The CW has acquired exclusive broadcast rights to 50 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college football and basketball games each season through 2026-27. The first ACC football game will air Saturday, September 9 when the Pitt Panthers and non-conference opponent Cincinnati Bearcats face off. Games will air every Saturday throughout the season in the afternoon and in primetime. 

In addition to 13 football games, The CW will broadcast 28 men’s basketball games and nine women’s basketball games. Men’s doubleheaders will take place every Saturday afternoon and women’s games will be on Sunday afternoons. 

Raycom Sports will produce all games for The CW. Raycom sublicenses the rights from ESPN. The ACC game rights previously were held by Sinclair Broadcast Group's Diamond Sports Group subsidiary, which is shedding debts under a bankruptcy reorganization. 

“We are committed to making The CW a destination for live, appointment-viewing sporting events,” said Dennis Miller, president, The CW Network. “The ACC is home to some of the most decorated college football and basketball teams in the country and we look forward to welcoming these avid sports fans to the network as we continue to broaden our audience.”

The ACC has won seven national championships in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball since 2015. ACC men’s basketball teams have combined to win three of the last eight NCAA national championships and eight of the last 22 NCAA titles. ACC women’s basketball programs have made 23 trips to the Final Four, and have made Final Four appearances in the last five years. 

ACC colleges are Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest. 

“We are thrilled to be adding The CW to our weekly television lineup for ACC football and basketball games,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said. “The CW’s national distribution will directly benefit our student-athletes, teams, alumni and fans. We appreciate ESPN and Raycom working together and look forward to the partnership with The CW.”

In terms of live sports, The CW also has LIV golf.

The Big Ten Conference has decided to postpone its fall sports program, including its college football schedule, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to published reports.

"The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren in a statement. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall."

The Big Ten's decision to postpone the college football season until at least Spring 2021 comes after a morning meeting with the conference’s presidents. The conference, which includes such schools as Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, becomes the first of the "Power Five" conferences -- which also includes the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, Pac-12 Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC) -- to postpone the 2020 college football season, striking a major blow to prospects for a college football season this fall. 

Other conferences that have decided to cancel fall sports play include The Mountain West, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and the Mid-American Conference. 

The Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing said it has completed the integration of the Association of Cable Communicators, naming former CTAM SVP of communications and marketing Anne Cowan as the combined organization’s chief communications officer.

CTAM announced the combination in October.

Cowan is an 18-year veteran of CTAM and in a statement the organization said her first move will be to launch an executive-level Communications Steering Council to set the integration goals, lay the ground-work for communicators to align with marketers on product and industry positioning, and design new educational opportunities. Cowan will also serve as a close advisor to CTAM president and CEO Vicki Lins, continue to co-lead the TV Everywhere and Industry Positioning initiatives and oversee CableMover communications, corporate marcom, and the Television Critics Tours.

“Anne’s experience and passion for the power of integrated marketing communications make her vital to the success of this unification,” Lins said in a statement. “She has the industry knowledge, professional connections and creative thinking needed to lead communications executives in supporting CTAM’s efforts to define, market and communicate best-in-class consumer experiences in today’s dynamic marketplace.”

CTAM added that industry communications executives will be engaged at the top level of the organization’s governance, filling two seats on the CTAM Board of Directors and one seat on the MSO Marketing Co-op Board. The newly-elected Directors, along with the executives serving on the inaugural Communications Steering Council, will be announced in late March. 

The Association of Cable Communicators (ACC) at a dinner ceremony last night (June 4) announced the winners of the 2015 Golden Beacon and Beacon Awards, honoring excellence in cable communications and public affairs. The Golden Beacon, the association’s highest honor, went to Univision Contigo's Semana de la Salud 2014, a Latino-focused health and wellness campaign by Univision Communications Inc.

The campaign also won a Community Relations Beacon, while Univision's Contigo's Pequeños y Valiosos - Accioìn por los Niños campaign won a Beacon for Integrated Communications. Stephen Keppel, Univision's enior director, empowerment initiatives (pictured), accepted the awards.

ACC also presented 49 Beacon Awards representing work by MSOs, cable systems, programming networks, and cable associations in categories such as community relations, public service announcements and social media communications, the association said in a release. The Beacon Awards Ceremony rounded out Thursday events during ACC’s annual conference FORUM 2015: Innovation and Disruption: Telling Cable’s Story in Times of Change, in Silver Spring, Md.

