SportsCenter's Scott Van Pelt by Rich Arden/ESPN
ESPN held its upfront presentation Tuesday morning at the Nokia Theater in New York. Anchors Scott Van Pelt and Steve Levy hosted the event as a mock SportsCenter episode. The 80-minute presentation was light on programming announcements, but the biggest news was the addition of a block of live SportsCenters from 6 am to 3 pm/ET, beginning Monday, Aug. 11. A new web site, SportsCenter.com, will also debut in August. It was also confirmed that The Early Show's Hannah Storm will be one of the new anchors for this block. In other SportsCenter news, a 1 am/ET edition produced live in Los Angeles, will premiere on April 9, 2009.
Other new programming includes ESPN Homecoming, an profile/interview show with Rick Reilly, who the network poached from Sports Illustrated last fall.
Features reporter, deadpan "comedian" and Dancing With the Stars vet Kenny Mayne will host a new humor show for espn.com called Mayne Street.
ESPN will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2009 with "30 For 30," a series of sports-themed documentaries. The first, premiering Sept. 7, 2009, will be directed by Spike Lee.
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