What:
ESPNU is a multimedia college sports initiative, including a 24-hour television network and ESPNU.com, an online college sports media hub.
When:
The network launched “03-04-05” – Friday, March 4, 2005, during the eve of Championship Week (a week-long series of basketball conference tournament games).
TV Network Programming and Distribution:
The ESPNU schedule features more than 550 live events (regular-season and championships) annually. Action includes a variety of top football and men’s and women’s basketball mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, such as SportsCenterU and simulcasts of ESPN Radio’s The Herd with Colin Cowherd, replays of ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games, plus specials and more.
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ESPNU anchor Lowell Galindo |
ESPNU’s college football schedule features close to 70 exclusive games annually, including appearances by Top 25 teams from a selection of Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) conferences – the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC, along with games involving Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) programs from the Big Sky, MEAC, Ohio Valley, Southern and SWAC.
Each season, ESPNU televises nearly 250 men’s and women’s basketball games, including regular season and conference tournament matchups from a wide variety of schools representing 27 different conferences.
The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA calling for extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.
ESPNU will be available nationwide in more than 55 million households and has long-term carriage agreements with nine of the top 10 providers - Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV (Channel 614), DISH Network (Channel 141), Mediacom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon FiOS TV and AT&T U-verse.
ESPNU HD:
ESPN launched its fourth HD service on August 28, 2008, with the start of the college football season on ESPNU HD. Projected to air more than 200 HD events in its first year, ESPNU HD offers exclusive live event coverage of college football, basketball, lacrosse, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling, hockey and more as well as encore presentations of ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD and ABC HD college sports content.
ESPNU.COM:
ESPNU.com, the online college sports hub, joined the ESPN.com family in August 2006. It is the online companion to the ESPNU college sports television network, functioning as the home for college sports multi-media content.
ESPNU CAMPUS CONNECTION:
Launched in August 2007, working with college students, professors and athletic departments, ESPNU Campus Connection incorporates student-generated content across multiple ESPN platforms.
ERT:
ESPN Regional Television (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, Inc., handles the primary production responsibilities for the ESPNU television network out of its Charlotte, N.C. headquarters. ERT is the nation's largest syndicator of college sports programming with more than 900 events produced each year, accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours.
For a downloadable logo and related photos, go to www.espnmediazone.com