K5, UH reach three-year TV deal for home games
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
An official announcement is expected this week after details are finalized.
As part of the agreement, K5, entering the final month of a five-year, $6.2 million contract with UH, will offer eight live telecasts of Warrior home football games on a pay-per-view basis this coming season. (ESPN has the rights to the Nov. 30 UH-Alabama game.)
In the past, K5's telecasts of UH home football games were shown delayed on O'ahu, but live on the Neighbor Islands.
Although Neighbor Island viewers no longer will receive free live telecasts of UH home football games, their pay-per-view fee will be smaller than the one offered to O'ahu residents. K5 also will continue to show a free same-night delayed telecast of UH home football games, beginning at 10 p.m.
While there had been talk of expanding the pay-per-view package to other UH sports, it appears, for at least this academic year, the deal will be limited to home football games. The Warriors' five road games this year — two of which will be televised on ESPN — will be free and live.
KHNL-News 8 and then its sister station, K5, which was created 10 years ago, have owned the television rights to UH sports since 1984.
The expiring contract is the largest such deal between a university and local television station in the country.
K5, which is paying $1.3 million in rights fees this academic year, shows more than 120 UH telecasts each year.
The current contract allowed K5 an exclusive 30-day window to negotiate an extension. Because talks were progressing and no other entity expressed an interest in bidding for the UH television rights, the window was expanded to more than two months. Discussions were lengthy because they involved a third party — Oceanic Cable, which has agreed to handle the pay-per-view transmission.
While K5 will pay a smaller rights fee for the three-year extension, UH expects to make up the difference with the pay-per-view revenue.
It is not known if K5 will televise weekly shows for UH coaches. The past academic year, the coaches' shows aired on public television. The coaches used to be paid separately for appearing on their shows, but now that money is included as part of the base pay they receive from the university.
