High Noon moving, SportsNation canceled, in ESPN shakeup; Turner hires UEFA analysts; Univision puts Turner to shame with number UEFA matches on linear TV.
SportsNation Canceled, High Noon Leaves Noon
ESPN is cancelling SportsNation and moving the two-month-old High Noon (9 AM Pacific) into its vacated 4 PM ET timeslot, the network announced Thursday. High Noon, which will shrink from a full-hour to 30 minutes, will retain its name despite moving out of the Noon ET timeslot.
With High Noon‘s move, ESPN will revive the Noon ET SportsCenter Coast to Coast. SportsNation host Cari Champion, who hosted the Noon SportsCenter from 2016 through March of this year, will return to that show with her hold co-host David Lloyd. The changes go into effect September 11.
SportsNation lost Michelle Beadle to Get Up! in February and Marcullus Wiley — reportedly to Fox — earlier this summer. The show had been on the air since 2009. The series finale is set for two weeks from Friday. [ESPN PR 8.9]
Howard, Holden, Heading to Turner UEFA Studio
Turner Sports has hired former U.S. men’s soccer national team members Tim Howard and Stuart Holden as a studio analysts for its UEFA Champions League coverage. Howard and Holden will work alongside host Kate Abdo and former NBA star Steve Nash, whose hirings were announced in May. Turner’s studio programming will air before, during and after match windows on TNT and the B/R Live streaming service. [Turner Sports 8.9]
Univision Airing Many More UEFA Matches on TV Than TNT
Univision, which is debuting this season as UEFA’s Spanish-language broadcast partner, will carry 97 of the 137 UEFA Champions League matches on linear television — nearly doubling the 46 that will air on English-language TNT. Matches will air across Univision, UniMas, Univision Deportes Network and Galavision. The remaining 40 will be available via streaming.
The Univision networks will also carry 70 of the over 200 UEFA Europa League matches, compared to just one — the final — on TNT. Overall, Univision will air 167 UEFA matches on linear TV, 121 more than TNT (46). [Univision 8.9]
