WABI gets rights

WABI (Channel 5) in Bangor and WMTW (Channel 8) in Portland have won the rights to televise the University of Maine women’s NCAA tournament game with Connecticut on Thursday night.

Station officials at WABI and WMTW confirmed Tuesday morning that their bids for TV rights to Maine’s first-round game with the top-ranked team in the country were selected by the NCAA.

“We’re very, very proud to have UMaine sports back on Channel 5. It’s been awhile,” said Steve Hiltz, program director at WABI. “We’re pleased to be able to get the Maine women the attention they deserve.”

The Black Bears’ game with the Huskies at Storrs, Conn., will start about 8:30 p.m.

Two Bangor radio stations will carry the game. It will be broadcast by WZON-AM in Bangor, said Dale Duff, program director, as well as by WABI-AM.

WABI-TV will send sports director Tim Throckmorton and an analyst to handle play-by-play and color.

The game will be produced by Connecticut Public Television. WABI and WMTW reached agreement with CPTV Tuesday morning to jointly broadcast the game.

“CPTV will produce the broadcast but give us a separate microphone line and feed for our announcers,” Hiltz explained.

The Maine game will pre-empt CBS’s coverage of the men’s NCAA tournament on WABI.