US cable-television broadcaster ESPN has confirmed a new rights deal with the Mountain West US college sports conference.
The deal will run alongside an existing agreement between the conference and its primary rights-holder, the CBS Sports Network division of US network CBS, for seven years, from 2013-14 to 2019-20.
ESPN and CBS Sports Network will alternate selections of American football and basketball games to be shown live. ESPN’s deal includes rights to leading university Boise State’s home games, while CBS Sports Network will show the university’s away games.
The two broadcasters will show a combined total of up to 44 American football and 56 men’s basketball games per year.
Mountain West also said that it is negotiating a deal for CBS Sports Network to show its inaugural American football championship game, and added that the conference has retained rights to sell additional packages on the in-house MW Digital Network channel and to regional carriers.