 |
|
| For Immediate Release |
ESPN PR
|
| October 23, 2008 | 860-766-2000
|
ESPN Tips Off NBA Season Featuring Unmatched Multi-Platform CoverageAll ESPN Telecasts Live on ESPN360.com and Mobile TV; ESPN Games Live on ESPN Radio, ESPNRadio.comESPN begins its multimedia coverage of the 2008-09 NBA season with an unmatched array of live event coverage, highlights, news, information and analysis across the many platforms and applications fans use to connect to the NBA. Live event coverage will feature 72 game telecasts on ESPN highlighted by a consistent primetime lineup Wednesdays and Fridays on ESPN (with frequent doubleheaders) and select Sunday night telecasts. ABC will feature 18 exclusive NBA Sunday broadcasts beginning with a Christmas Day doubleheader, Thursday, Dec. 25. All ESPN and ABC NBA programming will be available in high definition. ESPN will tip off its regular-season coverage of the NBA season will begin with doubleheaders Wednesday, Oct. 29 – Phoenix at San Antonio at 8 p.m., followed by the Los Angeles Lakers at the L.A. Clippers at 10:30 p.m. Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy will call the Phoenix/San Antonio telecast, while Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown will call the Lakers/Clippers contest.
ESPN’s season-long coverage of the 2008-09 NBA season will include extensive digital multimedia content including:
In addition to these applications, ESPN will continue to introduce new and exciting NBA content provided across digital platforms throughout the season.
ESPN’s opening week television schedule:
ESPN’s Television Coverage of the NBA ABC ABC, the home of the NBA Finals, will broadcast 18 exclusive windows featuring the NBA Sunday “Game of the Week” each Sunday beginning Jan. 25 – including six doubleheaders. ABC will also offer a special Christmas Day doubleheader, featuring San Antonio at Phoenix at 2:30 p.m., followed by an NBA Finals rematch between the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers and reigning MVP Kobe Bryant at 5:15 p.m. Additionally, ABC will feature a flexible schedule allowing for the best possible matchups throughout the season.
ESPN ESPN will present live coverage of 72 regular-season games – Wednesdays, Fridays and select Sundays. ESPN’s telecasts will continue to incorporate flexible scheduling. For the second season in a row, ESPN will offer a Christmas game, Tuesday, Dec. 25 at noon when the Orlando Magic host the New Orleans Hornets.
ESPN Deportes Tipping off its coverage Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 10:30 p.m. with the Los Angeles Lakers visiting the Los Angeles Clippers, ESPN Deportes will offer fans the league’s most complete season-long coverage on a Spanish-language network. The network will televise 22 NBA regular-season games, primarily Wednesday and Friday night games.
ESPN International This season, ESPN International will televise more than 60 live NBA games, including regular-season and playoff action, to more than 120 countries and territories throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific Rim. Coverage will include supporting programs such as NBA Action and NBA Shootaround. The network provides Spanish-, Portuguese-, and English-language commentary on its NBA telecasts. In addition, ESPN International will televise the NBA Finals and All-Star game for the ESPN Pac-Rim networks (Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Sub-Saharan Africa). Studio Programming NBA studio programming includes ABC’s NBA Countdown pre-game show; ESPN’s Kia NBA Shootaround pre-game show; the nightly NBA Fastbreak highlight, news and information show; the weekly NBA Matchup program focusing on the x’s and o’s breakdown of the game; and ESPN2’s NBA Coast to Coast Tuesday night whip-around format show with live cut-ins to games plus highlights, news and analysis.
SportsCenter ESPN’s SportsCenter will provide in-depth, up-to-the-minute NBA news, analysis and perspective through highlights, features, interviews and on-site reports.
Additionally, other ESPN and ESPN2 studio news, information and opinion programs such as Outside the Lines, ESPN First Take, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn and Rome is Burning will offer NBA discussion throughout the 2008-09 season.
ESPNEWS ESPNEWS, the nation’s only 24-hour sports news network, will cover the league featuring breaking news coverage, in-progress highlights, in-depth analysis, live press conferences, interviews with NBA players and team officials. ESPNEWS shows will regularly include NBA segments throughout the season. ESPNEWS will open the season by previewing each NBA division through Tuesday, Oct. 28.
ESPN Classic ESPN Classic will televise a 12-hour NBA marathon timed to the start of the NBA season on Sunday, Oct. 26 (beginning at 10 a.m.). ESPN Classic will continue to celebrate great games throughout the season by designating them as Instant Classics. In addition, a mix of weekly NBA programming will be featured throughout the season.
ESPN’s Digital Media Coverage of the NBA ESPN360.com For the first time, ESPN360.com – ESPN’s signature live sports broadband television network – will offer every ESPN and ESPN2 NBA regular-season and playoff game live, providing fans an additional outlet for taking in their favorite NBA action. ESPN360.com, available in more than 24 million homes, offers a global lineup of more than 3,000 live sports events per year.
ESPN Fantasy Basketball With a brand new, totally free customizable league manager-style game, ESPN Fantasy Basketball enters its 13th season. With the launch of the new game, ESPN Fantasy Basketball has already seen 11 times the growth in participation. It offers multiple drafting options, live scoring and the best collection of fantasy news and analysis available. http://games.espn.go.com/frontpage/basketball.
ESPN.com ESPN.com brings fans the biggest and best team of NBA reporters, analysts and commentators in the industry, including Marc Stein, Chris Sheridan, J.A. Adande, The Sports Guy Bill Simmons, “TrueHoop’s” Henry Abbott, ESPN Insiders John Hollinger, Chad Ford and David Thorpe, and ESPN The Magazine writers Stephen A. Smith, Ric Bucher and Chris Broussard. That team delivers 24/7 coverage including daily news, scores, stats, analysis, video, podcasts, commentary, live chats and polls, the best in premium content and more. Highlights include:
ESPN Mobile Properties ESPN Mobile TV, the 24/7 mobile video network, will feature live mobile simulcasts of nearly every ESPN NBA telecast, as well as ESPN’s pre- and post-game studio coverage and live streaming of ESPN’s NBA Fast Break on Tuesday nights.
ESPN’s mobile website will provide scores, analysis, news and information to any user with a mobile phone that has internet access.
ESPN MVP, available to VCast subscribers on Verizon Wireless, will also provide these features as well as video highlights and the ability to manage ESPN Fantasy Basketball teams.
ESPN in EA SPORTS NBA LIVE 09 ESPN NBA content, including news, video clips, podcasts and more are again integrated directly into EA SPORTS’ NBA LIVE 09.
Additional ESPN Media Coverage ESPN Radio, ESPNRadio.com The NBA on ESPN Radio will tip off its 14h season Tuesday, Oct. 28, and for the first time, ESPNRadio.com will simulcast every live ESPN Radio NBA broadcast - including 26 regular season games (including the Christmas Day Celtics-Lakers game), four All Star Weekend Specials (including 58th All Star Game), 10 early round playoff games, every game of the Eastern & Western Conference Finals, every game of the NBA Finals and the NBA Draft.
ESPN Radio and ESPNRadio.com’s season opens with the NBA champion Boston Celtics open their season at home – in a broadcast including the ring ceremony – against the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James at 7:35 p.m. ET.
Play-by-play commentator Jim Durham and analyst Dr. Jack Ramsay will be ESPN Radio’s primary broadcast team for ESPN Radio’s 26-game regular-season schedule which features primarily Thursday night and Sunday broadcasts.
ESPN The Magazine ESPN The Magazine's coverage of the season will offer fans an in-depth look at the players on- and off-the-court, team analysis and season and playoff previews. The NBA Preview issue is on newsstands now.
-30-
|