In 1961, while working for the PGW TV sales firm, Vic Piano was approached by the Peach Bowl Football Game in Atlanta, looking for a way to get the game televised when the three major networks rejected its coverage. Piano enlisted his brother Claude and they formed the Mizlou Television Network, an ad hoc network that became the most successful of its kind. The Pianos enlisted independent TV stations and network stations in times when the networks weren't telecasting and began a 30-year run of covering college and pro sports that otherwise were not covered.
Mizlou covered more college bowl games than any other network in its era, and also covered college basketball, NASL Soccer, boxing, and LPGA golf. In the 1980s Mizlou gave NASCAR its first regular national television coverage and was a telecasting pioneer of the Pro Rodeo circuit as well. In the 1980's cable networks like ESPN took over many of the properties and in the early 1990s Mizlou sold their programming library to Reach Entertainment and shifted their focus to an all-sports news network (Mizlou Sports News Network). Unfortunately for the network, the channel soon went dark. During this time Mizlou director Roger Schwing is credited with the creation of the 'Isolite' slow-motion replay.
