PISCATAWAY, N.J.  - The Rutgers University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics today announced a partnership with Verizon’s FiOS TV and its new channel launched today in New Jersey called FiOS1. The fiber network channel will present live telecasts of at least three Rutgers women’s basketball games per season, as well as one contest per year for RU men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse.

“This partnership is consistent with our goal of providing greater media exposure for all of our student-athletes,” said Rutgers University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tim Pernetti. “We are proud to partner with Verizon and we look forward to working together to provide more of the Rutgers Athletics experience to our loyal and growing fan base.”

FiOS1 was launched this morning. The channel is delivered via Verizon’s fiber network, which produces amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming. Verizon’s FiOS TV service was selected as the top-ranked residential television service provider in the Northeast region by J.D. Power for 2008.  FiOS TV is currently available to more than 9.2 million homes in 14 states: California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

The Rutgers contests to be televised on FiOS1 have yet to be determined. For additional information on FiOS TV, visit http://www22.verizon.com/residential/fiostv/.