WATCH CIS MEN'S BASKETBALL GAMES LIVE!!

OTTAWA (CIS) – CIS men’s basketball is going online!

Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced on Wednesday a partnership with Fredericton-based News-Cast.Com which will make all games from the 2007 Milk Energy Final 8 - except the two contests televised by TNS - available live through an online video-cast.

The CIS national championship gets under way this Friday, March 16 at the Halifax Metro Centre, with Saturday’s second semi-final (8:30 p.m. Atlantic Time) and Sunday’s gold-medal game (4:30 p.m.) live on TSN.

News-Cast.Com will broadcast all eight other duels including Friday’s four quarter-finals, Saturday’s early semi-final (5:30 p.m.) and two consolation match-ups, and Sunday’s consolation final.

All games will be available at http://events.news-cast.com beginning with the top-seeded Concordia Stingers battling the crowd-favourite, No. 8-ranked Saint Mary’s Huskies Friday at 1 p.m.

The pay-per-view opportunity will cost $7.95 per game. For maximum compatibility and quality, News-Cast.Com broadcast in Windows Media video/audio format.

“We believe strongly in university sports in Canada, and in the talent and dedication of Canadian student athletes. We hope to expand and enhance our coverage of CIS varsity sports by establishing working relationships with the CIS and its member universities throughout the country,” said News-Cast.com President, Doug Sutherland.

About News-Cast.Com

News-Cast.Com is a Canadian pioneer and leader in sports video web-casting. In 2004 they provided, in partnership with the host UNB Varsity Reds, live video web-cast coverage of all eight games of the CIS men’s hockey championship – the first time an event of this size had been video web-cast live in Canada.

Since then News-Cast.Com has video web-cast live more than 200 CIS games and sporting events, including various national championships and university tournaments. They continue their very successful partnership with the Varsity Reds, and last year began working with the Lakehead University Thunderwolves men’s hockey program, web-casting all home games beginning with the TBayTel Varsity Cup and including the OUA Queen’s Cup hosted by Lakehead.

In 2006-07, News-Cast.Com have continued their association with UNB and Lakehead, and recently added coverage of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men hockey home games to their schedule.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE (all times LOCAL)

Championship web site: www.cisport.ca/e/championships/m_basketball/2007

Friday, March 16
13:00 Quarter-final #1: No. 1 Concordia vs. No. 8 Saint Mary’s online video-cast (news-cast.com)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: No. 4 Brandon vs. No. 5 Windsor online video-cast (news-cast.com)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: No. 2 UBC vs. No. 7 Ottawa online video-cast (news-cast.com)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: No. 3 Carleton vs. No. 6 Acadia online video-cast (news-cast.com)

Saturday, March 17
11:30 Consolation #1 online video-cast (news-cast.com)
13:30 Consolation #2 online video-cast (news-cast.com)
17:30 Semi-final #1 online video-cast (news-cast.com)
20:30 Semi-final #2 (TSN)

Sunday, March 18
13:30 5th place online video-cast (news-cast.com)
16:30 Championship final (TSN)

(Source: Michel Belanger, Canadian Interuniversity Sport, Manager of Communications)