I have two releases for you and they involve an entity that will probably be merged at this time next year, Versus and NBC Sports. Let’s first provide the Versus college football action for this weekend.
One thing that distresses me about this release is seeing Kevin Frazier being named as a studio host. Now Kevin was quite good at CNN Sports, then something happened to him when he joined ESPN. It led to him joining Entertainment Tonight and his hosting on Tennis Channel during the U.S. Open last year led me to give him a double fault in my Tennis TV Awards.
Anyway, Frazier will be a host along with NHL host Bill Patrick. Here’s the release.
VERSUS LAUNCHES 2010 NCAA GRIDIRON ACTION With NATIONALLY RANKED TEAMS AND NEW TALENT FEATURING KEVIN FRAZIER AND ERIC CROUCHSeason Coverage Opens with Pitt at Utah Tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET and Continues with Wisconsin at UNLV on Saturday at 11:00 p.m. ETNEW YORK, N.Y. (September 1, 2010)-VERSUS, the fastest growing sports cable network in the country, will kick off its fifth year of college football coverage with two Mountain West cross-conference matchups featuring nationally ranked teams beginning tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. ET when #24 Utah hosts #15 Pitt. VERSUS’ coverage continues on Saturday, September 4, at 11 p.m. ET when #12 Wisconsin travels to Sin City to take on the UNLV Rebels. During the 2010 college football season VERSUS will air 18 games across the Mountain West (8), Pac 10 (7) and Ivy League (3) conferences.The network’s studio show, College Football Central, which provides pre- and post-game coverage as well as halftime reports for each telecast, has brought on Kevin Frazier to serve as studio host and Eric Crouch as an analyst for select telecasts. Frazier, who is currently the weekend host and correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, has more than 15-years of on-air experience across various networks, including ESPN, where he hosted SportsCenter as well as FOX where he served as the pre-game host and as a sideline reporter for NFL games. In addition to Frazier, Bill Patrick and Craig Hummer will host several of the studio shows during the season. Frazier’s first appearance in the VERSUS studio will be on Saturday, October 2, for the Navy at Air Force game.Eric Crouch, the all-star quarterback at the University of Nebraska who won the 2001 Heisman Trophy, will join the studio team for the September 2 and 4 telecasts. After a 33-5 record at Nebraska, Crouch began his NFL career with the St. Louis Rams in 2002 and went on to play for the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. Roland Williams will serve as VERSUS’ lead in-studio analyst for all games throughout the season, and in addition to Crouch, he will be joined by Glenn Parker and Kelly Stouffer on select telecasts throughout the season.Joe Beninati and Ted Robinson will alternate as lead play-by play announcers for all of VERSUS’ Mountain West Conference telecasts. Kelly Stouffer will serve as lead analyst, with Lindsay Soto reporting from the sidelines. For all Pac 10 games, Ron Thulin will handle play-by-play duties and Glenn Parker will serve as the analyst with Lewis Johnson as the sideline reporter. Mike Crispino and Ross Tucker will cover all three of VERSUS’ Ivy League games, with Crispino as the play-by-play announcer and Tucker as the analyst.VERSUS continues its college football coverage on Saturday, September 11, at 4 p.m. ET when Air Force hosts BYU. For a complete schedule, visit www.VERSUS.com.
Coming after the jump, NBC Sports talks about its first Notre Dame game of the season on Saturday.
Now, NBC talks about Purdue-Notre Dame. One note, NBC has an agreement with Eurosport to distribute Notre Dame games to Europe and Asia.
