Fans like Kathleen Higashiguchi will pay slightly more for an expanded menu of University of Hawai'i pay-per-view cable offerings under a new package announced by KFVE yesterday.

A 15-event season ticket — the largest offering in the five years of pay-per-view — will cost $285, a rise by an average of $4.42 per game for O'ahu renewal subscribers, according to KFVE and Oceanic Time Warner Cable officials. New O'ahu customers will pay $350, an increase of $6.67 per game.

"We'll still continue (even with a rise in charges)," said Higashiguchi, who is part of a group that assembles around a 60-inch TV to follow the Warriors.

Neighbor Island renewals will cost $135, up $4 per event from 2005, and new Neighbor Island customers will be charged $175, up $5.42 per event.

Sold individually, events will range from $50 to $60 on O'ahu and $25 to $30 on the Neighbor Islands.

The package includes nine football games (eight home games, plus the season opener at Alabama), three Rainbow Wahine volleyball matches and three men's basketball games, according to John Fink, vice president and general manager of KFVE. Last year's package had 12 events, Fink said.

"Because we went from six (football games) last year to nine (this year), it is going to look like a big jump (in price) but when you take it on a per-game basis, the price didn't go up very much at all," said Norman Santos, Oceanic vice president for operations.

In an effort to boost lagging UH football season-ticket sales, KFVE and Oceanic will offer the Sept. 2 game at Alabama free to season-ticket holders who purchase their tickets prior to Aug. 11, Fink said. He said it will be available to addresses that correspond with those of season-ticket holders that have digital cable boxes.

"We want to try and help out UH," Fink said.

Santos said what Oceanic is "trying to do is sort of a blending of the two, stadium seat (holders) and people who couldn't see the away game, and try to bonus it for the people who are going to the stadium."

UH athletic director Herman Frazier said the free telecast of the Alabama game "is a small token of our appreciation to our loyal fans.

"Mahalo to KFVE and Oceanic Time Warner Cable for their continuing partnership and for helping us extend this offer to our football season-ticket holders," Frazier said in a statement. "Going forward, we'll continue to find ways to reward our loyal supporters and create excitement in the community for UH sports."

Fink said the Rainbow Wahine volleyball showings will be the Sept. 9 match with Stanford, Sept. 14 with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Oct. 16 with Notre Dame. Men's basketball showings will be Dec. 5 with Nevada-Las Vegas and the Dec. 23 championship and third place games of the Rainbow Classic.

For their pay-per-view purchase, Fink said customers will receive two showings of each event. UH football games will still be shown free on a next-day basis.

Since its 2002 inception, pay-per-view sales have topped more than $3 million. Revenue reached an all-time high, $1.56 million, last year despite a decline in sales. KFVE said it had 7,809 sales in 2005, down from 8,997 in 2004.

"We hope to do a little bit better than last year and we think we have a better package with the three additional football games, including the premium game at Alabama," Fink said.

For its share in 2005, UH received approximately $65,000, while its partners, KFVE and Oceanic earned $922,500 and $562,500, respectively. UH does not receive any fees until sales pass $1 million because it already gets $1.75 million in TV rights fees through its KFVE TV contract.

Fink said approximately 70 percent of pay-per-view sales "have traditionally been through season packages."

The face value of an adult football season ticket, depending upon location, costs from $99 to $145 this season plus premium seating fees, where applicable. Approximately 57 percent require the premium fee.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.