JumpTV Announces Exclusive Streaming Plans For First Rounds Of 2009 Big East Basketball Championships

With the 2009 BIG EAST Women’s
and Men’s Basketball Championships including more games and more teams than in
any previous year, the conference is announcing unprecedented online coverage
of the tournaments on www.BIGEAST.org, powered by JumpTV.

The BIG EAST, in conjunction
with its Digital Media Partner, JumpTV, will offer exclusive free live video streams
of the four first-round games of both the women’s championship on Friday, March
6 and the men’s championship on Tuesday, March 10 through the conference’s
official streaming video platform, BIGEAST.tv.

This year will be the first
in which BIG EAST Men’s Basketball Championship games can be seen exclusively
on the BIG EAST Web site. Exclusive online coverage of the BIG EAST Women’s and
Men’s Basketball Championships is sponsored by New York Life Insurance Company.

“New York Life is proud to
sponsor the online coverage of the upcoming BIG EAST basketball tournaments,” says William
Werfelman, a spokesperson for New York Life. “Our national advertising campaign
about the selfless gift of life insurance is a great message for the loyal
fans, alumni and students of the BIG EAST schools, who know that selfless play
usually results in championships.”

The second round of the Women’s
Championship will be televised on selected regional stations and can also be
seen live on BIGEAST.tv on March 7. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be
carried on ESPNU, with the championship game airing live on ESPN March 10.

The Men’s Championship’s
second-round, quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds will be televised live
on ESPN and can be seen online at ESPN360.com.

First-round games will not be
televised for either tournament.

All 16 conference teams will
play in the 2009 BIG EAST Championships. The Women’s Championship takes place
March 6-10 at XL Center in Hartford,
Conn. The Men’s Championship is
March 10-14 at Madison Square Garden
in New York City.
First-round games will feature the No. 9 seed against the No. 16 seed, the No.
12 seed against the No. 13 seed, the No. 10 seed against the No. 15 seed, and
the No. 11 seed against the No. 14 seed. Tuesday’s winners will face the Nos.
5-8 seeds in the second round of the respective tournaments. Those winners, in
turn, will face the top four seeds in the quarterfinals.

In addition to the eight live
women’s games and four men’s games, BIGEAST.tv will feature the most complete
and comprehensive video coverage of both the Men’s and Women’s Basketball
Championships. This year’s coverage will include exclusive behind-the-scenes
feature videos, highlights and press conferences from all 30 games of the men’s
and women’s tournaments. Users should visit the Women’s and Men’s Basketball
Championship Central pages on www.BIGEAST.org for complete coverage of both tournaments.