NBC SPORTS BEGINS 20TH SEASON BROADCASTING NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL WHEN FIGHTING IRISH HOST PURDUE THIS SATURDAYMike Mayock Makes NBC Sports Debut; Notre Dame Stadium Hosts First-Ever Cable-Cam System; Eurosport to Broadcast Home Games InternationallyNEW YORK – September 1, 2010 – A new head coach, new game analyst, new camera and new distribution platforms highlight NBC Sports’ 20th season broadcasting Notre Dame football, which begins this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET when the Fighting Irish host in-state rival, the Purdue Boilermakers.Mike Mayock, one of television’s premier college football and NFL Draft experts, makes his NBC Sports debut, joining veteran Notre Dame football commentators Tom Hammond (play-by-play) and Alex Flanagan (sideline reporter). Mayock was hired in August to fill the game analyst role vacated by Pat Haden, who left to become the new Athletic Director at USC, his alma mater.Also making a debut at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday will be ActionCam, an overhead cable-camera system which will provide viewers of the Purdue game with never-before-seen angles. ActionCam was successfully tested at the Blue and Gold game this spring.The 2010 Notre Dame football season will include more NBC Sports distribution platforms than ever before, including robust digital and mobile features, iPhone and iPad apps, and an international agreement with Eurosport to broadcast games in Europe and Asia.Notre Dame enters the 2010 season led by new head coach Brian Kelly, who recently compiled a 34-6 record (.850) in three seasons at Cincinnati. The Irish are 53-26-2 all time against Purdue, have won 15 of the past 16 at home against the Boilermakers, and four the past five overall.MAYOCK ON KEYS TO THE GAME: “I’m interested to see how balanced Brian Kelly’s spread offense is going to be. Notre Dame has talented running backs and Purdue gave up a lot of yards on the ground last year. But the Boilermakers also have four new starting defensive backs. For Purdue, Robert Marve, who started 11 games as a true freshman at Miami in 2008, is the key. He’s more athletic than most spread offense quarterbacks, which means that throwing and running are options.”HAMMOND: “Working games at Notre Dame is the absolute best. The atmosphere, pageantry and tradition is unmatched. This year there is a genuine level of excitement with the Brian Kelly era beginning. I’m as curious as anyone to see how his new offensive and defensive schemes are going to play out.”FLANAGAN ON THE FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON: “During the off-season, there are countless articles, rankings and evaluations, but the thing about the first game is you really don’t know what you have until you get out there. It’s the same for both teams. It’s going to be interesting.”DIGITAL & INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
NOTRE DAME EXTRA: For the first time, the entire Notre Dame-NBC Sports schedule will be streamed live on NBCSports.com. “Notre Dame Extra” will feature a simulcast of the broadcast feed plus one additional online-only bonus camera throughout the game.“Notre Dame Extra” will employ a full HD-quality player using Microsoft Silverlight and Smooth Streaming that will help set new benchmarks for live streaming video cross-platform. The video player will include full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause and scroll back-and-forth – even review plays in “slo-mo” — all while watching live video.Extra will also feature live coverage of the Notre Dame and visiting teams’ bands at halftime, in-game highlights, as well as a live, online-only postgame that will include head coach Brian Kelly’s press conference.NOTRE DAME CENTRAL APP: iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users can get complete NBC Sports coverage of the Notre Dame 2010 college football season with the Notre Dame Central app. Users can access live scores, stats, video highlights & archives, and much more. Fans can also purchase an upgrade to get LIVE access to every NBC Sports broadcast of Notre Dame football games. The iPhone update for the 2010 season will be available prior to the September 4 season opener against Purdue, with an iPad-specific version to come later in the season.LIVE MOBILE BROADCASTS: NBC Sports’ live coverage of every Notre Dame home football game is available on both NBC 2Go and NBC Sports Mobile.NOTRE DAME ON NBC SPORTS MOBILE: Fans can receive news and scores right on their cell phones with the NBC Sports Mobile Web site or the NBC Sports iPhone app. Fans can also sign-up for exclusive text alerts with scoring updates and daily news. To find out how, users can just text the word ND to 51515 or visit http://m.NBCSports.com.EUROSPORT: NBC Sports and the Eurosport group have signed an international television rights agreement that provides Eurosport 2 with exclusive broadcast rights to 2010 Notre Dame home football games across Europe and Asia. Games will be broadcast throughout Europe live exclusively on Eurosport 2, and to the 14 countries where Eurosport Asia Pacific is distributed.MORE ON MIKE MAYOCK: In addition to his NBC Sports role, Mayock, a former NFL defensive back, is NFL Network’s leading college football and NFL Draft analyst. He is featured on numerous NFL Network programs throughout the year, including Playbook and NFL Total Access, and provides content for all NFL Draft-related programming.
“Mike’s knowledge of and passion for college football has resulted in him becoming one of the most respected voices in the game,” said NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood when Mayock was hired in August. “He possesses a relentless work ethic and perfect pedigree as a former player and son of a coach. We are excited to add him to our team.”For additional information on Mike Mayock, please click here: http://www.nbcuniversal.presscentre.com/Content/Detail.aspx?ReleaseID=1309&NewsAreaID=2&ClientID=4
THE NOTRE DAME-NBC SPORTS RELATIONSHIP: The University of Notre Dame and NBC Sports continue their television relationship for the 20th consecutive season in 2010. On June 19, 2009, a five-year renewal to televise all Notre Dame home football games was announced, giving NBC Sports the rights to Fighting Irish home games through the year 2015. NBC Sports began its original contract with Notre Dame in 1991.
The most recent extension provides NBC Sports with rights to Notre Dame home games from 2011 through 2015, extending the partnership between the University and network to 25 years. Notre Dame will provide seven home games per season to NBC Sports and an additional eighth off-site game airing in primetime as part of the agreement. This year’s eighth game takes place on November 20 from Yankee Stadium when the Irish face Army.NBC SPORTS’ 2010 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE
Sep 4 Purdue 3:30 p.m. ETSep 11 Michigan 3:30 p.m. ETSep 25 Stanford 3:30 p.m. ETOct 9 Pittsburgh 3:30 p.m. ETOct 16 Western Michigan 2:30 p.m. ETOct 30 Tulsa 2:30 p.m. ETNov 13 Utah 2:30 p.m. ETNov 20 Army 7 p.m. ET (at Yankee Stadium)
We’re done.
