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NBC SportsTalk Premieres on Versus Tonight

This in from the NBC Sports Group, the premiere of the new NBC SportsTalk shows will premiere tonight at 6 Eastern time on Versus. As previously mentioned, Mondays will be hosted by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, then Tuesday through Thursday will utilize NBC’s other SportsTalk brands then Friday reverts to football again and we’ll see Darren Rovell’s sports business show on Fridays as well.

Tonight’s premiere will bring in the aforementioned Florio where he will join host Russ Thaler in-studio. They’ll be joined by the NBC Sports’ NFL crew live from Green Bay.

Let’s get the skinny on the premiere from NBC Sports Group and Versus.

NBC SPORTSTALK PREMIERES ON VERSUS LIVE TONIGHT AT 6 ET

First New Nightly Show Will Feature Mike Florio In-Studio and NBC Sports NFL Talent Reporting Live From Green Bay Prior to NFL Kickoff on NBC

NEW YORK (September 7, 2011) – VERSUS’ new live weeknight studio show, NBC SportsTalk, debuts tonight at 6 ET with the inaugural show focusing on the biggest news of the day – NFL Kickoff between the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints from historic Lambeau Field (NBC at 8:30 p.m. ET).

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com will join host Russ Thaler in-studio and the pair will be joined via satellite from Green Bay by Sunday Night Football analyst Cris Collinsworth and Football Night in America analysts Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison and Peter King (also from Sports Illustrated). The show will cover not only the first game of the season, but also all the news in and around the NFL.

The NBC Sports Group last week announced the block of new live studio shows for VERSUS airing on weeknights from 6-7 p.m. ET under the banner of NBC SportsTalk, NBC’s successful digital franchise on NBCSports.com that includes ProFootballTalk, HardballTalk, ProBasketballTalk, ProHockeyTalk, CollegeFootballTalk, InsidetheIrish and ProGolfTalk.

In addition to the new 6 p.m. shows, VERSUS, which will be re-branded the NBC Sports Network on January 2, will also launch a sports-business show with CNBC’s Darren Rovell, titled CNBC Sports Biz: Game On, on Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET, beginning on September 9.

The live block of shows will focus on the sports world’s most relevant topics each night and will include NBC Sports Group talent who will not only report on sports news, but will break down the significance of that news for viewers. Mondays (ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio) and Fridays (Peter King and Mike Florio) at 6 p.m. will be devoted to football, while the rest of the shows during the week will focus on the most topical sports stories.

And that will do it.

Versus To Air New Original Programming With Liam McHugh, Russ Thaler, Mike Florio and Darren Rovell As Hosts

This just in from the NBC Sports Group and I thank the fine people at its PR department for sending this press release to me. We’ve been hearing drips and drabs about Versus’ new original programming that will premiere in September. We heard about Liam McHugh hosting a college football studio show on Monday afternoons, a show headed by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and a Sports Business show to be helmed by CNBC’s Darren Rovell, plus last week, it was announced the first NFL Films-produced show, NFL Turning Point would premiere after Week 1 of the regular season.

Now, we have the official announcement of the lineups and the daily schedules of the programming. This is a huge upgrade from Versus’ other attempts to get a signature show. Under the “SportsTalk” banner, Versus will have College Football Talk and Pro Football Talk, hosted by Liam McHugh and Mike Florio, respectively, airing back to back Mondays starting at 5 p.m. Eastern.

Then from Tuesday through Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, you’ll have NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler, formerly of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, discussing various topics utilizing the men and women working under the NBC Sports Group. Wednesdays will be devoted to hockey in the second half of the NHL season.

Friday’s edition of NBC SportsTalk will be devoted to football and Florio and Sports Illustrated’s Peter King will join Thaler to talk about all things NFL.

And following NBC SportsTalk on Friday evenings will be the Darren Rovell-hosted show, CNBC SportsBiz: Game On. You got all that? Don’t worry, I have everything listed below.

