Stations lining up
for UH’s TV rights

KHNL/KFVE won’t give up
the contract without a fight

The long run of the "Home Team" might not be over quite yet.

KHNL/KFVE (Channels 8 and 5) is still in the hunt for a contract extension to the TV rights for University of Hawaii sports. KHNL/KFVE has held the rights the past 22 years, but is expected to be challenged by Oceanic Time Warner and Emmis Communications.

The current contract ends June 30. KHNL/KFVE's exclusive negotiating period ended Feb. 28, but the parties are continuing to meet.

"We're still in negotiations with UH," KHNL/KFVE general manager and vice president John Fink said Friday. "Obviously we'd like to continue and we're cautiously optimistic."

KHNL/KFVE paid $700,000 a year for the rights in its current 3-year deal. UH might be able to command twice that amount this time around because of the competition for the bid. That doesn't mean KHNL/KFVE is out of the picture, and it could become involved in a partnership.

UH athletic director Herman Frazier has said in the past the rights might be shared this time around. On Friday, Frazier declined to comment, other than the following statement:

"Even though the exclusive negotiating window has expired, we will continue to have discussions with KHNL/KFVE about a possible extension of our television relationship. Meanwhile, other interested parties are free to contact us about their potential interest.

"We will work closely with UH legal counsel to ensure that both our discussions with KHNL/KFVE and other interested parties are fair and equitable. In the end, we will make the decision that is in the best interest of UH and the athletics department."

The "other interested parties" cannot submit official bids unless they get a request for proposal from UH, outlining what the school is looking for.

Oceanic Time Warner President Nate Smith said he left a message for Frazier on Friday to get a status update.

"We know roughly how we'd like to bid. But when we get that (an RFP), we'll know more," Smith said.

Oceanic appears to be in position to put forth a winning financial bid.

"We're prepared to make a significant investment," Smith said.

UH might prefer a partnership, though, since KHNL/KFVE has more experience televising UH events. The bigger a component pay-per-view is in any new deal, the bigger the involvement likely will be for Oceanic. UH, which introduced pay-per-view for football telecasts (involving Oceanic) in the current contract, might want it for other sports in the new package.

"There are any number of permutations that could come down. We don't have any predisposed position and we think we bring a lot to the table," Smith said. "We certainly don't reject out of hand a relationship with a broadcaster. The question is what does the broadcaster bring to the table."

Emmis Communications' Rick Blangiardi is general manager of both KHON (Channel 2) and KGMB (Channel 9). Some wouldn't be surprised if he dons a third hat and puts in a bid for UH sports; he was the first to broadcast them on a regular basis, in 1984 on KHNL's precursor, KIKU (Channel 13).

"We're waiting to see what the university is going to do, like everyone else," Blangiardi said. "It all depends on what UH puts out there. They may be interested in dividing it up some. We're very interested in UH sports. We always have been and always will be."

Smith addressed the concern that some viewers won't be able to see games on cable because of where they live.

"I think I can say that 99.9 percent of the people who are interested can get it from our cable. We do have pockets on all the islands we don't reach, just as there are pockets that (KHNL/KFVE) doesn't reach. The number of people who can't get it is pretty small and those are people who have chosen to live far away from others."

Last month, UH announced a 3-year extension of its radio deal with KKEA-1420 for more than $1 million over the length of the contract.