Just in time for its first night of broadcasting, the Longhorn Network has just added more cable providers to its roster. Word slipped out last week that the network had picked up Houston’s EnTouch, and Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic system was added yesterday. So who else is on board?
Four providers will be carrying tonight’s opening night programming: Consolidated Communications, Bay City Cablevision, Mid-Coast Cablevision and Texas Mid-Gulf Cablevision. On Sept. 1, they will be joined by three more systems (just in time for the big UT/Rice game on Sept. 3), as the already-confirmed Verizon and EnTouch
are followed by E-Tex Communications.
However, the network still does not have any of the Central Texas cable big guns (Time Warner Cable, DirectTV, AT&T, Grande or Dish.) So if you’re live in the shadow of Darrell K. Royal Stadium (or pretty much anywhere along I-35) then you are still out of luck.
The Longhorn Network launches tonight at 6pm Central with a special two-hour College Game Day, followed at 8pm the UT women’s volleyball team (currently #4 in the NCAA Division I rankings) taking on the unranked Pepperdine.
UPDATE: A little more about those firms. As we have already reported, FiOS is in several states but is not a big force in Texas, while EnTouch is only available around Houston. Illinois-based Consolidated has its Texas offices out in Conroe and covers 12 communities including Tyler and Nacogdoches. As the name implies, Bay City, Mid-Coast and Texas Mid-Gulf are all part of the Cablevision family and cover the gulf coast. E-Tex Communications is another small provider, covering 710 square miles of rural North-East Texas.
This article appears in August 26 • 2011.
