TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The University of Alabama’s WVUA-7 Tuscaloosa and WOTM TV-19 Birmingham have agreed to a partnership that will offer the best in televised Alabama sports programming to Central and North Alabama.

Crimson Tide Sports Marketing, The University of Alabama athletic department’s multi-media rights holder, has signed a four-year agreement with WOTM to produce a minimum of 40 sports telecasts per year.

“This unique and exciting partnership between The University of Alabama and WOTM creates an opportunity to bring Crimson Tide sports, as well as public affairs, educational and entertainment programming, to our alumni as well as to all of the residents of our expanded coverage areas,” said UA President Robert E. Witt.

The partnership between WVUA and WOTM to create the Alabama Cable Network will instantly bring the University to 800,000 households with the near-term prospect of complete statewide coverage.

WVUA-7’s 5 p.m. newscast already is on the air in many parts of Birmingham. Included in the contract are delayed telecasts of all 11 Alabama football games each year, as well as live and delayed telecasts of men’s and women’s basketball, A-day, baseball, softball, gymnastics and other events. Sports fans also will have access to a number of sports talk shows and coaches’ shows.

The original vision for the University’s acquiring WVUA-7 was a statewide broadcasting service that featured The University of Alabama and its assets, said Dr. Culpepper Clark, dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences.

“In addition to sports, the Alabama Cable Network will become the vehicle for educational, entertainment, and public affairs programming that originates from The University of Alabama,” Clark said. “As dean of the College of Communication and Information Sciences, I could not be more excited about the service we can render the citizens of Alabama and the educational experience it will provide our students.”

UA Athletics Director Mal Moore said, “The agreement between the University’s Channel 7, the Alabama Cable Network and Crimson Tide Sports Marketing is another step forward for the promotion of our entire department. It is our expressed goal that our message will soon be carried to every household in the entire state of Alabama, and Crimson Tide alumni and fans will be able to view our teams competing. This is not only significant for athletics but for the entire University, and I am grateful for these respective parties uniting to make this possible for our fans.”

Sports fans will be able to take their pick of shows like “The Mike Shula Show,” “The Mark Gottfried Show,” “The Sarah Patterson Show,” “Crimson Tide This Week” and “Tide Lines” with Chris Stewart, all produced by the Crimson Tide Sports Network. “TiderInsider TV” is produced by WVUA and “Crimson Classics” is a project of the Bryant Museum and the Center for Public Television.

WOTM TV-19 will be the main distributor in the Birmingham market area for all the events produced by ACN Sports and WVUA-7 and will reach viewers in Jefferson, Shelby, Walker, St. Clair and Talladega Counties on Charter Channel 6.

“As one of the owners of ACN Sports, we are proud to produce many of the events that will be shown throughout the state this next four years,” said Don Early, WOTM president. “Our station will extend the reach of The University of Alabama not only in sports, but other programming that can and will bring attention to the diverse and complex entity found at the Capstone in Tuscaloosa. We hope that this is only the beginning of a long and enduring relationship.”

Butch Henry, executive producer of the Crimson Tide Network, added, “We are delighted to have this agreement with WOTM. Don Early and his sons are consummate professionals and they have performed exemplary work for us in the past including the productions on our pay-per-view telecasts.”