BTN Earns Prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award

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Elizabeth Conlisk, VP/Communications & Mike Vest, Media Relations Manager: press@bigtennetwork.com

(Big Ten Network) – CHICAGO - The Radio Television Digital News Association recognized BTN on Tuesday with an Edward R. Murrow Award in the category of video sports reporting for the network?s feature story on Brock Mealer, the brother of University of Michigan football player Elliott Mealer.

?It is an unbelievable honor for our young network to receive an award that carries the name of Edward R. Murrow,? President Mark Silverman said. ?We?re tremendously proud of the work by producer Kevin Shaw, editor John Castelli, senior producer Bill Friedman and our entire production staff. We?re truly grateful to the Mealer family and to the University of Michigan for helping us to tell this amazing story.?

The feature recalls a 2007 car accident that took the lives of Brock and Elliott?s father, David, as well as Elliott?s girlfriend and left Brock partially paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors gave him a one percent chance to walk again.

Determined to beat the odds, Brock worked with the UM sports medicine staff during his lengthy rehabilitation. At the urging of former head football coach Rich Rodriguez, Brock eventually led the Wolverines, using two canes, onto the Michigan Stadium field before their 2010 season opener. Over several months, a BTN production crew captured Brock?s emotional journey of struggle, hope and fulfillment.

The 8-minute feature originally aired on Sept. 18 during Big Ten Football Saturday Pre-Game Show. It was produced by Shaw, and edited by Castelli. Friedman served as senior producer for the piece. The trio was a part of the production team recently honored with an Emmy nomination for network series, The Journey: Big Ten Basketball 2010.

In less than four years on the air, BTN has now garnered two national Emmy nominations and a national Murrow Award.

RTDNA has been honoring outstanding achievements in electronic journalism with the Edward R. Murrow Awards since 1971. Murrow?s pursuit of excellence in journalism embodies the spirit of the awards that carry his name. Murrow Award recipients demonstrate the excellence that Edward R. Murrow made the standard for the electronic news profession.

The awards are named after Murrow, the legendary CBS news journalist who became famous for his coverage of World War II.

About BTN: A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 600 events, all in HD, the 24/7 network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. Events include football, men?s and women?s basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Championship events; studio shows; coaches? shows; and classic games. The network televises and streams more Olympic sporting events and women?s sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation?s finest universities. The groundbreaking Student U initiative provides real-world experience for students interested in careers in sports television. The network is available to more than 80 million homes across the United States and Canada, and currently has agreements with more than 300 affiliates, including AT&T U-Verse, Atlantic Broadband, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH Network, Insight, Mediacom, Rogers Cable (Canada), Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct (Canada), Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. For updated information on BTN, go to http://www.BTN.com.