BTN said it will become the first college sports network to provide a live football game in virtual reality this Saturday, when Minnesota takes on Nebraska at 7:30 p.m.  ET.

BTN is teaming on the VR production with Voke, a maker of sports-focused VR production cameras and systems that was recently acquired by Intel Corp.

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BTN said it will use Voke’s TrueVR platform  and power the production with four 180-degree HD cameras along with augmented graphics and the live audio stream.  Consumers can watch by downloading Voke’s GearVR app for the Oculus-powered Samsung GearVR mobile headset.

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BTN said it will also post highlights from the game in “near real time.”

“We’re always exploring ways to integrate new technology into the Big Ten fan experience,” said Michael Calderon, BTN Vice President of Digital Media and Programming, in a statement. “We see virtual reality and our partnership with VOKE as an opportunity to provide Big Ten fans a unique way to watch their favorite team from a whole new perspective.”

BTN is also streaming the game on the web, smartphones, tablets and connected devices via the recently relaunched BTN2Go app/platform.

Of recent note, NextVR teamed with Notre Dame for a VR production around the Oct. 15 football game between the Fighting Irish and Stanford on NBC.

The inaugural College Football Playoff Championship has engendered hopes for glory and programming opportunities for the networks with teams in the game on Monday night.

Pac-12 Networks, whose national service and one of its sub-regional, covers the Oregon Ducks, and Big Ten Network, which presents game and related fare around the Ohio State Buckeyes, are gearing up for the Jan. 12 battle at AT&T Stadium.

Pac-12 Networks, which aired a new installment of Pac-12 Football Weekly on Jan. 6, in which Rick Neuheisel and Yogi Roth break down the matchup and reports from Eugene throughout the week, has established a dedicated microsite within Pac-12.com, with coverage from Saturday’s media in Dallas, plus additional videos and written content.

The programmer will kick off a preview special on Sunday at 7 p.m. (PT). The 60-minute Win the Day: National Championship Preview features host Mike Yam and analysts Curtis Conway and Neuheisel offering a look at the Ducks’ road to Dallas and what it will take for Oregon to bring home its first national title in football. Additionally, Ashley Adamson will be on the scene in Big D, giving viewers an up close look at the atmosphere.

On Monday, Adamson, former Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and Jill Savage are live from the field in Dallas with Yam, Neuheisel and Conway in San Francisco for the College Football Playoff Championship Pregame Show, Presented by GameFly, beginning at 4 p.m..(PT). The 60-minute pregame show will include a live interview with Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, plus other notable guests on site in Dallas. Additionally, Aliotti, Neuheisel and Conway will give viewers the final word before kick on who will win and why.   

Immediately following the game, the group returns for a 90-minute College Football Playoff Championship Postgame Report, Presented by GameFly featuring highlights, live interviews from the field, postgame press conference sound and analysis of the game.

All shows and specials will air live across all seven linear networks and online at Pac-12.com and on the Pac-12 Now app.

For its part, Big Ten Network is also going big with title tilt coverage. On Saturday, Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m.(ET), BTN Finale sets up shop at the Dallas Convention Center with Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo, Howard Griffith and Glen Mason. The show will also air at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

BTN has secured the rights to the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl, and will give its subscribers to relive Ohio State’s upset over top-ranked Alabama on Jan. 1. ESPN's telecast of the exciting contest garnered the largest audience in cable history.

 At 5 p.m. on Sunday, the service will serve up the Football Championship Preview Show, with the crew dissecting the matchup and keys. The show will originate from AT&T Stadium, with the BTN set located on the plaza outside of Gate H.

Monday is all about THE Ohio State. BTN’s “Buckeye Block” encompasses replays of key matchups past: the 2010 Rose Bowl against Oregon at 8 a.m.. and condensed versions of Football in 60 will feature the squad in games from the 2014 season versus Penn State at 10 a.m, followed on the hour by Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan.

BTN will then devote two hours to OSU’s demolition of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game at 2 p.m. and another 2015 Sugar Bowl reprise at 4 p.m.

BTN Live, with segments from Dallas, rolls at 6 p.m., leading into the Football Championship Pregame Show, which will also include a pair of one-on-one interviews from earlier in the week in with Sugar Bowl MVP Ezekiel Elliot, and offensive coordinator Ed Warinner.

Guests on the show will include Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, and former Buckeye standouts Eddie George, Troy Smith, Beanie Wells, Troy Smith, Mike Doss and Bobby Carpenter, among others.

The BTN game plan calls for Football Championship Halftime Show and Football Championship Postgame Show at the appropriate times.

With new conference additions Rutgers and Maryland, the Big Ten Conference has grown its footprint. So, too, has the Big Ten Network.

Reflecting the Scarlet Knights and the Terrapins becoming members of the conference’s eastern division, Big Ten Network, through a series of upgrades with distributors in the New York and Washington D.C. areas, has bolstered its subscriber count by some 15% since the end of the 2013-14 academic year.

President Mark Silverman said when upgrades are completed before the Aug. 28 kickoff of the football season the Big Ten Network will count some 60 million subscribers and be available to 90 million homes within the 14-member conference’ 11-state footprint and throughout the country. That’s up from 52 million last spring for the joint venture among Fox Networks and the conference

BTN's eighth season will feature improved positioning on systems owned by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision and RCN in the New York DMA, home to Rutgers. Similarly, the nation's largest distributor and Cox will boost the service’s availability in and around the nation’s capital and northern Viriginia, where Maryland has a significant fan base.

“We already had strong levels of distribution on DirecTV, AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS inside and outside of the conference footprint,” said Silverman. “Now, we’ve added more cable subs, with positioning on mostly expanded and digital basic. It’s a nice uptick.”

As a result, Silverman said there will be “greater exposure for the BTN throughout New York and the mid-Atlantic  states, down into DC and northern Viriginia.”

Moreover, Silverman said the network has picked up better coverage on Time Warner Cable in Los Angeles, which will complement carriage on DirecTV in the City of Angels environs.

He said the enhanced affiliation positioning will happen before the start of the pigskin season, but “it may happen a little sooner.”

Silverman said BTN has hosted a number of coming out parties:  a June 26 event at Cipriani in Manhattan and before some 10,000 fans at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. Events were also held for Maryland in Baltimore and Nationals Park in Washington.

“We’re also working closely with local alumni groups for more events,” he said.

The network is putting the finishing touches on a media plan that will take form on outdoor and digital vehicles and other platforms. “We’re looking to work with our affiliate partners,” he said.

Silverman noted that Rutgers will be prominently featured on the network with primetime homes games versus Penn State and Michigan on Sept. 13 and Oct. 4, while Maryland is set for a Nov. 15  meeting with Michigan State at College Park.

As for BTN2Go, the 24/7 live stream of BTN, Silverman said it’s the third-most-downloaded free sports app. In addition, the TV Everywhere platform offers users opportunities to see extra football games not televised in their area during crowded windows and has strong support from “every major provider and a lot of the mid-level distributors.”

All told, BTN will televise 40 football games this season, as part of a 1,000-event roster across all platforms.