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Something strange has been happening with my DIRECTV subscription this past week. CBS College Sports Network and VS (yes VS) has been available on my television even though it is not part of my CHOICE^™ subscription package.

I only found out because I walked in the house to find SWMBO, who hates sports TV, watching the NCAA Women's D-I Lacrosse Championship replay on CBS College Sports. "I am not watching sports, I am watching lacrosse, " she said.

I chose not to mince words with her on that one. But I did choose to watch the replay of the thrilling NCAA Men's D-II Lacrosse championship game between Le Moyne and C.W. Post. Watch is the operative word because the audio was worse then I have experienced on the worst of the regional networks or syndicated packages.

But that reminded me that I had forgotten to post about the news that ESPNU will be available to subscribers of the DIRECTV CHOICE™ package starting on July 1, 2009. I have been missing ESPN Classic since that got taken out of the package, and frankly have no real interest in watching the Big Ten Network, which is in the package. But I am looking forward to seeing ESPNU and what I may have been missing there. I am not looking forward to see what they may drop in the change.

Here is the press release from DIRECTV.

Disney and ESPN Media Networks and DIRECTV, Inc., today announced an agreement to widen its distribution of ESPNU to DIRECTV's CHOICE^™ programming package beginning July 1. ESPNU will now be available to more than 46 million college sports fans across the country. As part of the agreement, DIRECTV will also launch ESPNU HD by the end of the first quarter 2010. Additionally, ESPN Classic will be repackaged into the DIRECTV SPORTS PACK.

ESPNU provides college sports fans with more than 550 live events annually and televises some of the top Division I conferences in the nation, including: the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA that includes extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

"ESPNU is committed to college sports programming 365 days a year, and this move to DIRECTV's CHOICE package allows better access for college sports fans -- nationwide -- to all of the quality content provided on the network," said David C. Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Media Networks.

"DIRECTV continues to offer the best sports programming to its customers," said Derek Chang, executive vice president, Content Strategy and Development, DIRECTV, Inc. "By expanding the distribution of ESPNU, we take that commitment to another level for all college sports fans across the country."