[June 19, 2013] Cox cable wants to air 4 ODU football games this fall Tweet NORFOLK, Jun 19, 2013 (The Virginian-Pilot - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Cox Communications officials say they hope to air at least four Old Dominion football games this fall, including two home games that the cable provider would produce with its facilities. The dominant provider of cable TV in South Hampton Roads, Cox is negotiating with Conference USA and Fox College Sports to broadcast games on Aug. 31 at East Carolina and at home on Nov. 16 against UNC Charlotte. Fox College Sports plans to televise both games regionally as part its Conference USA TV package, but the network isn't carried by Cox. "We want to get those games on the air," said Betty Jo Roberts, vice president for field marketing for Cox Communications Virginia. She said Cox needs permission from Fox College Sports to air the games. Roberts said Cox also hopes to televise two additional home games locally, but she declined to say which. ODU has sold out all 29 home football games it has played, and school officials expect to sell out the 20,068-seat Foreman Field for all six home games this season. "ODU is one of our critical partners in the community," Roberts said. "We've got our production team looking into it. Hopefully we'll be able to announce what we'll carry with ODU in about 30 days." It appears that as many as seven of ODU's 12 games this season will be broadcast. The Sept. 7 game at Maryland will be available on ESPN3, a channel ESPN streams via the Internet. Contests at Pittsburgh on Oct. 19 and at North Carolina on Nov. 23 will also likely be televised, athletic director Wood Selig said recently. Cox is a major corporate sponsor for ODU and has televised football, men's and women's basketball and baseball games in recent years. Cox also carries an on-demand channel on which cable subscribers can watch taped games, coaches shows and other ODU sports programming. Roberts said no decision has been made on whether Cox will carry Fox College Sports. Although she said demand is a major factor in determining whether to carry any sports network, so is cost, which is passed on to subscribers. "Sports programming is increasingly expensive," Roberts said. Cox will carry a majority of C-USA football and men's and women's basketball games to be televised in 2013-14 on the CBS Sports Network and Fox Sports 1, a new channel that becomes available on Aug. 17. However, some ODU men's and women's basketball and other sports contests likely will land on Fox College Sports. Cox provides cable service to 329,688 of the more than 709,000 television households in Hampton Roads, according to the firm of SNL Kagan. Cable providers Verizon (131,771 subscribers), DirecTV (80,711) and Charter Communications (42,188) carry Fox College Sports. Once a TV schedule is announced for other sports on Fox College Sports, "our plan will be to work with ODU and the conference to determine what games are most appropriate to air to meet the demands of the community," Roberts said. Harry Minium, 757-446-2371, [email protected] ___ (c)2013 The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) Visit The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.) at pilotonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]