Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network

Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network
TypeDigital broadcast television network/syndication service
Country
United States
AvailabilityBowling Green, Kentucky and Louisville, Kentucky media markets
OwnerWestern Kentucky University
Launch date
1993 (as Hilltoppers Television Network)[1]
Picture format
SDTV 480i (1993–2015)
HDTV 1080i (2015–present)
Official website
www.wkusports.com

The Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) is a viewer-supported, student-run, and seasonal syndicated programming service based in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It features live broadcasts of men's and women's college basketball events of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, the sporting team representing Western Kentucky University. The institution is currently a member of Conference USA.

History

Founded in 1993 as the Hilltopper Television Network, games broadcast over the network were broadcast over the university's PBS member station WKYU-TV, and fed via satellite to WBNA-TV in Louisville, and also fed to three other television stations, and onto two cable systems in central and northern Kentucky [1]

The network was renamed as the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network (HSSN) in late 2000.[2] The HSSN, who works through a partnership with Western Kentucky University, the WKU Athletic Department, and WKYU-TV, has helped the Hilltoppers make over 150 television appearances since 2010.[3] While WKYU-TV serves as the flagship station, Louisville-based independent station WBNA (formerly an Ion Television affiliate) serves as an affiliate to make WKU Basketball games available in the Louisville metropolitan area.[4][5]

While a member of the Sun Belt Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, some WKU Basketball games aired on WKYU-TV were syndicated by Creative Sports (later ESPN Regional Television) during the 1990s and 2000s. Sometimes, during the 1990s and 2000s, the HSSN package competed with Jefferson Pilot/Lincoln Financial Media (now Raycom Sports) broadcasts of Southeastern Conference sporting events and ESPN Plus-operated SEC TV on ABC affiliate WBKO, who previously broadcast select WKU road games on a tape-delayed basis alongside the live syndicated SEC games before the network was formed.[1]

Game broadcasts

The HSSN's basketball broadcasts are mainly an audio simulcast of game broadcasts of the Hilltoppers Sports Radio Network, with the live video being simulcast from the ESPN+ streaming service, Fox College Sports, who broadcast most of WKU's games nationally via satellite and/or cable television, some of which most major cable and satellite providers offered as part of an out-of-market sports package, was the previous regional broadcaster for select WKU games until the end of the 2017-18 season.[6]

WKYU-TV programs HSSN broadcasts of WKU basketball from early December to early March.[7] Historically, the HSSN broadcast package mostly Western Kentucky Hilltoppers men's basketball games, but its season package often included some women's basketball games as well. In 2015, the HSSN purchased a $2 million fully-high-definition mobile production facility, making the game broadcasts available in full 16:9 high definition. From 2014 until 2023, WKYU-TV also broadcast WKU-involved matches broadcast by the American Sports Network and its successor, Stadium, an ad hoc syndication service owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns Nashville Fox affiliate WZTV and MyNetworkTV affiliate WUXP-TV, that can be received over-the-air in Bowling Green.

Affiliates

Current

DMA Station[3][7][8] Channel (RF) Affiliation Notes
Bowling Green WKYU-TV 24.1 (18.1) PBS Flagship station of HSSN; also has cable coverage in the north-central fringes of the Nashville, Tennessee market. See WKYU-TV article for more information.[9]
Louisville WBNA 21.1 (8.1) Independent

Former

DMA Station Channel (RF) Years of affiliation Notes
Hopkinsville WKAG-CA[1][10][11] 43 2001-200? Defunct as of 2011
Campbellsville, Kentucky WGRB 34 1993-9?
Goldvein, Virginia WNVT 53 1993-9? Charter affiliate; now licensed to Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia
East Bernstadt/London, Kentucky WOBZ-LD[12] 9 2000-200? Now Richmond, Kentucky-licensed WBON-LD
Louisville W50CI-D 8.1 (50.1) 2013-2017 Was a LPTV translator of WBNA until it became a Buzzr affiliate in March 2017.
WYCS 24 2000-200? Replaced by WBNA
Owensboro OCTV-71[12] Cable 71 2000-200?
Southeastern United States Comcast Sports Southeast Various 2000-2004? [11][2][13]
Eastern United States FCS Atlantic Various 2008?-2017

Funding and Sponsorship

Because HSSN flagship WKYU-TV is a viewer-supported television station, the HSSN was mainly funded by local merchants who are supporters of the sports teams of WKU, as well as some WKU Hilltopper fans that view the games via television, especially those who live within the Bowling Green media market.

Sponsors

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Medley, Joe (November 23, 1993). "Hilltopper TV Network born". Park City Daily News. pp. 1A, 3A – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b Gamblin, Jr., Bill (November 15, 2000). "TV deal finalized for WKU". Park City Daily News – via Google Books.
  3. ^ a b “Get to Know the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers”. University of Texas at San Antonio. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  4. ^ “Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network to Televise 18 WKU Basketball games”. Archived from the original 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  5. ^ “Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network to Televise 18 WKU Basketball games”. WKUSports.com (October 14, 2015). Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  6. ^ "1 Big Red Way". WKYU-TV. Archived from the original April 29, 2001. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Sargent, Billy Tom (October 17, 2018). "Every Topper game selected for TV/digital streaming". Daily News. Bowling Green, KY.
  8. ^ Staff Report (October 22, 2019). Tops add 24 games to initial TV broadcast slate. Bowling Green Daily News, October 22, 2019, page 3B.
  9. ^ Where to Watch US | WKU PBS
  10. ^ WKAG-TV 43 Hopkinsville, Kentucky - WKAG Facts. Archived from the original August 11, 2003. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Hoptown station joins Tops' network". Park City Daily News. December 14, 2001. p. 2C – via Google Books.
  12. ^ a b Gamblin Jr., Bill (November 15, 2000). "TV deal finalized for WKU". Park City Daily News. Bowling Green, Kentucky. p. 5B. Retrieved February 17, 2024 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ Compton, Michael (December 9, 2005). "WKU announces new TV contract". Park City Daily News. p. 3C.