YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket will have customizable multi-view this season along with some additional features. Plus: ESPN’s famed show “The Sports Reporters” will return in a digital capacity; Leigh Diffey announced as NBC’s new lead NASCAR announcer.
Sunday Ticket adding customizable multi-view
Starting this season, YouTube will allow Sunday Ticket subscribers to customize their viewing experience with a multi-view option in which users can pick which games they see, per multiple reports Tuesday. In the past, YouTube pre-selected sets of games that viewers could watch in multi-view, not allowing for customization.
Per Front Office Sports, users will still be limited in the selections they can make when it comes to broadcasts in their local market. Viewers will be able to select anywhere from two to four games to watch at once.
Additionally, YouTube will introduce a “Fantasy View” that allows users to link their fantasy teams to their YouTube account and be served with key plays, or multi-view options curated to a users’ fantasy football roster. (Front Office Sports, 8.20) (SBJ, 8.20)
ESPN to revive “The Sports Reporters”
A prior staple of ESPN’s programming lineup, “The Sports Reporters” is set to return primarily on the network’s digital platforms, John Ourand of Puck reported Monday. The reboot of the show will be hosted by ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, son of Dick Schaap who hosted the show through much of its prime from 1988 to 2001.
Per Ourand, the first episode of the show has already been taped and ESPN plans to have an episode ready to air within the next few weeks. The revived iteration of “The Sports Reporters” will seemingly focus less on print journalists that the original show was known for, with Ourand citing Joe Buck and Al Michaels as possible guests in the new format.
Notably, the new version of the show will not have a regular linear time slot and will instead be featured primarily on ESPN’s YouTube channel, with certain segments crossing over to linear. (Puck, 8.19)
Diffey tapped for lead NASCAR role on NBC
Motorsports commentator Leigh Diffey will assume the lead play-by-play role for NBC’s NASCAR coverage starting this week, replacing Rick Allen, the network announced Tuesday. His first assignment will be the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Prior to moving to NASCAR, Diffey served as NBC’s lead INDYCAR commentator for more than a decade. More recently, Diffey was NBC’s lead track & field voice during the Paris Olympics.
With Diffey’s move to NASCAR, NBC also announced that Kevin Lee will take over as lead play-by-play commentator for the remainder of the INDYCAR season. As for Allen, the longtime motorsports announcer will serve as NBC’s play-by-play voice for NASCAR’s Xfinity series until that circuit moves to The CW in a month’s time. (NBC, 8.20)
