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July 21, 2010

ESPN Regional Television, the over-the-air syndication home for Southeastern Conference programming, will debut the second season of the live SEC Studio show one week before the season starts, part of the SEC Network regionally syndicated college sports package within the 15-year agreement between ESPN, Inc., and the SEC, for which expansion continues. In 2010-11, the SEC Network will be distributed in local television markets representing 77.4 million homes, or 67 percent of the U.S.

The SEC Studio show will be hosted by Dari Nowkhah, while former University of Georgia and NFL standout Matt Stinchcomb will return as analyst. The show will continue to be produced by ESPN Regional Television at its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., also the home of ESPNU.

Nowkhah joined ESPN in 2004 as an anchor on ESPNEWS. He also contributes regularly to SportsCenter and to ESPNEWS’ College Football Overdrive.

Rob Stone, former host of the SEC Studio show, will move to the booth to call play-by-play for the weekly ESPNU game at noon ET, joining new game analyst David Pollack, another former University of Georgia standout.

New to the SEC on ESPN commentator lineup this season is the team of play-by-play announcer Clay Matvick and analyst Herm Edwards, who will pair up in the ESPNU booth on Saturdays for the 7 p.m. ET game.

Edwards, who regularly works as an NFL studio analyst, has been with ESPN since March 2009. Matvick, with ESPN since 2006, has done play-by-play for college football, college basketball, hockey, baseball and softball telecasts, and has called college football bowl games for ESPN Radio.

For the SEC Network’s Game of the Week, former Houston quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware returns as analyst in the Saturday booth with longtime SEC announcer Dave Neal, with reporter Cara Capuano.

Also, returning Aug. 26, ESPNU’s SEC Weekly is an hourlong studio program that focuses on SEC sports throughout the academic year and features sport-by-sport previews, reviews and specials. The show is hosted by Capuano, with analyst Matt Stinchcomb.

The 24-hour college sports network also will present a package of SEC football, highlighted by a Saturday Game of the Week, generally in prime time, with a minimum of 13 games annually.

The SEC Network will feature an SEC football Game of the Week regionally for 13 consecutive Saturdays, beginning Sept. 4. Those telecasts will kick off at noon ET/11 a.m. CT with the SEC Studio show, followed by the matchup, generally determined 12 to six days in advance.

Within the nine-state SEC footprint, the SEC Network will be delivered in markets by the local over-the-air carrier of SEC events. In markets outside the SEC footprint, the syndicated programming will air on either local, over-the-air television stations or regional sports cable networks.

In 2008, SEC football syndication aired in local television markets which represented 30.1 million homes, or 26 percent of the U.S. In 2009, the new SEC Network aired football in local television markets which represented 73.9 million homes, or 64 percent of the U.S. Among the new markets in 2009 were eight of the country’s top 10.

2010 SEC Network Markets (confirmed as of release date) 

SEC on ESPN

In 2009, ESPN, Inc., and the Southeastern Conference entered into a landmark 15-year agreement for extensive football, men’s and women’s basketball, Olympic sports and conference championship content across multiple ESPN entities beginning with the 2009-10 academic year and through 2023-24. In the longest national rights agreement in ESPN history, SEC on ESPN showcases more than 5,500 SEC events on ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes and ESPN Classic. ESPN has televised the SEC since 1982.

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