For the first time in several years, KTUU won't broadcast the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday morning, and Lucas expects to hear about it.

Instead, GCI -- one of the race's principal sponsors -- will offer live coverage of Saturday's ceremonial start, Sunday's restart in Willow and the finish in Nome on cable channel 1. There will be a live uplink to Alaska Rural Communications Service (ARCS) broadcasts statewide and rebroadcasts will be available on demand on channel 777.

Channel 2 reaches 160,000 homes in Southcentral Alaska and GCI reaches about two-thirds of that audience, Lucas said.

That will leave about 53,000 Southcentral homes without televised coverage of the Iditarod start and finish, although it will be available on the Iditarod's subscription video service called Iditarod Insider.

Iditarod executive director Stan Hooley said the switch will save money, because the race will no longer be paying Channel 2 to broadcast the event.

"Our motivation was indeed to conserve money," Hooley said. "Costs for services by contracting with KTUU had been increasing over the years and the indication was that our costs could nearly double this year."

Neither Hooley nor Lucas would say how much Iditarod paid Channel 2, though it was clearly tens of thousands of dollars. GCI spokesman David Morris said GCI and the Iditarod will pay their own costs in the new deal.

"Stan's plan is to control the media," Lucas said. "He purchases production capability, and for several years he purchased production capability from us."

While some Southcentral race fans may suffer, Hooley said other parts of the state will benefit from ARCS telecasts that reach more than 230 rural communities, "many of which have close ties to dog mushing," he said.

"As important as Alaska is in terms of truly knowledgeable race fans and unwavering support, a big part of our overall strategy ... is having our live productions streamed live worldwide, as the majority of race fans don't have an Alaskan zip code," he said.

While KTUU will continue to cover the race on its newscasts and website with a news crew on the trail from start to finish, losing the ceremonial start telecast will hurt. Lucas said last year's telecast generated ratings similar to Sunday night NFL games, typically one of the biggest shows of the week during football season.

"There's prestige to it, absolutely," Lucas said. "I was just so proud of our involvement with the race. The Iditarod is one of the defining statements about Alaska.

"But they're an independent group and wanted to try something different."

Greg Heister and seven-time Iditarod finisher Bruce Lee will combine on the GCI broadcast. Heister has produced six Iditarod Insider documentaries, which have collected four regional Emmy awards. Lee has been KTUU's analyst for the start and finish the last three years.

GCI's Morris said the Iditarod deal will helps GCI move in a different direction.

"Historically, GCI has been in the pipeline business -- whether the pipes were cable TV cables, cable modem lines or telephone lines. We just delivered content to consumers.

"By working with Iditarod, we do more than just deliver content. We move into the arena of providing content.

"We've been tip-toeing into this the past couple of years with live (coverage) of events like Aces championship games, Seawolves hockey and the Ted Stevens funeral."

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Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

TV coverage GCI (cable Channel 1) Ceremonial start in Anchorage -- 9:30 a.m. Saturday Restart in Willow -- 1:45 p.m. Sunday Finish -- Live when the first team arrives in Nome