DIRECTV NewsA Blog on Satellite TV News

ESPN Deportes has announced that it will present extensive coverage of winter baseball from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico. ESPN Deportes has started its six-team Caribbean hardball coverage on Nov. 24.

ESPN Deportes delivers more than 200 hours of winter baseball programming. This is the most ever televised by any network in the United States with at least 12 commentators, including hosts, analysts, reporters and contributors. Winter baseball programming coverage will culminate with the Exclusive coverage of the 2009 Caribbean Series LIVE from Mexicali, Mexico.

ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPNdeportes.com and ESPN Deportes La Revista feature the winter baseball-related content.

Maribel Viteri, marketing director for ESPN Deportes, said “ESPN Deportes continues to be the home of baseball all year long. Our strategy for this campaign is to remind the fans of the network’s commitment to continue to bring them sports from back home, all while connecting viewers to the brand. We know that there is a big Dominican population in the Washington Heights area and we wanted to take advantage of how relevant the theme is for the Dominican population and create awareness of the network.”

Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN will be sponsored by Cars.com beginning this Saturday, Sept. 5, and runs through Dec. 5. Cars.com’s fourth consecutive sponsorship of Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN will feature spots from award winning Confidence campaign and sponsored by Cars.com mentions throughout the game.

Cars.com has started running a sweepstakes for its advertisers in which dealers can enter for the chance to win one of several prizes including a grand prize trip for two to the National College Football Championship Game in Pasadena, CA, on Jan. 7, 2010.

Cars.com president Mitch Golub said, “Our sponsorship of Saturday Afternoon College Football on ESPN delivers prime exposure for the Cars.com brand and our advertisers and builds on our highly successful 2009 media campaign. High impact sponsorships such as this combined with online traffic generation initiatives, local market promotion and continuous product improvements are driving results for our advertisers. Our continued investment in our site and our brand has lead to a ten percent increase in leads to our dealer advertisers this year, despite the economic downturn.”

Golub also added, “We are committed to building the Cars.com brand and delivering quality, in-market car shoppers to our advertisers. We are constantly looking for new ways to add more value for car shoppers and car sellers, both through our marketing efforts and product developments, such as the recent launch of our new guided search functionality.”

ESPN has announced that it will deliver a special broadcast of #4 USC at #6 Ohio State on Saturday, September 12, at 8 p.m. ET, testing its 3D production capabilities. This game will be broadcast in standard definition on ESPN and high-definition coverage on ESPN HD.

ESPN has been testing 3D broadcast for more than two years. It will provide ESPN the ability to evaluate workflow operations, 3D camera positioning, transmission changes and gauge fan reaction to a 3D telecast versus a 2D.

The Galen Center on the USC campus will show the 3D production as well as theaters in Columbus, Ohio, Hartford, Conn. and Hurst, Texas. ESPN will employ separate production trucks, technical crews and on-air commentators for the 3D and 2D productions. Mark Jones and Bob Davie will announce the 3D game while Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit and reporter Lisa Salters will work the telecast on ESPN and ESPN HD.

Anthony Bailey, vice president, emerging technologies, ESPN said, “With more than two years of rigorous 3D research at various game sites, ESPN is taking the opportunity to integrate 3D testing in a live game telecast. The results of this research will enable ESPN to quantify what it takes to produce, transmit and enable the 3D experience for our fans.”

BBC America and Time Warner Cable have entered distribution pact and the cable giant has launched the channel in high-definition on August 19. Time Warner has launched BBC America HD on channel 685.

BBC America launched its HD simulcast on July 20 and delivered the subscribers with sci-fi HD treats as Torchwood: Children of Earth and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead.

BBC America HD is negotiating with the leading satellite and cable operators and expecting to be launched on many other operators very soon.

Apart from BBC America HD, Time Warner has also added four more HD channels to New York subscribers.

