BTN Communications, July 24, 2017

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As the Big Ten Network prepares to celebrate its 10th anniversary in August, BTN president Mark Silverman today announced what lies ahead of the network at Big Ten Football media days.

BTN Programming

  • BTN Tailgate, BTN?s on-campus college football pregame show, will return for its second season and expand to two hours, now airing from 10 a.m. ET to noon ET. Analyst Stanley Jackson will join the crew of Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Spice Adams for 10 shows to serve as the home for Big Ten football fans this fall.
  • Big Ten Elite: 2016 Penn State Football will debut on Sept. 22 and chronicle the Nittany Lions run to the 2017 Rose Bowl, led by head coach James Franklin, Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley. Last season Penn State won its first Big Ten Championship since 2008, and appeared in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2009.
  • Sports Lite with Mike Hall and Campus Eats Presented by EatStreet are also returning for their second seasons on BTN. Campus Eats, hosted by Jenny Dell and Troy Johnson, debuts on Sept. 5 and provides viewers with a first-hand look at the unique and iconic restaurants found across the Big Ten, while Sports Lite with Mike Hall debuts on Sept. 6 and delivers an unbuttoned take on Big Ten events and personalities from coast-to-coast.
  • BTN Live, B1G Football and Beyond and The Journey return this fall with B1G Football and Beyond airing daily and BTN Live airing nightly throughout the week with highlights, analysis and special guests. BTN Live will debut on Aug. 1 and B1G Football and Beyond will debut on Aug. 28. The Journey: Big Ten Football 2017 will debut this October.
  • BTN: Ten B1G Years will debut on Aug. 30 and go behind-the-scenes for the launch of the Big Ten Network in August of 2007. Throughout the year, 10 shows will follow that capture the most exciting plays, highlights and wins from each academic year since the network has been on the air. Additionally, two special episodes from The Journey will chronicle the most memorable stories and moment from the series? 100 plus episodes.
  • BTN Originals will tell the amazing story of Maryland junior defensive end Melvin Keihn, who after leaving Liberia at the age of 8, returns home to see his mother for the first time in nearly 15 years. You can watch the trailer on btn.com.

New On-Air Talent

A few fresh faces will appear in BTN studios this fall, including Braylon Edwards, James Laurinaitis and Corey Wootton. Edwards is a former Biletnikoff Award winner at Michigan and No. 3 overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft. Laurinaitas is a former Butkus Award winner at Ohio State and was a second-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft before a productive eight-year career and Wootton was a first-team All-Big Ten defensive end at Northwestern and six-year NFL veteran.

Lisa Byington, a respected reporter, play-by-play voice, studio host for the Big Ten Network, will also become the first woman in BTN history to provide play-by-play for a football game. Byington will be on the call when Bowling Green visits Northwestern on Saturday, Sept. 16.

Content Collaboration

As consumer habits continue to evolve, BTN will look to create content for non-BTN platforms, including:

  • Being P.J. Fleck in collaboration with ESPN
  • A weekly Ohio State Football show produced exclusively for SportsTime Ohio
  • Televised BTN games and programming will be available within Fox Sports Go in addition to BTN2Go.