March 01, 2004

Saluki-Northern Iowa game to be televised live

by Tom Woolf

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki fans can watch the Southern Illinois University Carbondale men's basketball team go for a perfect Missouri Valley Conference regular season on WSIU-TV or on their computer with a broadband connection.

WSIU-TV (Ch. 8) will televise the 16th-ranked Salukis' regular season finale at Northern Iowa today (March 1) beginning at 7 p.m. Saluki Athletics, the SIU Broadcasting Service and SIUC Chancellor's Office will underwrite the television broadcast to thank fans for their support this season.

The SIUC Office of Media & Communication Resources, in conjunction with WSIU-TV and Saluki Athletics and a commercial service - New Media Networks - is offering the game live on the World Wide Web at www.siuc.edu, also beginning at 7 p.m.

The free commercial cast follows an initial experiment with web casting last week that resulted in an unprecedented demand by Web users. Using the commercial service will allow an unlimited number of network connections. SIUC may consider offering the service on a regular basis sometime in the future if it meets with user approvals and is financially feasible.

Web viewers must have high-speed access, either cable modem or DSL service, Microsoft Media Play 9.0 or better, a screen resolution of 800 x 600, Macromedia's Flash software 6.0 or higher and a sound card and speakers.

Windows users must have a Pentium class system running at 600 Mhz or better.

Macintosh users must have an 800 Mhz processor or faster and must be using Mac OS X Version 10.1 or higher.

Registration for Web viewers is now under way, and viewers can log in one hour before game time.

The Web cast is a further test of the University's streaming media capabilities and is offered free through the Office of Media & Communication Resources.