SEC Network found yet another home on DIRECTV after ESPN locked in an agreement to offer the upcoming channel to fans and followers of the Southeastern Conference when the network launches Aug. 14. The first college football game on the new network will run on Aug. 28 featuring Texas A&M/South Carolina. “The SEC boasts powerhouse athletic programs, especially in football, representing deeply loyal communities, many of which do not have any professional teams,” said Dan York, DIRECTV’s Chief Content Officer. “The depth of SEC competition and the quality ESPN brings to game production and complementary programming makes SEC Network a valuable addition to our sports programming lineup, and we’re excited to bring it into our customers’ homes and on their devices.”

NASCAR is tapping the services of IMG in its global distribution strategy and establish “a long-term and sustainable global commercial broadcast media distribution strategy.” IMG will be charged with helping the sport increase its footprint, audience base and revenues outside of North America and South America. In addition to leveraging the popularity of motorsports in key international territories like Western Europe and Australia, IMG will further develop NASCAR television rights commercially in markets where motorsports are less widely known such as Southeast Asia, China and Eastern Europe. Currently, NASCAR races are broadcast in more than 175 countries through more than 20 broadcast partners worldwide. All of NASCAR’s current international broadcast rights will expire at the end of the 2014 season.

ESPN unveiled details of its seventh annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, offering over 24 hours of consecutive coverage to mark the start of the 2014-15 season over Monday, Nov. 17 and Tuesday, Nov. 18. Overall, 19 men’s and women’s college basketball games will run across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The Marathon will include nine straight games tipping off every two hours beginning Monday with an ESPN2 tripleheader at 7p, 9p and 11p as well as two games on ESPNU. ESPN’s schedule of five consecutive games starts at noon on Tuesday and concludes with the State Farm Champions Classic.

CBS Sports announced that Carter Blackburn will return to the company as the lead play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports Network. Blackburn will be the Network’s lead voice on its weekly college football and college basketball games, as well as other events. Blackburn also will call college football for CBS Sports, including SEC games on the weeks the Network features two SEC on CBS match-ups.  In addition, Blackburn will announce college basketball games, as well as other select events for CBS Sports.

Spike TV is reeling in former NFL star Ray Lewis for a new series about tackling bad coaching and anger management issues. The show, Coaching Bad, will have eight one-hour episodes of the series run on Spike TV, and is shooting in Los Angeles this summer, and will debut in the first quarter of 2015. Lewis will team with anger management specialist and author Dr. Christian Conte to focus on nine coaches who “have recognized that they need to change their combative and often bombastic ways if they want to continue in the profession they love.”

The IOC landed Australia’s Seven Network as the home of the next three Olympics, according to the AP. The IOC stated that Seven acquired the rights on all media platforms to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Suddenlink and The Walt Disney Company tied up a multi-year distribution agreement to deliver Disney’s lineup of sports, news and entertainment content to Suddenlink TV customers across televisions, computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and connected devices. As part of the new multi-year deal, Suddenlink will introduce several new services, including the upcoming SEC Network at launch on August 14 and Longhorn Network, beginning with the 2014-15 college football season.

Yahoo! Sports Radio is adding famed sports agent and sports personality Leigh Steinberg as an on-air contributor and host of his own show. The Leigh Steinberg show will launch on Aug. 18 and run weekly on Mondays from 8-10p with insight on sports and interviews with athletes, coaches and insiders. In addition, Steinberg will make regular appearances across the network, including weekly call-ins to Yahoo! Sports Radio’s popular programs, and contribution to analysis, breaking news and more.

Pac-12 Networks rolled out its fall Olympic talent lineup that will cover a total of 213 live events in men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, field hockey and cross country. The group will include two newcomers on Pac-12 Networks’ team in Josh Lewin, calling play-by-play action for women’s volleyball, and Christopher Sullivan as a soccer analyst. Play-by-play announcer Ann Schatz and analyst Kyndra de St. Aubin are set to kick off the Networks’ live event telecast schedule with a women’s soccer contest on Friday, August 22 at 3p with Colorado/Colorado State.

Meanwhile, the NFL has launched a campaign for the new season called Together We Make Football. The moniker will look to invite fans to share a story of why they love the game and unfold via multiple platforms throughout the NFL season, before culminating in a nationally televised NFL Films special that will air on NBC on Super Bowl Sunday. The league launched a microsite TogetherWeMakeFootball.com, to serve as a digital community where fans can share their stories.

IMG College announced a new national college partnership with Chobani designed to hit the season looking to drive awareness and yogurt consumption via increased distribution and visibility on campuses and at retailers. The college program will launch with 17 IMG universities and grow to more than 27 by its third year.
 
Meanwhile, Jell-O is also going back to school, bringing Jell-O University Mold Kits to retailers via a marriage of marketing and licensing. Following last year’s four-IMG school test (in which school-branded Jell-O outsold unbranded versions 13:1), the brand will now bring 16 new kits this month with each kit will containing two trays of school logo or mascot molds, along with boxes of Jell-O gelatin in team colors. To integrate marketing and licensing assets at the participating schools, Jell-O connected with IMG College, Learfield Sports, Michigan State Athletics, USC Sports Properties, and LSU Sports Properties,

Ahead of the new season of HBO’s Hard Knocks franchise, 2C revealed its promo campaign for the series, marking the companies’ third such collaboration for the show. 2C was asked to run with HBO concepts for two spots, one highlighting the faces of those competing for coveted positions on the team’s roster and the other focused on the numbers. Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Atlanta Falcons premieres tomorrow at 10p.

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which university did Carl Lewis compete for? Answer: Houston. Kudos: Char Zoller-University of Oregon/Singapore; Lou Monaco-Daily Racing Form/NY; Lon Samuelson-Hospital for Special Surgery/NY; Michael Neuman-Scout Sports and Entertainment/NY; Joe Giovengo-Game Show Network/NY; Ken Nice-Yoh/Silver Spring; Matt Meachem-Gracenote/Queensbury; Tony Tortorici-Fox Sports North and Wisconsin/Minneapolis; Andy Pittman-Texas A&M University/College Station; Steve McNair-KUBE 57 TV/Houston; Julie Syers-Briggs & Caldwell/Houston; Judie Henninger-Valentine Productions Inc./Santa Monica; Jim Himmel-TCB Media/San Clemente; Paul Gygli-NBCUniversal Television Distribution/Universal City; Miguel Velasco-FOX Sports/LA.

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

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