UMaine TV status remains uncertain

Is no news good news for fans of University of Maine hockey?

Nothing has changed since last week regarding whether the University of Maine hockey team will have its NCAA-mandated television ban imposed this season or next.

“That’s the way I’m looking at it,” said Judy Horan, general manager of WLBZ-TV (Channel 2) in Bangor, one-half of Maine Broadcasting System.

MBS is currently in the third year of a three-year television contract with the university for UMaine hockey.

“I really don’t have anything new to tell you. We had a meeting on Friday and have been talking on the phone a lot,” Horan said.

“We’re still clarifying what the issue is and how it affects the existing contract with [MBS],” said John Diamond, UMaine’s director of public affairs.

“The option only exists to the extent the NCAA will consider postponing the ban until next year if the university has a contractual arrangement with a broadcaster that it could not legally get out of,” said Diamond. “We’re trying to establish some clarity about the contract terms and whether they specifically address the hockey issue.”

Diamond said UMaine would have to petition the NCAA to postpone the ban.

“It’s nothing automatic or left to our discretion,” he said.

Horan said she has no definitive timetable in mind for resolving the unsettled status of Maine’s television situation.

“We just want to get it done as soon as we can,” Horan said.

“We had hoped to have something settled last Friday, but it’s taking longer than we hoped,” said Mike Marshall, program director at WCSH-TV (Channel 6) in Portland – the other half of MBS.

`Hopefully, by this Friday, we’ll have something worked out,” added Marshall, who attended last week’s meeting along with Horan.

The two parties will meet again Thursday, according to Diamond.

The ban is part of the NCAA Committee on Infranctions’ sanctions imposed on the Black Bear hockey team two weeks ago. Maine was banned from local and national TV for the 1996-97 season, but may be able to postpone that penalty until the 1997-98 season because of the ongoing status of the TV contract.

Complicating matters is UMaine’s ongoing process of appealing the sanctions.

“The issue of whether the TV ban is included in the appeal hasn’t been decided. We’ll be filing the appeal Thursday,” Diamond said.