Spartan athletics officials say the switch from a free to a pay service for watching games online has improved coverage of Spartan sports, including press conferences and extra content of less visible teams.

Since the fall, www.msuspartans.com has been charging a fee to users for the right to view athletic events online. Subscribers pay either $6.95 or $13.95 per month, based on the coverage they desire.

As of Wednesday, MSU had 1,200 subscribers and $5,000 in revenue. MSU has the second-highest subscription of any school affiliated with the Official College Sports Network, the live audio and video supplier for MSU and 136 other schools - only Notre Dame has more subscribers.

"The one thing this did for us was to give us versatility," MSU Assistant Athletics Director John Lewandowski said.

MSU officials made the switch to a paid service after the network dropped its agreement with Yahoo! this past summer and teamed up with RealNetworks.

Together, both networks provide streaming audio and video for MSU sporting events, as well as press conferences and other less-covered sports - the latter two were not covered under the Yahoo! plan.

MSU now shows home and away volleyball games on the Internet. The Web site also aired two nontelevised football games during the 2002 season and showed the press conference in which football head coach John L. Smith was hired.

Lewandowski said other benefits to subscribers include the opportunity to view live coverage of professional sports and a quickened transfer from the networks to users' computers.

Official College Sports Network President Jeff Cravens said many subscribers are "displaced fans," or people who aren't from areas near the university. Cravens is also uncertain as to what additional services his company will offer in the future.

"There was no concept as to what should be on the site, but as we get more users