TVS Television Network
| Industry | Parent TVS Inc.[2] | |
|---|
The Television Sports Television Network,
History
Eddie Einhorn had begun broadcasting radio coverage of college basketball and built a network of radio stations that covered the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament games. He later moved into television coverage of college basketball games.
College basketball
Founded by Einhorn in 1968, and operated through TVS, Inc., the network originally telecast
On January 20, 1968, TVS put together the "Game of the Century" (see below) between the UCLA Bruins and Houston Cougars basketball teams at the Houston Astrodome. This was the game that made college basketball a television broadcast commodity. Six years later (January 19, 1974), TVS televised another historic basketball game as the Bruins fell to Notre Dame, 71-70, breaking the Bruins' 88-game winning streak. TVS proceeded to syndicate a few games nationally each year, often involving UCLA in the middle of their run of 10 national championships in a 12-year span. TVS often used late night time slots for its nationally syndicated games which were played on the west coast.
In addition to these individual games, TVS was a pioneer in bringing college basketball to a national scope-first by their own efforts in the early 1970s, primarily with
Besides Dick Enberg and Rod Hundley (who worked with
"Game of the Century"
The game that really popularized televised college basketball was a
The "Game of the Century" showed that regular-season college basketball action was a viable nationwide product; previously, only NCAA post-season games were broadcast on national TV, but only on evidence that broadcasters were going to make a profit from the broadcasts.
Other sports on TVS
While
In 1974, the network became the official telecaster of the World Football League. (TVS dropped its coverage of the WFL prior to 1975, contributing to the league's already imminent demise; the league had no national television contract for their shortened second season.) TVS also aired World Championship Tennis.
Entertainment programming
In the 1970s, TVS began producing entertainment programming, including
Transition
By 1973, Einhorn sold his interest in the network to the Corinthian Broadcasting Corporation[8] for $5 million[9] and later on became the head of CBS Sports, and later became an owner of the Chicago White Sox with Jerry Reinsdorf; he would also spend time as owner of the USFL's Chicago Blitz. The network stalled in the 1990s, with the trademark status for the network's branding expiring in 1993.[10] It is presumed that the network itself would cease operations soon after.
According to a search on the website for the New York State Department of State Division of Corporations, TVS, Inc. itself would eventually ceased operations in 1995.
See also
References
- ^ "World Tennis". CBS Publications. 1982.
TVS Television Network of New York, N.Y.
- ^ "TVS TELEVISION NETWORK trademark of TVS INC. Serial Number: 72400354 :: Trademarkia Trademarks".
- Newspapers.com.
- Gadsden Times. Gadsden, Alabama. August 9, 1980. p. 8. Retrieved September 27, 2023 – via Google Books.
- ^ Jerry Wizig - It's been 20 years since they've played The Game of the Century. Houston Chronicle, January 20, 1988
- ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NBC AND THE NEW COLLEGE TRY". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com.
- ^ "Eddie Einhorn, college TV pioneer and White Sox owner, dies". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ P.C, LegalForce RAPC Worldwide. "TVS TELEVISION NETWORK trademark of TVS INC.{' '}Serial Number: 72400354 :: Trademarkia Trademarks". Trademarkia - America's #1 Trademark Registration, Patent Registration, Copyright & Slogan Registration service. File today!.
EXPIRED on 8/29/1993
- ISBN 1-57243-809-6.