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Thursday, July 12, 2001
Local TV station wants to air Isles
Channel 21 seeking funds to show men’s home games
By Darrin Scheid
Caller-Times

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball games might hit the television airwaves by next season.
   Local entrepreneurs Don Gillis and Fred Hoffman, who currently operate Channel 21 and two other local cable stations, want to broadcast every Islanders home game live on 21, then expand within the next few years to cover other A&M-CC teams and other local sporting events.
   TM Adgroup co-owner Julie Terrell said her company has agreed to market the broadcasts and sell sponsorship packages to pay for the production.
   Terrell said United Video has been chosen as the show's producer.
   By September, Terrell and Gillis said the three companies trying to pull this project together will know whether they will have enough sponsorship money to pay for airing the games. A&M-CC begins the season in November and likely will play about 14 home games at Memorial Coliseum.
   "There isn't a whole lot of risk involved in this because nobody in this deal is planning to make any money on it," Terrell said. "We think growth of the university and its sports teams will be good for this town. There are a lot of people who have worked very hard to get this going, and it will come down to selling sponsorships for it. If we can't sell the sponsorships, it won't happen. We're hoping that businesses in this town are committed to the university and its athletics programs."
   Hoffman, a former KIII engineer, and Gillis, a former KIII sales manager, got Channel 21 off the ground last April.
   Hoffman and Gillis, who also operate UPN affiliate KTOV and Pax station KXPX, want Channel 21 to be the future home of sporting and movie entertainment in Corpus Christi. Channel 21 is currently showing movies supplied by the American Independent Network. Gillis said they recently purchased a truck capable of broadcasting live events.
   The signal will produce about 150,000 watts of power and make the games available for viewers in more than a 40-mile radius.
   "We'd like to show movies and sports, and with sports, we'd like to start with Islanders men's basketball," he said. "We'd like to eventually do live coverage of the women's team, the other sports teams at the university, and expand from there. There is something we feel isn't available to Corpus Christi residents, and that's live local sports coverage. We think this could be a boost for us and a big boost for the Islanders."
   Julie Ostermann, assistant athletic director at A&M-CC who has been part of the project planning, said the thought of having 14 games on television is overwhelming.
   "Just a few games on local television would be great for our program," Ostermann said. "To think that we could potential get up to 14 televised, that's remarkable for a third-year program in terms of exposure. I think, in this town, we have that kind of corporate backing to make it happen."
   The Islanders have been on television before for road games, and all their home and road games are broadcast live on radio station KEYS 1440 AM.
   Last season's game against Texas was on Fox Sports Net in the southwest region. Two seasons ago, a game against Iowa State was televised nationally on cable station ESPN2. Road games last season against BYU and San Diego State also were televised regionally, but not available in the Corpus Christi area.
   Although these televised games would be local, Arrow said any time he tells a recruit that games will be on television, it's a bonus.
   "It's definitely something else we can tell potential players," Arrow said. "It also gives people a chance to see our games who have maybe never seen one in person, and that's a plus. As long as it doesn't hurt our actual home attendance, which I don't think it should, then I'm all for it. It's a way to get us out there to the public."


Contact Darrin Scheid at 886-3747 or scheidd@caller.com

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