August, of course, means the return of college football, and the first season ahead of the inaugural College Football Playoff. To address the upcoming action, Campus Insiders continues to shore up its assets, and is slating more content than ever in anticipation of the games. Cynopsis Sports spoke with Crowley Sullivan, Executive Vice President/GM at Campus Insiders about the effects of the CFP, its new programs and the growth of the brand.

Sullivan on the rise of Campus Insiders: We’ve grown substantially from a year ago. The amount of programming we’ve done over the last year has seen us publishing over 1,000 pieces of video content. In addition to that, we will have produced and broadcast well over 2,000 live events. This coming college football season, we have a great slate of college football games that we will produce and broadcast exclusively when it comes to the digital experience with the Mountain West and the Patriot League. Before we even get to that, we would have spent the last month or two stockpiling and publishing what will end up being close to 100 individual team previews that breaks down the team’s strengths, weaknesses, etc.
Come Sept. 1, our platform will have a new feature that will allow a user to find his or her favorite teams and both read an extensive preview on the team’s chances in the coming season, and watch the supplemental/complimentary video associated with that school. We will also be offering our own week-by-week Campus Insiders College Football Playoff suggested rankings right up against the others.

On insiders: We really are looking at the college football season as an opportunity to showcase the depth of analysis and the way in which we are tapped into all of these schools. We are right now at 99 insiders. I think an alarm will go off when we sign on our 100th insider. A year ago, we had less than 20. We are now able to tap into these insiders who are totally dialed into the DNA of their athletic programs. All week long, you are going to be able to get analysis from the inside of these football programs in a way that other sites say they can do, but they really can’t. we’ve got play-by-play announcers. We’ve got former players. We’ve got color analysts and local beat reporters who all have years of relationships with the athletic program, the coaches and the players in a way that the big platforms out there really don’t have.

On homegrown talent: We’ve got a whole batch of new programming we are launching. I’m really excited about our new show with Shae Peppler. Shae is a wonderful, talented, knowledgeable host that we’ve been using. She is homegrown and has been with Campus Insiders since the start and she has been doing a segment called Trending Now and also hosting some of our longer-form programming from time to time. The Trending Now initiative performed so well, that we have expanded it into The Feed with Shae Peppler. It’s really sports and entertainment unfiltered from the girl next door. There is going to be a lot of folks who will want to get to know her.

On grassroots reaction to the College Football Playoff: I’ve been a college football fan for as long as I can remember. I’ve been in sports media now for a while, and I can’t recall a season where there has been more excitement, intrigue and anticipation across the board for this. I mean from the conference offices, to the school’s administrations, to the coaches to the reporters and players. These players are talking about the playoff like they are little kids talking about Christmas coming. The BCS was a way for the establishment to come out with some sort of a solution without committing to a playoff, but now there is a commitment made. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve thought, finally, college football has its version of March Madness.

The National Cable Television Cooperative locked in a multi-year distribution agreement with The Disney Company to deliver the company’s lineup of sports, news and entertainment content to participating NCTC members’ customers across TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and connected devices. As part of the agreement, NCTC will introduce several new services, including the full suite of authenticated WATCH and video-on-demand products, Fusion, the upcoming SEC Network at launch on August 14, Longhorn Network beginning with the 2014-15 college football season, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater and ESPN Bases Loaded in addition to the likes of ABC Family, Disney Channel, and the ESPN family of networks. Participating NCTC members’ customers will also receive broad access to existing authenticated products that include WatchESPN.

Last week’s Trade Deadline Day was a hit for MLB Network. The channel scored its most-watched ever for the day, averaging 211,000 total day viewers Thursday, making it the most-watched regular season total day (6a2a) viewership in its history.

ESPN announced programming plans for the 2014 MLS All-Star Game between a team of Major League Soccer All-Stars and Bayern Munich on Wednesday from Portland. ESPN’s presentation of the match will begin with a special 30-minute ESPN FC preview show at 6p on ESPNEWS and continues on ESPN2 with a pregame at 9:30p leading into the live match at 9:55p. ESPN Deportes Radio will broadcast the match live beginning at 9. ESPN FC, meanwhile, offers three 30-minute episodes focusing on MLS’ midseason soccer showcase beginning Tuesday at 6p on ESPNEWS. The 2014 MLS All-Star Game will mark ESPN FC’s first multiple remote editions from a single soccer event.

ESPN will follow the USA Basketball Men’s National Team leading up to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain and will spotlight three more exhibition games and a practice session this month. Mark Jones and Fran Fraschilla will provide commentary on Saturday, August 16, when the USA takes on Brazil at 9p on ESPN. Additional ESPN2 exhibition coverage includes USA/Puerto Rico on August 22 at 7p from New York and USA/Slovenia on August 26 at 2p from Spain. Marc Kestecher will join Fraschilla for commentary on both games.

In a meeting with reporters as part of the 2014 Hall of Fame festivities over the weekend, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed recent calls for an end of television blackouts. “The FCC has said that they are considering views on this issue,” said Goodell. “They have it on the table and they are discussing whether they will make a decision sometime possibly this fall. What we are trying to do is keep the program in place because it has worked for several decades. We are the only sport on free television and we believe that staying on free television is good for consumers. There are 60 million people and growing, including a lot of minorities, that are watching NFL football on free television and we want to keep it that way. We are concerned that a change in this area, we are 99 percent sold out, so it has very little impact on our business, but it could have an impact on the overall business model for free television. We think that’s devastating to our consumers and consumers in general.”

SiriusXM made its plans for the 2014 PGA Championship running August 7-10 on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio with coverage of all four days of play. Lead host Earl Forcey will anchor the play-by-play broadcast and Dennis Paulson will serve as analyst. Former professionals Mark Carnevale, John Maginnes and Carl Paulson will provide live commentary from around the course. Broadcasts will air Thursday and Friday from noon-7p and on Saturday and Sunday from 1p through the conclusion of play. 

Fight Network has a deal to expand onto Texas-based cable system Grande Communications where it will be found on channel 240 as part of the Ultra Sports Tier. The channel also launched in the U.S. on Cablevision’s Optimum TV on June 26, 2014. “This most recent launch further validates the demand for the dynamic new destination sports channel that Fight Network brings to viewers,” said Leonard Asper, CEO of Anthem Media Group Inc., which operates Fight Network. “We are excited to bring our line-up of live fights, expert analysis and news coverage to the people of Texas.”

RIP to Pete Van Wieren, who (among other accomplishments) was the long-time voice of Atlanta Braves games on TV and radio. He died Saturday after a battle with cancer at 69. Van Wieren spent 33 years with the team before retiring in 2008.

Missed last week’s news? Get the roundup at In Case You Missed It.

Ahead of the new college football season, the ACC Digital Network launched its annual preseason football list, ACC Top 25 Players to Watch. The video segments, exclusively on the ACCDN, feature highlights of the best players in the ACC. Fans can follow #theACCDN Top 25 list and provide feedback through twitter @theACCDN.

Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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