ESPN Upfront: SportsCenter Takes Over
SportsCenter's Scott Van Pelt by Rich Arden/ESPN
ESPN held its upfront presentation Tuesday morning at the Nokia Theater in New York. Anchors
Scott Van Pelt and
Steve Levy hosted the event as a mock
SportsCenter episode. The 80-minute presentation was light on programming announcements, but the biggest news was the addition of a block of live
SportsCenters from 6 am to 3 pm/ET, beginning Monday, Aug. 11. A new web site, SportsCenter.com, will also debut in August. It was also confirmed that
The Early Show's
Hannah Storm
will be one of the new anchors for this block. In other
SportsCenter news, a 1 am/ET edition produced live in Los Angeles, will premiere on April 9, 2009.
Other new programming includes
ESPN Homecoming, an profile/interview show with
Rick Reilly, who the network poached from
Sports Illustrated
last fall.
Features reporter, deadpan "comedian" and
Dancing With the Stars vet
Kenny Mayne will host a new humor show for espn.com called
Mayne Street.
ESPN will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2009 with "30 For 30," a series of sports-themed documentaries. The first, premiering Sept. 7, 2009, will be directed by
Spike Lee.
