Pittsburgh Panthers AD Pederson Clarifies PantherVision

Pitt Panthers Television debuted today. It will be no cash cow for Pitt athletics.

Fans in the Pittsburgh area eagerly support Pitt football and basketball on TV. The Pitt-Utah broadcast drew about a third of the viewers the Steelers exhibition game drew. Given the absolute devotion of Western PA fans to the black and gold, Pitt officials were quite pleased with the viewership.

For those sports fans who have followed the Panthers on Fox Sports Pittsburgh, the new programming service seems like a replica of the off-game shows and analysis presented there but with live and re-broadcasts of Panther games.

Pitt fans will pay extra for the service. Pitt Panthers Television is not part of Comcast's basic cable coverage. Chris Ferris, associate AD, hopes it will eventually make its way to the basic tier.

Pederson commented that other Big East members, such as Connecticut and Syracuse, are engaging with cable companies in their areas to provide similar coverage.

Pitt Panthers TV will give fans the following kinds of programming:

• Re-broadcasts of all Pitt football games starting with Pitt-Miami this week.

• Pre-and postgame shows.

• Live broadcasts of Pitt men's basketball games—most likely November and December non-conference games.

• Pitt women's basketball games—both live and re-broadcasts.  

• Pitt volleyball games.

• Pitt Olympic sports programming.

• Original programming and analysis.

• Dave Wannstedt's weekly news conference.

Pederson said fans will see the PantherVision version of the football game re-broadcasts providing a new angle on the games.

With Penn State and its money-spewing Big Ten network all around Pitt's home base in Western PA, Pitt fans want to know, "Where's the Beef?"

Pederson said Pitt will make money by selling advertisements and generating sponsorships.

Pitt Panthers Television will be a slow way to make a buck but Pitt is thrilled to gain additional exposure in their home base.

Pitt is one of three Big East schools involved in cable TV alliance.

Conference fans have the following questions for the league's office in Providence:

• Was Big East commissioner John Marinatto involved in the development of these plans?

• How will individual conference member's cable TV deals affect Paul Tagliabue's big plans to launch ESPN's Big East TV network?

• Why won't Marinatto keep fans posted on all of his plans to generate more television revenue for the conference?