Cable company to check on pirating of UH game
By Stephen Tsai and Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writers
Private investigators have been hired to check on commercial businesses pirating the live telecast of tonight's football game between Hawai'i and Eastern Illinois at Aloha Stadium.
K5 president John Fink said Oceanic-Time Warner Cable of Hawai'i, which is in charge of the transmission, is prepared to file criminal complaints against violators.
The live telecast, produced by K5, is available on a pay-per-view basis across the Islands. Viewers need a special digital box from Oceanic to legally receive the telecast.
But because the game will be shown live in parts of the Mainland, the telecast also will be transmitted by satellite. Businesses and homes with descramblers and satellite dishes might be able to pirate the signal, Fink said.
He said if the pirating cannot be controlled, the telecast will be further scrambled, preventing friends and family of UH players from watching the games on the Mainland.
"That would be sad, if it came to that," he said.
• For the troops: UH football telecasts will be available to 800,000 American troops worldwide through the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services, UH and K5 officials said yesterday.
AFRTS is available at U.S. embassies and military bases in 178 countries.
UH telecasts also are available to four million households in Southern California through Fox Sports West2; 1.7 million households, including in Atlanta and St. Louis, through Fox Digital; and more than 500,000 households in Oregon through Action Sports Network.
Tape-delayed telecasts will be available in American Samoa.
"This is an opportunity to provide the university with some exposure," Fink said.
• Count it: A spokesman for the Ohio Valley Conference said UH would be able to count a victory over Division I-AA Eastern Illinois toward the seven victories the Warriors need for bowl eligibility.
Because UH plays a 13-game season, it must win seven games to qualify for the inaugural ConAgra Foods Hawai'i Bowl on Christmas Day.
Under NCAA rules, schools may count one victory over an I-AA team every four years toward their bowl total under certain circumstances. The I-AA team must award the average equivalent of 60 scholarships annually over a three-year period as certified by their conference. The OVC said the Panthers meet that requirement.
A I-AA team may award a maximum of 63 each season. A I-A team, such as UH, may award as many as 85.
• Head games: Eastern Illinois is using the new Revolution helmet, which has extra padding, a higher crown and extended side paneling.
The National Football League commissioned a five-year study on head trauma that led to the creation of the new helmet.
Eastern Illinois officials said that while their players had not incurred an unusually high number of concussions with the old helmets, they were convinced the new helmets were more effective and a worthwhile investment.
