Campus Clips: Big Ten Network Prez Defends Penn State Coverage; Patriot League All-Access Streams Men’s Soccer Finals

Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman

The journalistic ethics behind a team- or league-owned network become murky in times of extreme controversy. Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman responded to critisms issued in Tuesday’s USA Today that the network was “tiptoeing around the scandal” surrounding the Penn State sexual abuse case and the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Silverman said he has never gotten a call from a member school on any topic the network has covered. He added that he is pleased with BTN’s coverage stating, “I think you will see our guys are giving fully candid, true views that frankly are not often times making the conference look the way we would prefer to make them look. But we are going to cover this and do it fairly and from a credible standpoint…”

…NCAA President Mark Emmert released a short statement on Thursday regarding the ongoing Penn State scandal stating that the NCAA was monitoring the situation and will “defer in the immediate term to law enforcement officials.” In the wake of sexual abuse allegations against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, Paterno and university president Graham Spanier were fired on Wednesday night…

…Patriot League All Access will offer live streaming coverage of this weekend’s men’s soccer championship in Washington D.C. The program schedule will include expanded coverage including multi-camera availability and postgame interviews with head coaches. The Patriot League All-Access multimedia player features expanded video navigation controls and advanced search functions to help you get the content you crave. An on-page video player interface is compatible with Adobe Flash-enabled web browsers and offers a full-screen mode…

…The Atlantic 10 Conference will have 142 men’s basketball games televised during the 2011-12 season on national, regional and local television affiliates. There will be 73 total games broadcast on the Atlantic 10’s television partners CBS Sports and ESPN and an additional 69 games on regional and local affiliates. There will be 28 different outlets carrying the Atlantic 10 television package…

…The Northeast Conference announced a 23-game television schedule for the upcoming basketball season which includes the league’s inaugural HD broadcasts and an expanded national package. The package is comprised of 18 men’s games and five women’s contests, including four men/women doubleheaders. The Conference will receive ten prime time exposures and four NEC Tournament games are on tap in March. There are five national broadcasts scheduled on the ESPN family of networks. The lineup also features 18 regionally produced games, of which 16 will air in high-definition. Longtime partner Madison Square Garden Network (MSG) will serve as the NEC’s flagship network, with games also airing on Fox College Sports (FCS), Root Sports (Pittsburgh), Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), Cox Sports (CT/RI) and WWCP Fox 8 (Altoona/Johnstown)…

…The Big South Conference also unveiled its men’s basketball television package which will feature eight live regular-season conference games exclusively on League TV partners Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and ESPN3.  The eight are part of a total of 54 games involving the Big South that will be broadcast this season, beginning with tonight’s Liberty at Texas A&M contest on FS Southwest…

…YES Network will televise the 134th football meeting between Ivy League rivals Princeton and Yale on Saturday at Saturday at noon.