Virginia, northern Alabama and northern Florida will also have access to the games on public television. Additionally, fans in central Alabama will be able to watch on WABM-TV which serves the Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Anniston market. In all, nearly 13 million households will receive these events.
Plans for a 13-game package of regular-season and tournament games for men's and women's basketball are currently being negotiated and will be announced in the near future.
The conference has entered into a new arrangement with ESPN to have approximately 50 events produced for ESPN3.com, the network's increasingly popular broadband channel. ESPN3.com is available in more than 70 million households on computers, tablets and smart phones. It is also delivered to television monitors via Xbox 360 gaming consoles in more than 25 million households.
The league's televised football and basketball packages will be available on ESPN3.com on a live basis. In addition, the SoCon will be producing 25-30 events exclusively for ESPN3.com. These events will include football, regular-season and tournament men's basketball action, weekly regular-season women's basketball, and conference championship contests in men's soccer, volleyball, women's soccer, softball and baseball.
"The agreement with ESPN marks a significant step for the Southern Conference," said Commissioner John Iamarino. "We have never had as many events available to as wide an audience. With the access and availability of digital content on computers, gaming consoles, tablets and smart phones, more SoCon fans than ever before will be able to watch our events."
Tournament competition in all team sports, combined with highlight features for select individual sports, will again be available on the SoCon TV section of the conference's website. The big change for 2011-12 is that all this content will be delivered free to the user.
"As a service to our fans, we have increased the amount of content, increased the variety of ways you can watch the SoCon, and removed all fees," said Iamarino.
The conference's marketing/media partner is Atlanta-based Career Sports & Entertainment (CSE).
WHERE TO WATCH SOCON TV NETWORK
2011 Southern Conference Football Telecast Schedule
Date Teams Time Network
Oct. 1 Appalachian State at Wofford 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Oct. 8 Chattanooga at Georgia Southern 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Oct. 15 Furman at Georgia Southern 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Oct. 22 Chattanooga at Elon 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Oct. 29 Georgia Southern at Appalachian State 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Nov. 5 Wofford at Western Carolina 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Nov. 12 Samford at Citadel 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
Nov. 19 Appalachian State at Elon 3:00 p.m. SoCon Network/ESPN3