NBC SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW NIGHTLY STUDIO SHOWS FOR VERSUS

NBC SportsTalk Airs Weeknights Live at 6 p.m. ET
CNBC Sports Biz: Game On with Darren Rovell Airs Fridays at 7 p.m.
Friday Night’s Live Football Show Features Peter King and Mike Florio
NBC SportsTalk to be Hosted by Comcast SportsNet’s Russ Thaler and Include Talent from all NBC Sports Group Platforms

NEW YORK (August 31, 2011) — The NBC Sports Group today announced a block of new live studio shows for VERSUS airing on weeknights from 6-7 p.m. ET under the banner of NBC SportsTalk, NBC’s successful digital franchise on NBCSports.com that includes ProFootballTalk, HardballTalk, ProBasketballTalk, ProHockeyTalk, CollegeFootballTalk, InsidetheIrish and ProGolfTalk.

In addition to the new 6 p.m. shows, VERSUS, which will be re-branded the NBC Sports Network on January 2, will also launch a sports-business show with CNBC’s Darren Rovell, titled CNBC Sports Biz: Game On, on Friday nights at 7 p.m. ET. VERSUS’ weeknight studio block launches on Thursday, September 8, leading into NBC’s NFL Kickoff coverage, featuring the first NFL game of the season between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers.

“NBC SportsTalk is the type of nightly, relevant programming that viewers can expect to see as we continue the re-branding process from VERSUS to the NBC Sports Network,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and VERSUS. “The live nightly shows also give us the opportunity to tap into our stable of top talent across all of our platforms to provide a unique perspective for sports fans.”

The live block of shows will focus on the sports world’s most relevant topics each night and will include NBC Sports Group talent who will not only report on sports news, but will break down the significance of that news for viewers. Mondays (ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio) and Fridays at 6 p.m. will be devoted to football, while the rest of the shows during the week will focus on the most topical sports stories.

NBC SportsTalk will be hosted by former Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic anchor Russ Thaler. He will be joined by talent from across all NBC Sports Group platforms, including Peter King of Sports Illustrated and Football Night in America and Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com for the special NFL-themed show on Friday nights.

CNBC Sports Biz: Game On – Rovell’s sports business show on Friday nights will focus on the $200 billion business of professional sports, including ownership, labor, media, sponsorship, marketing, merchandise, facilities and executives.  The 30-minute show will feature segments such as: “Power Player,” where Rovell interviews sports business newsmakers; “The Scoreboard,” in which Rovell and his sideline reporter, Erin Sharoni, review the sports business winners and losers of the week; “Heavy Hitters,” in which Rovell calls up insiders to break down how one aspect of the business works.  Rovell’s more than 115,000 Twitter followers will also play an active role in the show. 

NBC SportsTalk – The 6 p.m. nightly shows will focus on various topics throughout the week with certain nights and times devoted to a single sport:

• MONDAY: Immediately following VERSUS’ newly announced College Football Talk show from 5-6 p.m. ET, the network begins the week with ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio. One of the NFL’s most influential voices, Florio will join Thaler in the studio for the hour to break down all the football news from the weekend. Once the NHL season begins, NBC SportsTalk will air from 6-6:30 p.m. ET, making way for NHL Live, the new half-hour pre-game show which begins at 6:30 p.m. ET.

• TUESDAY-THURSDAY: On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, NBC SportsTalk will break down the topics that are dominating the sports world and will enlist talent from all NBC Sports Group platforms to join Thaler, including commentators and reporters from NBC Sports, NBCSports.com, VERSUS, Golf Channel and NBC Sports Group’s 11 regional sports networks. On select Wednesday nights throughout the NHL season, the second half of the show will be dedicated solely to hockey.

• FRIDAY: NBC SportsTalk will wrap up the week with in-depth coverage of NFL news and will welcome one of sports’ most knowledgeable and respected NFL insiders, Peter King of Sports Illustrated and “Football Night in America,” to join Florio and Thaler. Additionally, Gregg Rosenthal of Rotoworld and ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com will contribute a fantasy segment each Friday.

NEW VERSUS ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING THIS FALL (all times ET):

Monday, 5-6 p.m.: College Football Talk hosted by Liam McHugh with Ross Tucker and Roland Williams
Monday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk/ProFootballTalk with Mike Florio (6-6:30 p.m. beginning October 10)
Monday, 6:30-7 p.m.: NHL Live (beginning October 10)
Tuesday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Wednesday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Thursday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler
Thursday, 10-11 p.m.: NFL Turning Point
Friday, 6-7 p.m.: NBC SportsTalk hosted by Russ Thaler with Mike Florio and Peter King
Friday, 7-7:30 p.m.: CNBC Sports Biz: Game On hosted by Darren Rovell

There you have it.

