-- NBA TV will re-air the USA Basketball bronze medal game against Argentina from the 2006 FIBA World Championhip in Japan on Saturday at 6 a.m. PT. The network then will re-air the gold medal game between Spain and Greece on Sunday at 6 a.m. ET. ESPN2 will televise both games live. The network will first televise the the bronze medal game between the U.S. and Argentina on Saturday at 3:30 a.m. PT. It will then televise the gold medal game between Spain and Greece on Sunday at 3:30 a.m. PT. Sitting alone in a studio in Bristol, Conn., far, far away from the actual game site, ESPN2's Jim Durham will provide play-by-play for the games with analyst Fran raschilla.

-- An all-access broadband website channel with live audio and video from games, news conferences and other stuff has been launched by CSTV Networks, owned by CBS. The service, CSTV XXL, has more than 100 schools participating, costing you, the consumer, $14.95 a month or $99.95 a year.
"Fans of large schools no longer have to wait for that single game on broadcast or cable," said Brian Bedol, chief executive of CSTV. "For millions of fans of smaller schools, they will have access to live sports for the first time no matter where they live."
CSTV joins companies like SportsCast Network LLC and Penn Atlantic LLC in helping colleges and universities bring games to the Internet. Many schools and some entire conferences are already showing football and other sports on their Web sites, and the CSTVoffering expands the number of participants and games available online.
Schools initially participating range from the Air Force to Xavier, and from the University of Washington to the University of Miami. Most are Division I schools.
CSTV will have channels for all schools in the Mountain West and Conference USA. It will also have separate conference channels for those two, along with Big East, Big West, Pacific 10, Southland and West Coast.
CSTV and the schools will generally share revenues from subscriptions, advertising, merchandise and other sales.
The schools often produce the material already for broadcast, video scoreboards and other purposes, so getting footage online likely won't require a heavy investment by either the schools or CSTV.
Because of existing television contracts, however, live video of football and basketball games will initially be limited.
Notre Dame, for instance, promises audio only for every football and basketball game, but video will generally be limited to less-prominent sports, such as hockey, baseball and volleyball, Bedol said. Video highlights of football and basketball will be available.
The launch of the CSTV broadband channels, which require recent Windows 2000 or XP computers and Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 6 browser, come as video technology improves and availability of high-speed Internet access widens. Currently, only a handful of games each week are chosen for national broadcast, primarily featuring Top 25 Division I-A teams, and contests shown regionally may not be available to fans and alumni who have moved far from their alma mater.
The online offerings from CSTV, which already shows some games on its cable television channel, expands access to the contests.
"It is not designed as a substitute for television," Bedol said. "This is really for the fans that either (don't) have access to a game on TV, or the sports or teams they follow don't get on TV."

We got even more:

-- Maybe Valley-based producer Mike Tollin didn’t impress the ESPN audience with his recent “Bonds On Bonds� series, but it did open a door for another project between Tollin/Robbins Productions and ESPN Original Entertainment for what they’re calling an original limited drama series called “The Bronx is Burning,� which will begin shooting in a couple of weeks and premiere in the July, 2007. It’s adapted from a non-fiction best seller “Ladies and Gentleman, the Bronx if Burning� about the 1977 New York Yankees that made it to the World Series against the Dodgers as the city was going through the Son of Sam killings, a terrifying blackout and a nasty mayors race.

-- The basis of the lastest CSTV reality series “Go Pro or Go Home� is having a group of 16 of the nation’s top women’s college volleyball players compete for a wildcard spot in an AVP beach volleyball event. As the series debuts Sunday at 5 p.m., former USC three-time 6-foot-5 All-American Bibiana Candelas quickly stands out. And not to give away the ending, but go to AVP.com, type in Candelas' name under the female players roster, and see how she did in the Hermosa Open last June.