Adam Tortelli ~Staff Writer~

East Conference and FOX Sports announced a new Big East Digital Network (BEDN).
This new network will offer fans a free alternative to follow their favorite teams throughout the 100 events that will be streamed through the FOX Sports GO mobile app this year. Using many resources, the two entities hope the network will offer far more live events to be streamed on a yearly basis.

As of now, FOX Sports GO has a limited number of supported cable providers. FOX Sports is continuously working on adding more TV providers.

It encourages viewers who do not have access to the network to contact their cable provider and request that it joins.

Many of the major providers support FOX Sports GO including Time Warner Cable, Xfinity and AT&T U-verse.

The network will debut at 5 p.m. on Sept. 25 as nationally-ranked DePaul hosts Georgetown in women’s soccer.

Xavier athletics makes its BEDN debut at 8 p.m. on Oct. 11 when volleyball travels to New York City to face the St. John’s Red Storm.

The women’s soccer team’s first appearance on the network will be the following weekend when they host Butler at 1 p.m on Oct. 19.

Men’s soccer will not receive BEDN coverage until 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 when it hosts Villanova.
Originally, the network had only announced its schedule for 70 events including men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, volleyball, cross country championships, indoor track and field championships, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, baseball and outdoor track and field championships.

However, as the driving force behind BEDN’s formation, a schedule comprised of nearly 30 games for women’s basketball was released just one day after the initial announcement.
DePaul will once again play host in the inaugural game for women’s basketball at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 14 against Texas A&M.

Musketeer women’s basketball will receive exposure to the nation via the network at 7 p.m. on Nov. 20 when it hosts Virginia. This will be the first of six streamed matchups for the Musketeers including games against St. John’s, Villanova, Butler, Georgetown and Virginia.
All rounds of the Big East women’s basketball tournament will also be available through the app.

Because the men’s basketball team occupies such a large fraction of national attention, other programs have recieved much less attention.

The BEDN intends to offer those non-men’s basketball fans the opportunity to follow their favorite team wherever in the world they may be.

With the SEC’s new partnership with ESPN creating the SEC Network to showcase the nation’s top college football programs, many have been left wondering how other major conferences might try to respond.

Although already in business together with FOX Sports to broadcast men’s basketball games on FOX Sports 1, the Big East was left with the need to make further advancements to compensate for the increased competition.

The app is available for free on the App store, Google Play and the Windows Store and is available on many different platforms.