— The Carolina RailHawks and Capitol Broadcasting Company have announced a dramatically expanded match broadcast partnership for the 2015 season. For the first time, CBC will live broadcast all RailHawks away games this year via its panoply of media platforms.

All 15 away matches will be broadcast on television on WRAL-2, available over the air on channel 5.2, Time Warner Cable digital channel 1255, Charter Cable channel 80 and assorted other television distributors.

The audio broadcast of all RailHawks home and at least eight away games will also be available over high definition radio channel 99.9-HD3 The Ticket, WRALSportsFan.com and the WRAL mobile apps (both WRALSportsFan and WRAL News).

In addition, particular marquee matches like Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup games, high-profile friendlies and possible playoff games can be broadcast via these CBC outlets.

This is the first time the RailHawks broadcast partnership with CBC has included regular season RailHawks away games. RailHawks President Curt Johnson says the goal of this partnership is for the club’s broadcasts to reach more people in terms of quantity and quality.

“This is above and beyond what we’ve invested in the past,” Johnson says. “It’s a six-figure investment on an ongoing basis for the RailHawks toward production, technology and on-air talent costs.”

The RailHawks also announced that Dean Linke will return for his ninth season as the team’s primary play-by-play announcer, teaming this year with Sam Stockley, a former veteran England player and currently director of the RailHawks Elite Technique program.

According to a club official, there is no formal plan to broadcast RailHawks regular season home games via WRAL-2, although that option remains available on a game-by-game basis. Last season’s TV broadcast partnership between the RailHawks and CBC comprised at least six home game telecasts.

Online streaming video of nearly every home and away game will be available on ESPN3 as the result of a previously announced broadcast arrangement through the North American Soccer League (NASL). At this time, online streaming video of RailHawks games will not be available via WRALSportsFan.com, only the match audio feed.

The one RailHawks match this year not available via ESPN3 is the August 30 away game at the New York Cosmos. However, a RailHawks official says that match will be broadcast on WRAL-2 and the other WRAL audio outlets via the new arrangement with CBC.

This expanded local broadcast partnership, as well as the NASL’s league-wide online arrangement with ESPN3, dovetails off new upgrades in broadcast production and transmission mandated by the league. Each NASL team was required to establish two dedicated IP lines with a minimum upload speed of 30 mbps at their home stadium. Also, each team must have a minimum of four manned cameras for each match telecast.

Also, each NASL team installed LTN technology for the delivery of HD video feeds to all league and local broadcast partners, including the visiting teams local broadcast partner. In conjunction, each team is also required to deliver a fully produced “dirty” HD feed to league streaming partners, and a “clean” feed scrubbed of graphics and audio besides stadium sound to the away team and their local broadcast partner, if applicable. This allows the away team to overlay their own match broadcast tailored to their particular market, including local announcers, advertising and pre/post-game video packages.

Indeed, Johnson says that of the 15 away match telecasts, approximately eight will be produced at CBC’s local studios using the RailHawks’ announcers and locally produced advertising and graphics laid over ambient stadium sound from the remote venue. The remaining away games will be broadcast using the video and audio feed from the home team.

The RailHawks open their 2015 regular season this Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. against the Ottawa Fury at WakeMed Soccer Park. The match will be broadcast live online on ESPN3 and via radio at 99.9-HD3 The Ticket.