Virginia Tech and Virginia fans are no doubt looking forward to their men's basketball teams squaring off tonight.

Many won't be able to watch the game, though, because it has been relegated to ESPNU.

"No question, it's a problem," said Ken Haines, president of Raycom Sports, which owns the ACC's basketball TV rights and arranges the TV deals with various networks. "We'd probably receive less complaints if the game wasn't on at all, rather than being on a limited-distribution outlet."

While a duel between the Hokies and Cavaliers creates excitement within the commonwealth, it holds much less interest among TV executives.

When the TV folks looked over this season's ACC schedule, ESPN and ESPN2 didn't jump at the chance to air the game. Fox SportsNet didn't grab it for its regional channels, so it won't be on Comcast SportsNet. Raycom didn't snatch it up for its syndicated package, which is why it won't be on WDBJ or WCW5.

So this will be one of six ACC men's basketball games on ESPNU this season.

"We can't apologize for taking it once it dropped to us," ESPNU vice president and general Burke Magnus said.

The other reason this game wound up on ESPNU is because ESPN and ESPN2 get time-slot exclusivity for their ACC broadcasts. Midway through the selection process, ESPN decided to pick tonight's Duke-Florida State and North Carolina-Georgia Tech games for a doubleheader. Once that happened, Fox SportsNet and Raycom weren't allowed to pick the Hokies-Cavs game to compete with those other two games. At that point, ESPNU became the only option.

So why not do what's best for ACC fans, and refuse to give ESPN exclusivity in its contract?

"That's awful hard to negotiate," Haines said.

ESPNU audience still limited

Only 20 million homes have ESPNU as part of their cable or satellite package. By comparison, ESPN and ESPN2 are available in about 96 million homes.

ESPNU -- which debuted in 2005 -- will air 23 games this season involving ACC men's basketball teams, including nonconference games such as UVa's November win over Northwestern. It aired ACC football games last fall.

ESPNU could do Tech and UVa fans a favor and offer tonight's telecast to Raycom affiliates around the state, such as WDBJ or WCW5.

After all, the NFL Network let CBS and NBC simulcast its Giants-Patriots game last month. But ESPNU doesn't want to do that.

"It wouldn't be fair to Cox and Verizon and Dish and DirecTV and those ... we've cut deals with if we just opened it up," Magnus said.

Comcast, which provides cable TV to nine counties and four cities in this area, does not offer ESPNU to its customers nationwide. Comcast spokespeople refused to explain why the two sides haven't struck a deal.

"There's not a specific issue that's hung things up," Magnus said.

ESPNU also isn't carried by JetBroadband, which serves five counties and two cities in this area. But that will soon change. JetBroadband vice president of operations John Brinker said his company will add ESPNU as a digital cable channel next month.

Rapid Cable (Alleghany County) and MediaOne Cable (Bland County) don't carry ESPNU, either.

Citizens Cablevision, which serves four counties in the area, not only carries ESPNU as a digital channel but also as part of its expanded basic cable package.

Cox Communications, which serves Roanoke and part of Roanoke County, offers ESPNU only to its digital cable customers.

Cox's Roanoke office did ask ESPNU if it could also put tonight's telecast on its expanded-basic Ch. 52 so more of its customers could watch the Hokies and Cavs. ESPNU refused, said Cox spokesman Mike Pedelty.

Intrastate game not attractive to Raycom

While the ACC football games are picked by TV on a week-by-week basis during the season, the basketball games are doled out all at once, before the season.

Think of the process like a draft. For weeknight ACC games such as the Hokies-Cavs, the parties are ESPN/ESPN2, Fox SportsNet (on behalf of CSN and others) and the Raycom syndicated package.

ESPN/ESPN2 picks a handful of games, then Fox SportsNet, then Raycom. The process continues for more rounds. Once the draft is over, ESPNU gets to pick from whatever is left.

Why didn't Raycom snatch up the Tech-UVa game during the first half of the draft, before ESPN took Duke-FSU and time-slot exclusivity kicked in? Didn't Raycom know how much ACC fans in the commonwealth would want to see this game?

Haines said interstate games are more attractive to Raycom, which has affiliates throughout ACC territory.

"Virginia-Virginia Tech's primary interest is in one state," said Haines, a former Tech radio announcer. "We could get a higher ... rating between two teams that were in different states.

"You've only got so many games. You have to make a call."

Raycom did select the Cavs' Feb. 2 visit to Tech, so that game will be on WDBJ.

The ACC could have moved tonight's Hokies-Cavs game to Tuesday or Thursday once exclusivity became a problem. That would have enabled Raycom or CSN to air it.

But associate commissioner Karl Hicks said the ACC didn't want to do that. A Tuesday game would have occurred just two days after UVa played Duke.

A Thursday game would occur just two days before the Hokies' and Cavs' next games.

ESPNU's ACC deal is separate from the ESPN/ESPN2 contract. The ACC and rights-holder Raycom aren't required to give ESPNU any games under the ESPN/ESPN2 contract.

So why do it, considering ESPNU's limited audience?

"It's better to have it on somewhere than not have it on at all," Haines said.