Seen on Screen: NBC Olympics Lays Out Rio Plans; Spike Lee Doc Series Returns for ESPN
Story Highlights
NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) will present 330 hours of programming for the Games of XXXI Olympiad from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this August, more than any other linear network. Programming on NBCSN will span 20-plus sports including extensive coverage of men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s soccer. The network’s 18 days of coverage begins on Wednesday, August 3, two days before the Opening Ceremony, with women’s soccer, and concludes on Sunday, August 21, the final day of the Games. On most days, NBCSN will televise 16 hours of coverage, from 8 a.m. to midnight ET…
… Amazon recently announced All or Nothing, an Amazon Original Series produced by NFL Films, will premiere on Prime Video on July 1 in the U.S., and that Jon Hamm (Mad Men) will narrate. The first season of the docu-series follows the Arizona Cardinals’ 2015 season, from the draft through the NFC Championship game. All eight one-hour episodes of All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals will be available for Amazon Prime members as part of their membership, and to all Amazon customers from July 1 to August 31, via the Amazon Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV, mobile devices and online at Amazon.com/allornothing…
…Spike Lee’s Lil’ Joints, a short documentary series from ESPN Films that first premiered last summer, will return May 31 with four new films executive produced by award-winning producer and director Spike Lee. The films in the collection will merge African American and sports narratives, all directed by African American filmmakers. Shorts will premiere weekly on Tuesdays starting May 31, with the exception of June 14. Each film will then go on to air later that week on Friday Night Movie Night, during the 6 p.m. ET hour of
SportsCenter…
…The Basketball Tournament (TBT) presented by Jack Link’s® Protein Snacks and ESPN today announced the broadcast schedule for the 2016 $2 million single elimination winner-take-all event. The expanded broadcast schedule for 2016 includes three games on ESPN, six games on ESPN2, two games on ESPNU, and four games on ESPN3. Of the 11 games on TV, seven will be in primetime on either ESPN or ESPN2. The championship game will be played August 2nd in New York, primetime on ESPN…
… NBC Olympics, and Fandango, are joining forces for the first time on Fandango’s “I Love Movies: Rio Olympic Edition” digital video series, premiering May 25. The debut kicks off a multi-month Olympic celebration of original programming on Fandango, leading up to NBC’s broadcast of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, August 5, from Rio…
… NBC Olympics has announced that 4K is coming to the Rio games this August. The sports broadcaster has said it will offer its cable, satellite and telco distribution partners 4K coverage of select events on a one-day delay. Fans will be able to see 4K footage of the opening and closing ceremonies, swimming, track and field, basketball, the men’s soccer final and judo beginning Aug. 6 and running through Aug. 22…
… Beginning Tuesday, July 19, WWE’s SMACKDOWN, the fan-favorite weekly show, goes live on Sportsnet 360 and moves from its current scheduled programming time on Wednesday nights to its new home on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. SMACKDOWN’s move to Tuesdays gives fans two days of WWE content on Sportsnet 360 to kick off the week following WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW™. Both shows will now air live 52 weeks a year. Sportsnet 360 will also continue to deliver replays of SMACKDOWN on Friday
nights at 8 p.m. ET…
… NASCAR® is collaborating with Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh on a feature film entitled Logan Lucky, starring Channing Tatum alongside Katherine Heigl, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Adam Driver and Seth MacFarlane. Pre-production filming will begin this weekend at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca, which airs live on FOX at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 29…
… British soccer gurus and TV personalities Roger “Rog” Bennett and Michael “Davo” Davies are headed to Vice Sports as part of a new partnership announced Thursday. The duo, regarded as two of the leading voices for soccer coverage in America, will cover the Copa America and Euro 2016 games exclusively for Vice Sports’ digital platforms as part of the pact. They will make their Vice Sports debut next month, June 3, to be exact, when the two tournaments begin running simultaneously in the United States and Europe. This is the latest partnership for Vice Sports, who partnered with ESPN last month to distribute new episodes of ongoing franchises and produce content for ESPN’s channels. Vice Sports also debuted a new show on Viceland, Vice World of Sports…
