Since the advent of televised sports in the early 1940s, professional and collegiate athletes have filled the airwaves on the road to fame. Until recently, these talented and subsequently wealthy athletes were predominately males.

However, in the last decade, female athletes have stepped out of the shadows of their male counterparts and into the spotlight of national television. This trend is perhaps best reflected in the growing television contracts of Big Ten women's sports.

"The most satisfying aspect of Big Ten women's basketball has been increased game attendance and television coverage," said Karen Langeland, Michigan State's women's basketball coach. "Both aspects have gone from virtually nothing to leading the country."

Women's basketball first gained coverage in the early 1980s, but was usually just a part of the larger men's basketball television packages. By the end of the decade, however, women's basketball began to earn air time by its own merit. Last year, for the first time, a Big Ten regular season women's basketball game was seen on national television.

"We believe that there is an untapped market for women's collegiate basketball, and in particular, Big Ten basketball," said John Tuohey, director of programming for SportsChannel Chicago. "The first year of our Big Ten women's basketball series was such a success that the package, along with the other Big Ten programs, will be made avaliable to other SportsChannel regional networks across the country."

In the series, which aired on seven Sundays during last year's season, each Big Ten team made an appearance.

The Lady Lions will make a national television appearance on CBS this season as part of the Big Ten-Southeastern Conference Challenge. The two-game series, slated for Dec. 28, features two schools from each conference. In the first game, Vanderbilt will meet Iowa, and in the second contest, Penn State will play defending national champion Tennessee.

"We (Penn State) will be making our debut on national television," said Mary Jo Haverbeck, associate sports information director. "We have made appearences on smaller cable companies, but never on national television."

In addition to the Big Ten-Southeastern Conference Challenge, CBS will air two nationally televised women's basketball games in each of the next four years.

"CBS has developed the reputation of being the network of college basketball," said Len DeLuca, vice president of sports progamming for CBS. "CBS has televised the women's championship game for several years and in 1991 we added the women's Final Four semifinal games to our programming. Regular season women's basketball games add another exciting dimension to our collegiate programming."

ESPN, which broadcast four women's basketball games last year, will continue coverage of women's sports through 1997.

Women's basketball will not be the only women's sport receiveing coverage. Prime Sports Network, a national cable comapny based in Denver, Colo., will air several Big Ten women's championships. In February of next year, Prime Sports will televise the women's swimming and diving championships from Indianapolis. In March of 1992, the cable company will broadcast the women's indoor track and field championships from Columbus, Ohio, and the women's gymnastics championships from East Lansing, Mich. Prime Sports will wrap up their Big Ten chamionship coverage with the women's outdoor track and field championships in late May.

ESPN will air a volleyball match, a basketball game and two half-hour specials featuring Big Ten women's sports.

"The Big Ten has the responsibilty to manage close to 200 television events each year," said Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany in a recent press release. "No other conference or sports organization can match the number of television hours, or diversity of events of the Big Ten."