Samsung, Sears, CBS Set HDTV NCAA Football Sked

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. — Samsung Electronics America, Sears, Roebuck and Co. and CBS Television have renewed and expanded their partnership to present CBS college football in HDTV for the second consecutive season.

This year, the football broadcasts will expand from 12 to 15 games, and, for the first time, two regular-season college basketball games will be added to the lineup, the companies said.

Samsung also sponsors portions of CBS' primetime HDTV program lineup.

Samsung and Sears have also partnered to produce the "DTV Game Day" promotion in which Sears' full-line stores across the United States will show a game each week during the regular season on a Samsung HDTV.

The HDTV college broadcasts kick off on Sept. 7 with Miami vs. Florida and culminate on Dec. 21 with a basketball showdown between UCLA and Kansas.

In between, weekly broadcasts of CBS' college football coverage will air in HDTV. Other marquee football games include Florida vs. Tennessee on Sept. 21; Miami vs. Tennessee on Nov. 9; the SEC Championship game from the Georgia Dome on Dec. 7; and the Florida vs. Maryland basketball game on Dec. 14.

The in-store Sears broadcasts will be possible via satellite broadcaster EchoStar, who will provide CBS's HDTV signal exclusively to a Samsung HDTV television in every Sears store.

In related news, Samsung announced a national $100 instant rebate promotion on DynaFlat direct view HDTV monitors, including the 27-inch TXM2796HF ($699 after rebate), the 32-inch TXM3296HF ($999 after rebate) and the 30W-inch TXM3096WHF ($999 after rebate).

Samsung said with the promotion, which runs Sept. 1-30, the 30W-inch model became one of the first sub-$1,000 widescreen HDTV monitor on the market.