PORTLAND, Ore. - The University of Portland men’s basketball team will have three top regional games broadcast on UPN 49 during the 2005-06 season, it was announced today by KPDX Vice President and General Manager Kieran Clarke and Portland Director of Athletics Larry Williams. The arrangement will feature Portland home games against Oregon State University, the University of Oregon and Gonzaga University.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to add the University of Portland to the strong local sports programming schedule at UPN 49 that already includes the University of Oregon and Oregon State University," said Clarke. "We look forward to a great partnership and exciting year of U of P basketball."

"The University of Portland is extremely excited to have the opportunity to capitalize on UPN 49’s extensive reach to expose many new viewers to the quality and character of Portland Basketball," added Williams. "And all those in the community that aren’t lucky enough to get a ticket can now see these games."

Bob Akamian will handle the play-by-play for all three contests.

Portland is coming off of a 15-15 season and has been picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference by the league’s head coaches. The Pilots and their three Northwest rivals have had intriguing results over the last few years.

Oregon State returns to the Chiles Center for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Pilots won an overtime thriller against the Beavers two years ago in Corvallis by a 97-89 margin, but the Beavers held off a furious UP rally last year for a 66-63 win.

Oregon has taken the last three meetings from Portland, but the Pilots shocked the Ducks in 2001-02 as first-year head coach Michael Holton led his team to a 79-78 win on The Bluff.

Gonzaga has established itself as a perennial top 25 squad, but Portland got the better of the ‘Zags on their dreaded home court in Spokane with a 72-68 win at The Kennel in 2003. It snapped a 21-game, WCC home winning streak for the Bulldogs, which are currently ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25.

KPDX is owned by the Meredith Corporation (www.meredith.com). Meredith Corporation is one of the nation’s leading media and marketing companies with core competencies in magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated marketing and interactive media. Meredith owns 13 television stations that reach over 9 percent of television households across the country and one radio station: WGCL-TV (CBS), Atlanta; KPHO-TV (CBS), Phoenix, AZ; KPDX-TV (UPN), Portland, OR; KPTV (FOX), Portland, OR; WFSB-TV (CBS), Hartford-New Haven, CT; WSMV-TV (NBC), Nashville, TN; KCTV (CBS), Kansas City, MO; WHNS-TV (FOX), Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC-Asheville, NC; WNEM-TV (CBS), Flint-Saginaw, MI; KVVU-TV (FOX), Las Vegas, NV; WFLI-TV (WB), Chattanooga, TN; WSHM, (CBS) Springfield, MA; and KFXO-CA (FOX), Bend, OR, and radio station WNEM-AM in Saginaw-Bay City, MI. Meredith also has a joint sales agreement for KSMO-TV (WB) in Kansas City, MO.