UH, Oceanic likely to continue alliance

Several signs point to the University of Hawaii renewing its athletic pay-per-view and television broadcast agreement with Oceanic Time Warner Cable shortly.

The deal is expected to be multiyear and in excess of the $2.3 million UH is currently guaranteed per year.

UH athletic director Ben Jay said in a text, it is "… not settled yet." Oceanic president Bob Barlow declined comment in an email.

The cable operator’s exclusive four-month window for renegotiation closes Friday. After that UH would be free to open talks with other parties, including KHNL/KGMB, which has asked to be allowed to tender a bid.

In addition, people familiar with the process said Time Warner recently "upped" its original offer. UH and Oceanic are said to be working on a joint announcement of a deal.

The current contract ends June 30.

Pay-per-view has been a component of the UH package for 13 years, though in 2013 it was limited to football only. Last year Oceanic offered seven of UH’s 12 games. In 2014 the forecast is for at least seven games, though exact games likely won’t be announced for more than a month.

Oceanic has held the UH rights exclusively since 2011 after a decade of partnering with KHNL and KFVE. KHNL has a "shared services agreement with KFVE."

Rick Blangiardi, general manager of KHNL/KGMB, had publicly campaigned last year for an opportunity to make a bid.

Under terms of the current agreement, Oceanic and UH opened the exclusive negotiating period Nov. 1, 2013. The UH Board of Regents reviewed negotiations at its Nov. 26 meeting and a source said at the time the school was "likely" to remain with Oceanic. Since then, a new offer has reportedly been made to UH.

The issue of renewal became a source of controversy in December 2012 when a regents committee was briefed "that the extension of the pay-per-view contract is with the chancellor’s office." The extension was said to be for six years and $2.3 million per year initially.

But two months later, UH officials claimed no knowledge of such a deal and said no terms could be negotiating until Nov. 1, 2013.