Carriage deal.

Santa Monica-based World Championship Sports Network has reached an agreement to provide content to IPTV provider Optical Entertainment Network. The deal will allow WCSN to broadcast in Houston and other markets served by the Internet television provider as part of its basic cable package. It is the first deal for the sports and lifestyle network with this type of service.

"IPTV does not have the longstanding history of cable or satellite so they are hungry for content," said Bo LaMotte, WCSN senior vice president for distribution.

Other Internet television competitors like AT&T are starting to roll out similar technology across the country. The technology can support nearly unlimited numbers of channels because it does not send all channels directly to the set-top box. Instead, signals are stored on a main server and only the channel selected is sent into the home.

The company's content is available to 45 million subscribers via television and Internet. The station has agreements with international federations that govern Olympic sports, which also gives it rights to all of the archival footage. Subscribers have access to more than 2,000 hours of live Olympics-style sporting events annually.

Staff reporter David Nusbaum can be reached at [phone], ext. 236, or at [e-mail].