International Volleyball

Pro Volleyball Federation TV update; O’Neal signs; Sponcil is a libero

Sarah Sponcil playing AVP New Orleans//Rick Atwood photo

Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf bought Stadium from the Sinclair Broadcast Group in May after Sinclair dropped it from its over-the-air channels. Stadium operates out of studios at the United Center in Chicago, offering primarily “talk” programming with a few live sports events.

Stadium is a free channel that can be found on many of the no-cost streaming multicast services found on smart TVs, including Tubi, Freevee, The Roku Channel and FuboTV, making it easily accessible to PVF fans nationwide. Stadium also can be seen through its app and on its website (https://watchstadium.com/).

The listings for the matches on January 24 and 25 have been taken down, but it seems a pretty safe bet that Stadium could wind up working with the PVF. A high likelihood exists that the channel simply might have jumped the gun with its initial posting. Would it have listed those matches without cause?

Stadium would be an excellent partner for a new league because of its widespread availability and a limited menu of live sports events that would conflict with PVF matches. And it’s free. The only potential downside is that the platform does not archive its shows on its website, so fans would have to catch the live telecasts.

Rise, Supernovas land local media deals

Two PVF franchises have made serious inroads in building exposure in their markets. Fans in Las Vegas should be thrilled to learn they can watch their team on local TV. Meanwhile, the volleyball-crazy state of Nebraska can follow its Supernovas over a radio network that will air all 24 home and away matches.

The Vegas Thrill will partner with Fox affiliate KVVU-TV (Fox 5) on a television package. Team president Ruben Herrera told VolleyballMAG that at least six of the Thrill’s matches will air on the Silver State Sports and Entertainment Network that includes the Las Vegas station and the Fox affiliate in Reno, KRXI-TV (Fox 11).

During the interview with VBM, Herrera could barely contain the excitement in his voice as he noted the invaluable exposure to casual viewers that could be generated on one of the Big 4 broadcast network stations. Las Vegas is the nation’s 42nd largest TV market with a population of 2.22 million in its metropolitan area.

Herrera said that some Thrill’s matches might be telecast on the main Fox station, but at the worst, they would bump over to its secondary digital channel, one click of the remote away at 5.2 (and on Cox Cable channel 125), the home of the…

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