March 17, 2006

COLUMBIA, Mo. - ESPN has determined its coverage areas, and satellite-channel assignments, for first-round matchups of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

In the home markets of the competing teams, ESPN will televise the game of local interest. While constant updates from the other games will be provided, the networks, for the most part, will not switch to another game during live action, thereby establishing home market protection.

For Sunday's game between No. 10 Mizzou and vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech, the game will be protected in the entire state of Missouri, as well as in the entire St. Louis and Kansas City DMA's, which extend into suburban Kansas and Illinois.

Owners of DSS systems, or subscribers to ESPN Full Court, will also be able to tune in the Tiger/Hokie matchup on the following channels:

DIRECTV 785
DIRECTV FullCourt 211
Dish 146
Dish FullCourt 462

This information is also available on ESPN.com at http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney06/news/story?page=coverage0319