Being a fan of Utah State and following the Aggies hasn't always been easy.

The school is about 85 miles away on often-snowy roads from Salt Lake City, and limited television and radio broadcasts along the Wasatch Front have kept many Aggies at a distance.

That changed Monday when Utah State announced a multi-year television deal Monday aimed at increasing the exposure the school's athletic teams receive.

The new agreement with CW30 — the network best known for its programming targeted at women from ages 18-34 with shows such as "America's Next Top Model," "Gossip Girl," "The Vampire Diaries" and "90210" — may seem like an odd marriage in some ways, but it will ultimately see the Aggies on TV at least 15 times per year.

"It is an agreement that will reach beyond the borders of Utah and will provide continued coverage throughout the states of Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho," USU athletic director Scott Barnes said. "That, I think, along with our existing and relatively new agreement with ESPN, puts us in a position we have not been in, in terms of our opportunity to cast a wider net to Aggie fans everywhere."

The deal was finalized over the weekend, and all the loose ends are being tied down, meaning the first Utah State game to be broadcast will be Saturday's home football game against Nevada.

CW30 is available locally on DirecTV, Dish Network and Comcast as well as over the air.

Utah State's coaches see the announcement as a big positive as they try to develop their programs.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our athletic facilities, Utah State University, the city of Logan and Cache Valley to viewers across the country," USU football coach Gary Andersen said. "It is also a terrific recruiting tool to be able to go into homes and tell a student-athlete's family that they can watch their son in a nationally televised game."

For starters, the broadcast arrangement will carry a schedule of events primarily held in Logan. But Barnes said broadcasting mostly home games isn't a big concern.

"What we look at is what an unbelievable product we have and an opportunity to showcase our student athletes and coaches to a broad audience that is going to grow our attendance," he said. "So we don't look at that as a negative at all."

Another detail that may additionally increase the number of televised Aggie games is the school's partnership with Learfield Communications — eight of the nine WAC schools are partners with Learfield — that could see several games broadcast on mutually beneficial reciprocal exchanges of satellite feeds.