It’s a happy day for NCAA water polo fans.

Or for that matter, anyone interested in watching college sports not generally given equal exposure in the media.

Effective in January, the Official College Sports Network (OCSN) will be operated by College Sports Television (CSTV), the fastest growing independent cable network and first 24-hour college sports network. As a result, a wider range of collegiate athletics will receive television exposure.

CSTV plans to combine the on-air and online realms of college sports and to bring additional revenue opportunities to schools and conferences.

“The acquisition of OCSN will accelerate our efforts to build the new home of college sports across multiple platforms,” said Brian Bedol, president and CEO of CSTV. “The OCSN network of sites gives CSTV a daily dialogue with the most passionate, valuable demographic in college sports, thus enabling us to provide enhanced value to our partner universities, conferences, distributors and sponsors.”

The change is the result of a merge between Student Advantage, Inc.—which previously maintained the OCSN websites—and Athena Venture Parents, Inc. Though the owner of Athena Ventures, Raymond V. Sozzi, Jr., is also the President and CEO of Student Advantage, Inc., the two companies were not officially together.

Harvard’s own athletic website—gocrimson.com—is part of the OCSN network, the largest and most widely used network of college sports information.

OCSN also operates CollegeSports.com, the most-trafficked web site devoted exclusively to college sports news and information. More than 1,000 collegiate administrators around the nation continuously feed news, information and statistics to OCSN’s sites.

CSTV is currently available to approximately 15 million homes nationally on cable and satellite.

CSTV has jumped into action quickly. In early November, CSTV reached an agreement with Columbia Broadcasting Service (CBS) Sports for the rights to produce and televise nine NCAA Championship events.

For the first time, viewers will get the chance to see lesser known sports like women’s hockey, water polo, lacrosse and field hockey.

“We are thrilled that CSTV will be airing our first rematch with Minnesota Duluth in December,” said Harvard women’s hockey coach Katey Stone. “Any exposure that women’s college hockey can get nationally is helpful to the growth of our sport. It’s great for Harvard and all the great fans of our program around the country.”

Last spring, CSTV televised NCAA regular and post-season action for Division-I baseball, women’s gymnastics and lacrosse, outdoor track and field and Division-III women’s lacrosse. The network also provided a full schedule of regular season baseball and men’s and women’s lacrosse games.

The extra exposure for the less popular sports is something Harvard coaches are excited about.

“Water polo athletes, and coaches, understand that their sport will not be seen on television frequently, if ever,” men’s water polo Scott Russell said. “I think every college athlete would enjoy the opportunity to have one or more of their contests broadcast on television, and an increase in the opportunity for this to happen would very likely be welcomed.”