“This year’s Beacon Award winners have affected change by using cable as a tool to provide access and education, not only empowering the communities they serve, but showcasing the power of cable on a national platform” Chris Albert, 2015 Beacon Awards chair and senior vice president, communications worldwide and talent relations, National Geographic Channels, said in the release. "The Beacon Awards celebrate the significant role cable communicators play in our industry’s success and recognize the best of those efforts."

The 2015 Golden Beacon honors a communications or public affairs initiative that has made an impact within the cable industry and enhanced cable’s image nationwide. 

Here's what ACC had to say about the campaign and other Beacon honorees:

Univision is the most-watched Spanish-language broadcast television network in the country, reaching 96% of U.S. Hispanic households. As the heartbeat of Hispanic America, Univision has earned a special trust and unequalled connection with this community. Hispanics today have higher rates of high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, compared to their Caucasian counterparts. In 2014 for example, one-in-four Hispanics in the U.S. lacked health insurance, the highest rate of any racial or ethnic group in the country. In an effort to reverse these trends, the company held its second annual week-long health and wellness effort “Semana de la Salud 2014” (Health Week 2014), a weeklong multiplatform campaign under the health umbrella of the company's Univision Contigo empowerment initiative. In partnership with The California Endowment, Covered California, and the Ford Foundation, “Semana de la Salud 2014” took place between August 23-30, aimed to inform the U.S. Hispanic community about important health and wellness topics, give access to exclusive health-related online and mobile tools, and empower the community by providing free health screenings and other valuable resources in markets across the nation.

ACC members chose the 2015 Beacon Award winners during an extensive two-round judging process. The high-quality Beacon Award entries submitted this year continue to demonstrate the cable industry's commitment to communications and public affairs and represent company initiatives implemented over the past year in areas such as events and observances, integrated communications and Web sites.

The 2015 Beacon Awards Winners listed by category are:

Best Use of Twitter

Cox Virginia WiFi Scavenger Hunt

Cox Communications – Chesapeake, VA

Cause Marketing

Cox Las Vegas -- Proud To Show Our PRIDE!

Cox Communications – Las Vegas, NV

Community Relations

Studio21 – Music to the Community’s Ears Charter Communications – Newtown, CT

Time Warner Cable "Capital Region Science Festival 2014"

Time Warner Cable – Schenectady, NY

Physics Behind Skateboarding

Time Warner Cable – El Segundo, CA

STEM in Sports with the Anaheim Ducks

Time Warner Cable – El Segundo, CA

Univision Contigo's Samana de la Salud 2014 Univision Communications Inc. – Miami, FL

Say Yes to the Prom

Discovery Communications – Silver Spring, MD

Education Comprehensive Campaigns

Encuentro STEM

Time Warner Cable – El Segundo, CA

MSG Classroom 2014 Fall Semester

MSG Networks – New York, NY

National Geographic Channels Comprehensive Education Campaign National Geographic Channels – Washington, DC

Educational Materials

Developing Impactful Afterschool STEM Programs Time Warner Cable – El Segundo, CA

STEM to Story with 826 National

Time Warner Cable – New York, NY

Remembering the Great War: WWI Centennial Education Outreach

A+E Networks – New York, NY

Events/Observances

Time Warner Cable CAMM Celebration

Time Warner Cable NYC – New York, NY

Bright House Networks Launch Event Announcing Free Wi-Fi for Tampa Riverfront Parks Bright House Networks, Central Florida – Maitland, FL

Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge Discovery Communications – Silver Spring, MD

Time Warner Cable’s Earth Month 2014

Time Warner Cable – New York, NY

Events/Premieres

The 48th Annual NAACP Image Awards VIP Screening Cox Louisiana – Baton Rouge, LA

American War Generals Premiere

National Geographic Channels – Washington, DC

Government Relations

"Fighting for Fort Polk"

Suddenlink Communications – Central Louisiana

Cox Las Vegas 2014 Community Development Report Cox Communications/Las Vegas System – Las Vegas, NV