NBC Announces Partnership with Pro Football Talk

I have a lot of links today and I have to figure out how to organize them. I have plenty of links about Blogs With Balls and various sports media links, plus you have the announcement of Matt Millen joining NFL Network for Thursday Night Football. Lots of stuff today.

Before I do any links, I’ll give you this release from NBC Sports announcing the partnership with Mike Florio’s Pro Football Talk website.

PROFOOTBALLTALK.COM MOVES TO NBCSPORTS.COM

NEW YORK – June 15, 2009 - ProFootballTalk.com (PFT) and its founder Mike Florio are joining NBCSports.com as part of a wide-ranging partnership. Mike Florio, who created the innovative, NFL-focused football blog, and Rick Cordella, General Manager, NBC Sports Digital, made the announcement today about the creation of "ProFootballTalk on NBCSports.com."

The cornerstone of this multi-media alliance shifts ProFootballTalk.com to NBCSports.com, which will now be charged with PFT's hosting, sales and promotion. And NBCSports.com and NBC Sports will utilize and rely on PFT's ground breaking, 365-day/year-round coverage of the NFL.

Generally regarded as the best and most popular, independent NFL news and information site, PFT consists of 30-50, daily "News and Rumors" blog items written largely by Florio and dealing with the issues surrounding the NFL players, coaches, owners & general managers. PFT's innovative coverage summarizes news from around the NFL but it is Florio's opinionated, provocative and often humorous accounts drawn from a wide network of NFL sources that are the driving force of the blog's popularity. As part of the NBC Sports alliance, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran and Gregg Rosenthal will make editorial contributions to "PFT on NBCSports.com."

"Frequent, succinct, and immediate news and analysis, driven by rich personalities is the editorial strategy of NBCSports.com and ProFootballtalk.com is the cornerstone of that plan," said Cordella, who recently added a popular "Circling The Bases" blog on NBCSports.com that focuses on Major League Baseball.  "PFT will receive significant promotion from various NBC Sports broadcast properties and also on NBCSports.com, the sports section of MSNBC.com, and NBC's Rotoworld.com, the largest pure-play fantasy sports site on the Internet."

"We have had other opportunities over the years to partner with established businesses but the fit was never perfect," said Florio. "With NBC Sports, it is. A strong sense of unity flows from everyone we've encountered there.  Rick Cordella rolled out the welcome mat for us, and Dick Ebersol opened the front door. We hope our shoes are clean."

ProFootballTalk.com, which last year was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the 50 Best Websites, has an unusual background and an unlikely career path for its founder and chief writer, Mike Florio. After earning two engineering degrees from Carnegie Mellon and later graduating from the West Virginia University School of Law, Florio founded PFT in 2001 and operates the site from his office in Clarksburg, West Virginia, his home in Bridgeport, West Virginia, and anywhere else that he can get an Internet connection.

NBC Sports is expected to utilize PFT to help supplement its NFL news and information surrounding its "NBC Sunday Night Football" coverage including "Football Night in America" pre-game show, the NBC Sports Update and Notre Dame halftime reports.

If you head over to PFT, you’ll notice two small ads one for NBC Sports in the left hand side and another for Sprint to signify the partnership. Florio explains that his site is not being bought by NBC, it’s obtained the rights to exclusive content. But Mike can now give up his law practice.

BREAKING NEWS: Pro Football Talk Bought by NBC

Developing story. The Pro Football Talk site headed up by Mike Florio has been purchased by NBC. Yes, that NBC.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times says terms of the deal have not been announced.

No official word from either party. When they do, I’ll have it for you.

UPDATE, 8:15 p.m. – NBCSports.com has the official word saying PFT will become part of NBC’s site on July 1.

According to the story, an official announcement will be made on Monday. In addition, NBCSports.com NFL insiders Tom Curran (formerly of the Providence Journal) and Gregg Rosenthal will make occasional contributions to Pro Football Talk.

Also, expect to see Pro Football Talk on Football Night in America. One could say Mike Florio has hit the lottery.