SC-U is a TV channel that specializes in college sports & is produced by, affiliated with & owned by parent network SportsChannel. SC-U originates out of SC Regional TV's (a.k.a. SC+) Charlotte, North Carolina offices
History[]
The network was launched on July 1st, 2004 from the site of The Swamp on the University of Florida Campus in Gainesville, Florida. The network's 1st LIVE event was a semi-final game of the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament that saw Southeast Missouri State University fall to Eastern Kentucky University.
SC & XOS Technologies signed a partnership for college athletics websites. In 2005, SC-U launched a new SportsCenter spin-off dealing entirely with college sports. That show, called SportsCenterU, was originally scheduled to be broadcast from SC's HQ in New York City, New York, but SC changed it's plans & the show originates from Charlotte.
SC-U expanded it's LIVE programming to water polo by broadcasting it's 1st-ever water polo match between the women of Princeton University & Bucknell University on March 28th, 2009 from the DeNunzio Pool in Princeton, NJ
New Carriage Agreements[]
On May 19th 2009, SC announced a deal had been reached with Comcast to add the channel to their lineup. The deal allows them to carry SC-U on a widely-distributed digital cable tier, instead of a less popular sports tier. SC-U should be on most Comcast systems in time for the start of the 2009–2010 college football season. This ended multiple years of negotiations & somewhat of a feud between Comcast & SC over carriage of SC-U.
Also on May 19th 2009, a new carriage agreement with DirecTV was reached. The channel was moved from the satellite TV provider's add on "Sports Pack" to it's basic "Choice" package on July 1st, 2009
SCU-HD[]
SCU-HD is a 720p HD simulcast of SC-U that was launched on August 28th, 2008 to coincide with the start of the College Football season. The service debuted with the football game between Vanderbilt & Miami University. Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS, Blue Ridge Communications, Atlantic Broadband & Broadstripe carried the HD channel @ the launch date. In late 2008, AT&T U-Verse added it. Bright House Networks began adding the HD channel on a regional basis on November 7th, 2009. SC-U hoped to add reaching deals with more distributors for SCU-HD before the 2009–2010 college football season started, because of the SC family of networks' long term contract extension agreements with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) & the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). However, no new carriage deals for SCU-HD were announced by that date. In May of 2009, as part of it's new carriage agreement, DirecTV announced that it will add the HD version by the end of the 1st quarter of 2010
Coverage rights[]
SC-U has the rights to the games of the following conferences:
- ACC
- BIG East
- BIG 10
- BIG 12
- SEC
- MAC
- Sun Belt
- WAC
- Army
- Patriot League
- Missouri Valley Conference
- MEAC
- SWAC
- Gateway
- CAA
Programs[]
Current[]
Studio[]
- The Herd with Colin Cowherd (2007-Present)
- SC-U Bracketology (2006-Present)
- SC-U Coaches Spotlight (2006-Present)
- Inside the BIG East (2005-Present)
- SEC Weekly (2005-Present)
- SC-U Inside the Polls (2005-Present)
- SC-U Recruiting Insider (2005-Present)
- SportsCenterU (SC-U version) (2005-Present)
LIVE sports programs[]
- SC-U College Baseball (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Basketball (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Football (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Football Primetime (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Hockey (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Lacrosse (2004-Present)
- SC-U College Soccer (2004–Present)
- SC-U College Softball (2004-Present)
- High School Showcase (2004-Present)
Former[]
- SC's U (2005-2006)
Uncertain status[]
- SC Full Circle (Began in 2004, last known airing was in 2007)
SC-U's regional feeds[]
In addition to the national SC-U feed, SC-U also offers 3 regional feeds (marked Atlantic, Central & Pacific) that provide programming (primarily collegiate & high school sports, plus minor league sports) that would be carried from each individual network, as well as each affiliate's regional sports reports & individually-produced programming (such as coaches shows, team magazines & documentaries). More or less, these 3 networks are condensed versions of SC's regional feeds, though the channels also show international events that fit too oddly on SC, such as the Commonwealth Games, World University Games & the FINA World Swimming Championships.
The 3 Channels offer the SC-U feeds from the following channels, including LIVE BIG 12 Conference football, PAC-10 Conference football & basketball & ACC basketball. They also rerun shows originally produced by & shown on the networks listed:
- SC-U Atlantic: SCSouth, SCFlorida, SCFlorida-2, SC-Carolinas, SCMid-Atlantic, SCNew England, SCTennessee, SCNew York, SCNew York: NYC, SCNew York: NYC-2, SCPhiladelphia & SCPittsburgh
- SC-U Central: SCDetroit, SCIllinois, SCSouthwest, SCSouthwest: Houston, SCNorth, SCWisconsin, SCMidwest, SCKansas City, SCIndiana, SCOhio & SCOklahoma
- SC-U Pacific: SCArizona, SCRocky Mountain, SCUtah, SCNorthwest, SCWest & SCWest-2, SCBay Area
SC-U's regional feeds also shows high school games, college magazine shows & college coach's shows. SC-U Atlantic, SC-U Central & SC-U Pacific broadcasts in HD