ESPN’s College GameDay Covered By State Farm Opens 2015 Season In Iowa

Courtesy: ESPN

Officials with ESPN have announced the site of the network’s first broadcast in its 2015 college basketball broadcast season.

ESPN will open the 2015 season of College GameDay covered by State Farm on Saturday, January 17^th in Ames, Iowa. The first in the network’s eight-week season, the broadcast will come ahead of the Saturday Primetime presented by DirecTV matchup between #17 Iowa State and #12 Kansas. Tipoff for the Big 12 contest is scheduled for 9pm ET. College GameDay covered by State Farm will cover not only the matchup between Iowa State and Kansas but all of the day’s games. It all starts at 10am ET on ESPNU. ESPN picks up coverage at 11am ET and then offers another edition at 8pm ET.

Audiences will see some new faces throughout this season of ESPN’s College GameDay covered by State Farm. Analysts Seth Greenberg and Jay Williams join the returning team of host Rece Davis and analyst Jay Bilas. Dan Shulman will also be back along with reporter Shannon Spake. They will be joined by Jay Bilas for full coverage of the matchup between the Hawkeyes and Jayhawks.

Over on ESPN, #14 West Virginia will be on the road against #10 Texas the same day. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 6:15pm ET. Dave Flemming and Fran Fraschilla will have the call for the game.  The site for each week’s broadcast of College GameDay covered by State Farm will be announced a week ahead of those games within the show’s broadcast. More information on the ESPN family of networks’ college basketball coverage is available online at:

Website: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ESPNCBB

To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

LHN To Air Longhorns’ Season Opener

Courtesy: ESPN/Longhorn Network

Officials with ESPN and the Longhorn Network announced this week that the Longhorn Network will air the season opener for the Longhorns’ 2014 football season.

The Longhorns will face off against the North Texas Eagles to open the team’s season. The game is scheduled to be broadcast live on Saturday, August 30^th at 8 ET/7 CT. It will be the fourth year in a row that the Longhorn Network has aired the Longhorns’ season opener and the ninth game to air live on the LHN. To top it all off, the matchup will be the debut of Texas’ new head coach Charlie Strong.

LHN’s Texas GameDay will return this year, too. The weekly pre-game broadcast is scheduled to begin at 6 ET/5 CT. It will broadcast live from its set at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. The post-game Texas GameDay Final powered by Chevy Silverado will immediately follow the game.

The Longhorn Network is available on AT&T’s U-Verse TV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS TV as well as Bay City CableVision, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Consolidated Communications, Cox Communications, En-Touch Systems, E-Tex Communications, Grande Communications, Google Fiber (in Kansas City), Mid-Coast CableVision and Texas Mid-Gulf CableVision. Current U.S.-based military personnel can also access the Longhorn Network free of cost via all computers and mobile internet platforms connected to on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks. Current U.S.-based military personnel with affiliated video subscription can also access the LHN via tablets and smartphones.

More information on the Longhorn Network is available online now at http://www.LongHornNetwork.com, http://www.facebook.com/longhornnetwork, and http://twitter.com/LongHornNetwork. To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it. Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.

ESPN, DISH Reach New Deal For Longhorn Network Broadcast Rights

Courtesy: ESPN/DISH/Longhorn Network

Fans of the Texas Longhorns have another reason to be happy this morning.  That’s because a new deal between ESPN and Dish Network will allow DISH to carry the Longhorn Network to fans across the country.  It’s just one part of a much bigger deal announced this week between DISH and the Walt Disney company.  The new deal between ESPN and DISH more than doubles LHN’s national distribution.  According to terms of the deal, The Longhorn Network will be available to DISH customers on the America’s Top 120+ and higher packages beginning later this Summer.    Audiences will be able to get information on where LHN will be on their carrier later this year online at http://www.dish.com.

The expanded television coverage of the Longhorn Network is just one positive of the new deal between DISH and ESPN.  LHN fans that receive the network as part of their satellite service will also be able to get live coverage online at home and via mobile internet on their computers and iOS devices.

Justin Connolly, Senior VP of college networks, was positive in his comments about the announcement.  “This agreement with DISH presents a tremendous opportunity to bring Longhorn Network’s robust content offerings to Texas fans across the country,” he said.

ESPN’s deal with UT to broadcast the Longhorn Network, which originally debuted in 2011, lasts for twenty years.  Steve Patterson, University of Texas Athletics Director, shared his thoughts on the extended agreement and other topics in an interview.  “We are excited to have DISH join the growing list of LHN providers,” he said.  “UT fans nationwide will now have access to this award-winning network that does such a great job in covering our university’s sports and academics programs. As we have said from day one, this is a long-term commitment and we are very proud of our partnership with ESPN.”

Dave Shull, DISH Executive VP and CCO also shared his thoughts on the brand new deal.  “DISH is the best place for college sports fans to follow the teams they love,” he said.  “ESPN has a long tradition of delivering the best in sports, and we are proud to be the first nationwide television provider of the Longhorn Network.”

More information on this new deal between ESPN and DISH is available online at http://espn.go.com and http://www.facebook.com/ESPN.  To keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews, go online to http://www.facebook.com/philspicks and “Like” it.  Fans can always keep up with the latest sports and entertainment news and reviews in the Phil’s Picks blog at https://philspicks.wordpress.com.