ESPN last week expanded its HD commitment with the announcement that ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will produce all coverage of NASCAR races, NBA telecasts, MLS telecasts, MLB telecasts, college football telecasts, National Hot Rod Association races and "NFL Monday Night Football" telecasts in HD.
With an increasing number of remote production trucks available to handle the more than 700 telecasts appearing this year on ESPN's two HD services, the network repositioned its schedule to offer complete coverage of these seven sports.
Additionally, more than 150 of the 400 total college basketball telecasts on ESPN and ESPN2 will also be produced in HD this year.
ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD will deliver more than 7000 hours in HD in 2007. More than 95 percent of ESPN and ESPN2's Bristol, CT-based studio programming originates in HD, including "SportsCenter," "NFL Countdown," "NFL Monday Night Countdown," "NFL Live" and "Baseball Tonight." ESPN 2's "Cold Pizza" and "1st and 10" will begin airing in HD from Bristol in June, the network said.
