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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Saturday, May 7, 2005

Two submit bids for UH TV rights

By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

KHNL/KFVE and Oceanic Time Warner Cable were the only companies to bid for the television rights to University of Hawai'i sports for the next three years.

KHNL and its sister station, KFVE, have held the rights for 22 years, an arrangement set to expire on June 30.

After failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension last month, UH athletic director Herman Frazier announced the school would open bidding to "all interested parties."

UH sent requests for proposals to each of Hawai'i's local television companies.

KHNL/ KFVE and Oceanic were the only companies to submit bids by yesterday's 3 p.m. deadline.

UH has not set a timetable for awarding the rights.

John Fink

"We'll see what happens," said John Fink, vice president and general manager of KHNL and KFVE. "We've had a great partnership with UH for 22 years, and we hope to continue it with UH and the UH fans."

Oceanic, which generates revenue from advertisers and subscribers, had long been interested. Oceanic has made arrangements to purchase a production truck complete with state-of-the-art digital replay machines.

"We're very positive about it," said Mitzi Lehano, Oceanic's vice president of programming.

KHNL/KFVE paid $1.3 million for the rights in 2002-03. The following academic year, the fee dropped to $700,000 annually when the sides agreed to create a pay-per-view package for UH football telecasts.

Fink and Lehano declined to disclose the amounts of their bids.

Under mandatory terms of the proposal, Oceanic would need to find a broadcast partner or purchase a station. One of the requirements is a telecast must be "available on an over-the-air channel."

There are nine over-the-air channels in Hawai'i, including KHNL and KFVE. It would take several months and FCC approval to receive a license to create an over-the-air channel.

KHON and KGMB, both owned by Emmis, were believed to be an interested partner. But Rick Blangiardi, general manager of KHON and KGMB, said, "We were not part of any formal submission."

He also said the requirement to televise 70 events annually was too much for Fox-affiliate KHON and CBS-affiliate KGMB.

Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.