University of Hawaii athletics extends TV rights deal with Spectrum

The University of Hawaii has a new, more lucrative five-year TV rights extension with Spectrum but will have to deliver at least seven football games a year to earn the full $3.1 million yearly average.

UH was contracted to receive $2.54 million for the final year of the agreement that expired June 30.

The new deal, which was announced Thursday, runs through July 2024 with an option for a one-year extension that carries a 3% increase in rights fees.

The contract carries a $400,000 deduction for each football game that it is short. If four games are not made available UH gets just $750,000, according to the agreement.

Additionally, UH must offer at least 60 overall events from its inventory of football, volleyball, softball, baseball, and soccer with an added commitment to water polo, the parties said.

Spectrum said Rainbow Wahine volleyball will remain exclusively on its OC16 channel. Under Federal Communications Commission rules Spectrum has been required to make only UH football and basketball available for purchase by its rival, Hawaiian Telcom.

UH has partnered with Spectrum and its predecessor, Oceanic, since 2011.

“We’re excited to continue our longstanding partnership with Spectrum and look forward to adding our nationally ranked water polo program to the lineup,” David Matlin, UH athletic director, said in a statement.

In addition to its football pay-per-view package, UH and Spectrum said they will again offer streaming options in partnership with the Mountain West Conference for fans outside of Hawaii.

Spectrum Sports is available on channels 12 (SD) and 1012 (HD) for Spectrum subscribers, and on channels 89 (SD) and 1089 (HD) for Hawaiian Telcom subscribers.