USA TODAY

November 6, 2003

The Internet lets fans find out about sports that get little attention from the mainstream media. This idea is more intriguing: The Internet delivering stuff the mainstream media can't get.

That's the idea behind FridgeTV.com, a so-called Internet TV channel devoted to Maryland football coach Ralph "The Fridge" Friedgen. Though it's not unusual for coaches to have chatty Web sites, this site consists only of video footage, including team locker room talks, coaches meetings and practices where the media is usually barred.

Jess Atkinson, an ex-Maryland player who went on to four seasons of placekicking in the NFL and 12 years in local TV sportscasting, is a one-man production team.

He says Friedgen gives him access to everything: "The only place I haven't filmed yet is the showers. But I will. That's where coaches meet at halftime to make their adjustments."

Although Maryland controls the content, Atkinson says he's not censored. "It's not an infomercial," he says. "It's everything I wanted to do as a sportscaster, but local stations don't have the time or resources."

His footage is available on Yahoo, which has Maryland's Internet rights, as well as the Web site, which was developed by TVWorldwide.com. Dave Gardy, who heads the Chantilly, Va.-based company and presides over the International Webcasting Association, notes such online channels are meant for niches too small to get their own cable TV channel. TVWorldwide.com made online channels for lacrosse training (lacrossechannel.tv) and for people wanting to know how to survive naval attacks (damagecontrol.tv).

Gardy suggests the idea behind FridgeTV.com is "franchisable" across the country. If that happens, Atkinson suggests staffing won't be a problem: "All I'd have to do is find a disgruntled local TV person in each market. You know there are plenty of those."

Source: USA Today 11/6/2003

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/hiestand/2003-11-06-hiestand_x.htm

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