With the 2009 BIG EAST Women's and Men's Basketball Championships including more games and more teams than in any previous year, the conference is announcing unprecedented online coverage of the tournaments on www.BIGEAST.org, powered by JumpTV.

The BIG EAST, in conjunction with its Digital Media Partner, JumpTV, will offer exclusive free live video streams of the four first-round games of both the women's championship on Friday, March 6 and the men's championship on Tuesday, March 10 through the conference's official streaming video platform, BIGEAST.tv.

This year will be the first in which BIG EAST Men's Basketball Championship games can be seen exclusively on the BIG EAST Web site. Exclusive online coverage of the BIG EAST Women's and Men's Basketball Championships is sponsored by New York Life Insurance Company.

The second round of the Women's Championship will be televised on selected regional stations and can also be seen live on BIGEAST.tv on March 7. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be carried on ESPNU, with the championship game airing live on ESPN March 10.

The Men's Championship's second-round, quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds will be televised live on ESPN and can be seen online at ESPN360.com.

First-round games will not be televised for either tournament.

All 16 conference teams will play in the 2009 BIG EAST Championships. The Women's Championship takes place March 6-10 at XL Center in Hartford, Conn. The Men's Championship is March 10-14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. First-round games will feature the No. 9 seed against the No. 16 seed, the No. 12 seed against the No. 13 seed, the No. 10 seed against the No. 15 seed, and the No. 11 seed against the No. 14 seed.

Tuesday's winners will face the Nos. 5-8 seeds in the second round of the respective tournaments. Those winners, in turn, will face the top four seeds in the quarterfinals.

In addition to the eight live women's games and four men's games, BIGEAST.tv will feature the most complete and comprehensive video coverage of both the Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. This year's coverage will include exclusive behind-the-scenes feature videos, highlights and press conferences from all 30 games of the men's and women's tournaments. Users should visit the Women's and Men's Basketball Championship Central pages on www.BIGEAST.org for complete coverage of both tournaments.

Online viewers also will be able to click to links on New York Life's Web site to contact an agent about their life insurance needs or learn about a career as New York Life agent. New York Life agents will also be available on site at the BIG EAST Men's tournament on March 10 to provide product and career information in person.