'SportCenter' hits 30,000
ESPN's flagship news and information program will present its 30,000th live edition on Sunday, Feb. 11. This includes 1100 original hours of "SportsCenter" per year and more than 2600 hours of re-airs in an average year.
Some "SportsCenter" facts:
- "SportsCenter," the network's first program, aired on Sep. 7, 1979.
- The show's first live remote was in the first show and featured University of Colorado football coach Chuck Fairbanks. The live feed from Boulder, CO, had video but no audio.
- Twenty-one million viewers watch "SportsCenter" every day — approximately 99 million each month.
- Up to 100 games and events from around the globe are screened for "SportsCenter" daily.
- More than 50 production and technical personnel work on each broadcast.
- There are now 11 local versions of "SportsCenter" on ESPN networks overseas, heard in eight languages.
- A typical one-hour program provides an average 95 insert graphics and 14 animation elements — that's more than 1.5 graphics a minute (56 lower-third graphics, 21 full-screen and 18 over-the-shoulder).
- "SportsCenter" is currently using its eighth set, not including temporary sets built in the middle of the "SportsCenter" newsroom and in the ESPN lobby. The latest set debuted in June 2004 as the centerpiece for ESPN's new digital HD center.
HD Upgrade for Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics have installed a VikinX AV routing system from Network Electronics as the backbone of its new HD video edit suite. The new system creates business videos for the teams administrative offices as well as entertainment and informational segments played for up to 18,500 fans on four large HD scoreboard screens at TD Banknorth Garden in downtown Boston.
The HD edit system incorporates Network Electronics' HD0808 8x8 HD router, an AD0808 110ohm digital audio router and a P-8-ProXY 8x8 multibus push-button control panel.
For more information, visit www.network-electronics.com.
Verizon and Comcast SportsNet reach agreement
Verizon FiOS TV viewers in the southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware markets can now see live Philadelphia 76ers NBA and Philadelphia Flyers NHL games thanks to a new carriage deal between Verizon Communications and Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.
The deal includes Comcast's other regional sports networks around the country, as well as those networks' HD channels. Along with sports channels, the agreement also includes the PBS Kids Sprout channel.
