SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and ESPN announced today a multi-year extension to their current broadcast agreement, which will provide SIRIUS listeners with an enhanced ESPN-dedicated channel. SIRIUS Channel 121 will supplement its ESPNEWS programming with a new, exclusive, weekly ESPN The Magazine talk show, and for the first time on national radio, exclusive simulcasts of some of ESPN’s television mainstays, including SportsCenter.
SIRIUS will continue to broadcast ESPN Radio on channel 120, as well as ESPN Deportes Radio on channel 181.
ESPN The Magazine on SIRIUS, hosted by Gary Hoenig, general manager and editor-in-chief of ESPN Publishing, and ESPN The Magazine Editor Gary Belsky, debuted today, December 11 (12 – 2 p.m. ET) exclusively on SIRIUS channel 121. The weekly show will feature Hoenig and Belsky and a roundtable of ESPN The Magazine writers and editors examining the news stories of the week, interacting with callers from around the country, and conducting interviews with high-profile guests from the world of sports.
“This new ESPN channel brings more superb content from the world’s leading sports entertainment company to one of the country’s fastest growing audiences,”said Scott Greenstein, SIRIUS’ President, Entertainment and Sports. “In addition, ESPN The Magazine on SIRIUS will be a unique blend of the magazine and satellite radio, delivering compelling insight into all corners of the sports world. Plus, millions of SIRIUS listeners around the country will now have access to ESPN’s outstanding programming, much of which has never before been available on radio.”