The University of Hawaii has begun negotiations that will determine the shape of its local sports television package and whether pay-per-view will continue beyond its current 13 years.

Cable operator Oceanic Time Warner, which now holds the contract, and TV stations KHNL/KFVE LLC are interested in the broadcast rights that are set to expire June 30, the end of the school year.

Oceanic began exclusive negotiations Friday, as its contract allows. The contract also says if no deal is reached by Feb. 28, the university may open talks to other parties.

UH athletic director Ben Jay said, "We’re talking back and forth, nothing in person (yet)." He added that negotiations are being handled by Time Warner’s regional headquarters in Los Angeles.

UH’s contract with Oceanic guarantees the school $2.3 million per year with an opportunity to receive more if certain mileposts are reached. UH said it received $2.45 million for 2012.

Due to an arrangement unique to the Mountain West Conference, that is the only football TV money the school receives unless television revenues for all 11 other conference members surpass $2.3 million.

Rick Blangiardi, general manager of KHNL/KGMB, which has a "shared services agreement" with KFVE, has publicly campaigned for months to be part of the process for awarding a new contract.

In an on-camera editorial on his station on July 19, Blangiardi said, "Maybe it’s boastful, but I believe in the broadcast excellence of Hawaii News Now, and UH sports needs to be back home on KFVE, where it’s been all along with KHNL since Stan Sheriff and I put our local sports plan together in 1984."

In 2011, after a decade as a partner of KFVE/KHNL, Oceanic took over the TV rights to UH sports.

The stations are a news partner of the Star-Advertiser.

Blangiardi has questioned the "value proposition" of UH sports being on Oceanic, which does not reach every TV household in the state, and suggested he might do away with the pay-per-view program.

According to recent Nielsen reports, there are 438,000 TV households in Hawaii, while cable has 87 percent penetration and satellite 9 percent.

But because Oceanic collects advertising and subscriber fees, Blangiardi concedes the cable operator is in a position to outbid his stations.

"The only thing I would give Time Warner in this occasion is the ability to write a larger check," Blangiardi has said.

Oceanic officials have declined to discuss their operation or comment on the their position versus KHNL/KFVE.

TV rights became a source of controversy in December when a UH Board of Regents committee was told by UH officials "that the extension for the pay-per-view contract is with the (Manoa) chancellor’s office."

The regents were also told "the extension is for six years" and "guarantees two years of $2.3 million. In the third year it graduates down to four football games for $1 million." The extension, the regents were told, "should be in effect in 2015."

But two months later UH officials claimed no knowledge of such an agreement.

Both KHNL/KFVE and Oceanic are corporate partners of UH athletics.

Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple has praised Blangiardi and Hawaii News Now to regents for an annual telethon that raised $208,000 on behalf of athletics. In addition, Apple told regents that KFVE "made a generous offer" to provide UH "with a year of free advertising. UH’s External Affairs Division does not have a paid marketing budget for the university’s image and branding," saving UH about $75,000.

Meanwhile, Oceanic was responsible for installing Wi-Fi in the Stan Sheriff Center, which UH said is valued at about $200,000. Oceanic also has contributed equipment and expertise to the athletic department’s social media command center. An Oceanic official did not respond to questions about the value of the company’s assistance to UH.

A UH spokesman said the contributions by both firms are not linked to TV rights but are elements of their corporate-partner membership agreements.