 By August 2003, The Football Network signed the Atlantic 10 Conference, followed by the Patriot and Pioneer leagues and the Southern, Big Sky, and Big South conferences.For the University of Maine Black Bears, an Atlantic 10 team, TFN planned to produced and simulcast live eight games for Fox Sports Net New England and the network.The National Cable Television Cooperative signed a master agreement with the network by August 18 for its member cable operators to allow them to pick up the channel.