The University of Louisville and its marketing rights holder, Nelligan Sports Marketing, filed an injuction late Monday night against WHAS/Clear Channel Broadcasting Co. in Jefferson District Court.
The injunction was filed because, as U of L claims, WHAS was "not allowing us to feed our signal to Sirius satellite radio," U of L Sports Information Director Kenny Klein explained.
According to Klein, U of L and Nelligan began negotiating with Sirius last summer and signed an agreement with the satellite radio company November 19. U of L's arrangement with Sirius, according to Klein, represents a "major encompassing agreement." Beside making men's basketball and football games available on Sirius, Klein noted that the deal also has implications for U of L's olympic sports programs and would also benefit the schools athletic presence on the Internet.
"We don't know the reason why WHAS will not allow us to send our signal to Sirius," Klein said, noting that WHAS and Clear Channel allow the University of Kentucky the right to also send their signal to Sirius.
The injunction hearing has been placed on an expedited schedule and the case will be heard this afternoon. Klein said that U of L hoped to have tomorrow's broadcast against the University of Houston available on Sirius.
Klein indicated that further delay on the matter could jeopardize U of L's arrangement with Sirius. Additionally, Klein also said that U of L fans looking to invest in satellite radio technology should chose Sirius if they want to pick up U of L games via satellite radio in the future.