LPTV Will Not Broadcast BSU’s Men’s Hockey Home Games

Lakeland Public Television’s (LPTV) CEO Bill Sanford announced that LPTV will not be televising BSU Men’s Beaver Hockey home games for the 2017-2018 season.

Over the past few months, LPTV had several meetings with BSU’s Athletic Director Tracy Dill. In addition, Dill has been meeting with BSU staff including BSU President Dr. Faith Hensrud on the topic. In recent meetings, Dill notified LPTV that BSU wishes to significantly change the terms of the agreement that had been in place since LPTV began broadcasting men’s Beaver hockey home games back in 2010.

The proposed terms would now require a substantial rights fee payment to BSU. BSU’s reasoning for the new rights fee was strictly a financial one. Dill cited concerns that LPTV broadcasts may have caused significant reductions in ticket revenue and attendance. Due to BSU’s newly proposed requirement of a substantial rights fee, there just isn’t enough revenue to support the added expense.

“While I’m certainly disappointed, I respect BSU’s decision and wish them the best going forward.” said LPTV CEO Bill Sanford. “If we look at all of our costs including depreciation, last year we were close to breaking even. If we add in a new substantial rights fee payment to BSU, the budget just doesn’t work. While we’re thankful for the generous support we received from our sponsors over the years, there just aren’t enough business sponsors or individual contributors to support the cost of televising the games with substantial new expenses.”