Internal Communications

Internet Essentials Ambassadors Program

Comcast – Washington, DC

NBCUniversal Corporate Leadership Values Campaign Hispanic Enterprises and Content, NBCUniversal – Hialeah, FL

Integrated Communications

2014 Austin Image Campaign

Time Warner Cable – Austin, TX

Time Warner Cable Places Great Value on Diverse Perspectives and Experiences Time Warner Cable – El Segundo, CA

Univision Contigo's Pequeños y Valiosos - Accioìn por los NinÞos Univision Communications Inc. – Miami, FL

Look Different

MTV – New York, NY

Mobile Apps

DIG Mobile Apps Activations - Snapchat and DIG Decoder USA Network – Universal City, CA

Virginia Cable Show App

Virginia Cable Telecommunications Association – Richmond, VA

Multicultural Public Relations

Suddenlink Celebrates Black History Month with TV One Suddenlink Communications – St. Louis, MO

C-SPAN's Historically Black Colleges & Universities Tour C-SPAN Networks – Washington, DC

Media Relations Programming Publicity

LSU Gameday Live

Cox Louisiana – Baton Rouge, LA

COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey Media Relations National Geographic Channels – Washington, DC

Media Relations-Technology/Product

Cox Launches Gigabit Internet in Las Vegas Cox Communications – Las Vegas, NV

Charter's Road to All-Digital: A Spectrum of Success Charter Communications – Stamford, CT

WatchESPN

ESPN, Inc. – New York, NY

Public Service Announcement

Connect2Compete “Local New Orleans PSA Campaign”

Cox Louisiana – Baton Rouge, LA

Cablevision & The Lustgarten Foundation’s curePC Campaign – The curePC Courage Project Cablevision Systems Corporation – Bethpage, NY

Look Different

MTV – New York, NY

Programming Series

Studio21

Charter Communications – Newtown, CT

LSU Gameday Live

Cox Louisiana – Baton Rouge, LA

ESPN Films "30 for 30"

ESPN, Inc. – Bristol, CT

Programming Special or Miniseries Event

History: Sons of Liberty

A+E Networks – New York, NY

Reputation/Brand Management

The Midway/Cox Legacy: From America’s Greatest Generation to Future Generations Cox Communications - California – San Diego, CA

Taking Back the Gigabit Narrative

Cox Communications, Inc. – Atlanta, GA

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom Exhibit

A+E Networks – New York, NY

Social Media Integrated Communications

TLC Loves Canada

Discovery Communications – Silver Spring, MD

Website

Internal - Transformation Hub Website

Cox Communications, Inc. – Atlanta, GA

ESPN will return its weekly Monday Atlantic Coast Conference/Big 12 Conference doubleheader college basketball game telecasts beginning Jan. 5, the network said Monday.

The Big 12 will mark its 19th year on Monday nights with four appearances by Kansas, plus the opportunity for four appearances each from Iowa State and Oklahoma, said network officials. The ACC will appear on Mondays for the second straight season and will feature such teams as Duke, Pittsburgh and Florida State.

ESPN’s 2015 Big Monday Presented by Verizon men’s college basketball schedule will also feature a Big 12 “flex pick” on March 2, in which either Baylor at Texas or Oklahoma at Iowa State will be on ESPN as part of Big Monday and the other will be on ESPNU. The network designation will be determined in the weeks leading up to the game.

Big Monday takes a one week hiatus as ESPN debuts the inaugural College Football National Championship game on January 12, said network officials.

The Association of Cable Communicators (ACC) has announced three nominees for its annual Golden Beacon Award. The distinction is the ACC’s highest honor, and it is awarded to a public affairs initiative that has made a significant impact both within the cable industry and aided in the public’s perception of the industry. 

This year’s nominees are Discovery Communications’ Discovery Education’s Of the People: Live from the White House; ESPN, Inc.’s 2013 Jimmy V Week PSA Campaign; and National Geographic Channel’s Killing Kennedy Integrated Communications. 

The winner will be announced during the Beacon Awards Dinner and Ceremony on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta as part of the ACC’s annual FORUM conference. This year’s conference is titled “Power of Story Telling: Hashtags, Headlines and Soundbites.” 

Last year’s Golden Beacon Award was given to USA Network’s Characters Unite public service program.