“We are thrilled and excited to form a partnership with Cablevision’s Optimum Local, which will give Seawolves Athletics unparalleled exposure in 2011-12,” Fiore said. “Stony Brook Athletics is synonymous with Long Island, and we are excited to deliver our talented teams to our fans across Nassau and Suffolk County. We have been focused on casting a wider net to connect with Seawolves fans and build our athletic brand, especially among our local community. This partnership demonstrates such a commitment.”
Stony Brook will produce its own broadcasts for men’s and women’s basketball and will use Internet technology to feed the production to Cablevision, airing on Channel 118, which is available to all Cablevision cable television customers across Long Island.
Cablevision, home of iO TV digital cable, Optimum Online and Optimum Voice, is Long Island’s largest telecommunications provider. Cablevision has a long history of providing locally relevant content to Long Island customers for more than 30 years most notably through News 12 Long Island, News 12 Traffic & Weather, MSG Varsity and its Local Programming efforts. The partnership with Stony Brook Athletics is just another example of Cablevision’s ongoing commitment to bring the best and most comprehensive local programming to its customers.
The first of the 11 basketball games will air on Cablevision’s Optimum Local Channel 118 on Wednesday, Dec. 7 when the men’s basketball team hosts Fairleigh Dickinson at Pritchard Gymnasium at 7 p.m. The first women’s basketball game will air the next day, Dec. 8, when the Seawolves play LIU at 7 p.m. On the call will be Carl Reuter and Rob Pavinelli, who both have a long history of calling Long Island sports and are current MSG Varsity broadcasters. Reuter previously served as the host of the weekly television show The Stony Brook Sports Report, and Pavinelli is the former head coach of the St. Dominic’s High School boys basketball team in Oyster Bay.
Stony Brook’s agreement with Cablevision will supplement what is already a vast Seawolves television package. Through affiliations with the America East and Big South conferences, at least 20 Seawolves football and men’s basketball games will be aired during the 2011-12 season, including at least two broadcasts on the ESPN family of networks, with the possibility of adding more. The full Stony Brook basketball television schedule will be released at a later date.
For more information on Stony Brook Athletics, please visit GoSeawolves.org and follow the Seawolves on Twitter at SBAthletics.
