University of Richmond Athletics
SpiderTV Draws Record Numbers In Longwood Broadcast
12/14/2015 | Men's Basketball
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The Richmond men's basketball game against Longwood drew a record rating of 4.1 on Saturday night on WTVR-CBS 6.1.
The game was produced by Richmond's in-house SpiderTV Productions, with long-time SpiderTV director Blake Ellett coordinating the production. The game's showing on CBS produced the highest rating of any SpiderTV production that has been shown on WTVR 6.1.
A rating of 4.1 equates to a total cumulative household of approximately 30,000, and over 50,000 total adults.
“The broadcast quality was top-notch,” said Stephen P. Hayes, President and General Manager of WTVR-TV. “Richmond broadcasts have become an excellent piece of our programming lineup.”
On Saturday night, the Spider basketball telecast outdrew ratings over every competing sporting event on television in the Richmond area including the Heisman Ceremony, the UNC-Texas game and the Kentucky-Arizona State game.
Director of Broadcasting Bob Black and former Spider point guard Greg Beckwith anchored the broadcast with on-air play-by-play and analysis.
At halftime, analyst Matt Smith hosted a show featuring the Spider football playoff team, interviewing running back Jacobi Green and breaking down highlights of Richmond's win at Illinois State.
This season, all SpiderTV productions include seven camera angles with backboard and ceiling shots, while also utilizing multiple replay angles and graphic elements.
Four more Spider home games will be produced by SpiderTV for distribution on WTVR and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.
Along with productions for air on local and regional television, SpiderTV also produces over 100 live streaming events from nearly all of Richmond's 17 varsity sports, including field hockey, women's soccer, women's basketball, tennis, cross country, track & field, lacrosse, baseball, swimming and diving and football. One of the top video production units in the Atlantic 10, SpiderTV also produces over 400 on-demand interviews, highlights and features. In 2012, SpiderTV was honored with an Emmy award by the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
