CBS acquires College Sports digital media company

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Dec 1, 2005

NEW YORK

The CBS television network organization has acquired CSTV Networks Inc., a leading digital media company devoted exclusively to college athletics. The announcement was made in early November by Leslie Moonves, chairman of CBS and co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom Inc.

According to officials, CBS paid $325 million for CSTV, gaining control of the network's various programming platforms. The acquisition includes CSTV.com, which operates nearly 250 official athletic Web sites, and CSTV All Access, an online and pay-per-view subscription service providing live audio and video of more than 6,000 events annually. CSTV also runs College Sports TV, televising regular-season and championship events for 30 men's and women's college sports, as well as satellite television and radio, in-flight entertainment and wireless networks.

"I am very excited about this acquisition, which brings a new dimension to our efforts in sports and the digital space as well," Moonves says. "College athletics, and the online community it generates, represent one of the biggest sectors in sports television, and CSTV has made tremendous strides in capturing this market."

Moonves adds that the new collegiate sports business will be fully integrated with the existing operations at CBS Sports and CBS Digital Media. With this acquisition, CBS Corp. will have a larger sports Web audience than any other online medium--19 million users.

"In bringing our operations under one roof, our presence in the college sports community grows even stronger, and the programming possibilities on national cable, regional sports networks and the Internet are very exciting indeed," Moonves says.