ESPN has announced that it has signed a deal with Chorus ntl to deliver the sports channel ESPN to Chorus ntl subscribers in Ireland. ESPN will offer live coverage 46 Barclay’s Premier League games and 30 Clydesdale Bank Premier League football exclusively to Chorus ntl customers in high-definition and standard definition.

ESPN will deliver additional football coverage that includes Live Serie A, German Bundesliga, Dutch Eredivisie, Portuguese Liga, Russian Premier League and Major League Soccer from the US. ESPN will also deliver Ultimate Fighting Championship, Live Top 14 Orange French Rugby, Australian Rules Football and additional liveand exclusive sports coverage from around the world.

Lynne Frank, Managing Director for ESPN in Europe, Middle East and Africa said, “We are delighted to team with Chorus ntl to offer their customers ESPN’s exciting range of Premier League football, Clydesdale Bank Premier League and the best in international and US sports in SD and HD. ESPN will be complemented by ESPN America and ESPN Classic, thereby serving a diverse group of sports fans. ESPN is set to be must-have for fans in Ireland.”

Simon Kelehan, Head of TV for Chorus ntl said, “We are delighted to offer ESPN to our Irish customer base and ESPN HD is a core element of our new HD service. Irish viewers have always had a keen interest in English premiership football and we’re delighted that ESPN brings a range of new live sports to Irish viewers.”

DirecTV has launched local high-definition programming to its subscribers in the Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia market area. DirecTV is now offering local HD channels in 127 markets, representing more than 89 percent of U.S. TV households. Following are the local HD broadcast networks available in Roanoke-Lynchburg:

WSET/ABC

WSLS/NBC and

WBRA/PBS

DirecTV subscribers must have an H20 or H21 HD receiver or an HR20 or HR21 DIRECTV Plus HD DVR and a Ka/Ku band dish to receive these local HD programming. DirecTV offers local HD channels in standard and high-definition in 151 television markets.

ESPN2 will broadcast live coverage of the 2009 MLS All-Star Game Wednesday, July 29 at 9:30 p.m. ET in high-definition from Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. This coverage will feature the MLS All-Stars versus Everton FC of the English Premier League.

JP Dellacamera and John Harkes will call the action, with sideline reporter Allen Hopkins and Rob Stone, Alexi Lalas and Julie Foudy will host the coverage including, a pre-game show at 7 p.m. and the halftime show live from Rio Tinto Stadium. The live coverage will be available on ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile.

Freddie Ljungberg of Seattle Sounders is making his MLS All-Star debut, will join Chicago Fire midfielder and former Mexican National Team star Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and Los Angeles Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, as the roster of 18 top-tier MLS players faces 2009 FA Cup finalists Everton FC, which features U.S. Men’s National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard.

The Big Ten Network has announced that will deliver a separate 30-minute football preview show for each Big Ten school. Big Ten programs will premiere during the last week of August. The network will also air a two-part conference-wide preview show at 10 PM ET on Tuesday, Sept. 1 and Wednesday, Sept. 2. Big Ten Network preseason coverage for each school is as follows:

The 2010 NFL Draft will kick off in prime time with the first round starting on Thursday, April 22 at 7:30 PM ET, the second and third rounds on Friday, April 23 at 6:30 PM ET followed by rounds 4-7 on Saturday, April 24 at 10:00 AM ET. ESPN and NFL Network will broadcast The 2010 NFL Draft.

Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner said “We continue to look for ways to make the draft more accessible to more fan. Moving the first round to prime time on Thursday night will make the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television.”

As already announced, BBC America has launched its high-definition simulcast on July 20. BBC America is an American television network, owned and operated by BBC Worldwide Americas is available on leading satellite providers like DirecTV, Dish Network and on cable providers.

The leading satellite and cable providers are negotiating with the news channel to settle for distribution deals to carry HD version of the channel.

Amy Mulcair, BBC America publicity VP said “We’ve got great reaction from viewers on our HD service, everyone’s very keen to see it and we’re very keen for them to see it. And we’re glad to say there are a number of deals that will be announced imminently.”