… NASCAR America, NBCSN’s weekday show dedicated to stock car racing, shifts one hour later to 6 p.m. ET beginning Monday, June 13th. Throughout the year NBCSN will also present “supersized” 90-minute Monday editions of NASCAR America that deliver in-depth analysis and highlights of all the weekend’s racing action. NASCAR America’s shift to 6 p.m. ET opens NBCSN’s 5 p.m. ET hour for expanded live coverage of the network’s tent pole properties, including Tour de France action in July, the return of Premier League soccer in August and NASCAR content, including Sprint Cup qualifying on most Fridays between July and November…
…On May 31st WE NEED TO TALK aired on CBS Sports Network (7:00 PM, ET) featuring a preview of the NBA Finals, as well as discussion of the various obstacles facing this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and the scandal unfolding at Baylor. The show also featured an in-studio interview with Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, as well as Turner Sports NBA analyst Grant Hill. WE NEED TO TALK is led by Emmy Award-winning Coordinating Producers Emilie Deutsch and Suzanne Smith…
… CBS Sports, home to college football’s highest-rated television package, the “SEC ON CBS,” has announced its 2016 college football schedule. CBS will again showcase the best games from the best conference with the “SEC Game of the Week,” as well as Notre Dame vs. Navy (November 5), Army-Navy (December 10) and the Hyundai Sun Bowl (December 30). The schedule kicks off Labor Day weekend on Saturday, Sept. 3 (3:30 PM, ET) with UCLA at Texas A&M…
… Sports Illustrated today announces a multi-platform, 40th anniversary retrospective of Caitlyn Jenner’s 1976 Gold Medal-winning decathlon performance at the Montreal Olympic Games. It begins with an SI Films premiere on Monday, June 6 on SI.com, and continues with a long-form digital package and magazine cover story to be released on June 8. Jenner gave Sports Illustrated and Senior Writer Tim Layden exclusive and extensive access, sharing her perspective and the journey that led her to the gold medal performance…
… FOX Sports released its national schedule, featuring top games from the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences on FOX broadcast network, FS1, FOX Sports Regional Networks (FSN), FOX Deportes and FOX Sports GO. FOX Sports’ college football coverage begins Friday, Sept. 2, and wraps up with back-to-back conference championship games on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 2 and 3, with a full season’s worth of exciting action in between…
… NBA Digital will provide comprehensive, multi-screen coverage of The Finals 2016 including expanded NBA TV live original programming throughout the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers series. Along with NBA TV, fans will have access to the latest news, video highlights and social media integration via NBA.com and the league’s signature NBA App. NBA TV’s 17th consecutive year of coverage will feature Live At The Finals with expanded 90-minute live pregame episodes followed by live postgame shows on game days…
… NBA Finals Film Room, featuring former coaches and players breaking down in-game strategies, play calls, trends and game action in real time as they watch every game, will return for the second straight NBA Finals. The two-hour episodes will premiere at 9 p.m. ET on the day following each Finals game. NBA coaching veteran and TNT analyst Mike Fratello and host Rick Kamla will be joined by analysts Greg Anthony and Derek Fisher (Games 1-2); Vinny Del Negro and Danny Granger (Games 3-4); and Stu Jackson and Sam Mitchell (Games 5-7, if necessary)…
… ESPN will televise every game of the Women’s College World Series from OGE Energy Field at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla., beginning Thursday, June 2, and concluding Tuesday, June 7, or Wednesday, June 8. All eight teams are national seeds, including six in the top eight, led by No. 2 Michigan. The Women’s College World Series Championship Series Game 1 will be Monday June 6, at 8 p.m. on ESPN and Game 2 will be Tuesday, June 7, at 8 p.m. on ESPN. A decisive Game 3 will Wednesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. on ESPN (if necessary)…
