ESPNU to Showcase a Television First on Saturday: Entire Miami-Virginia Tech Football Game from Skycam; College Sports Network Continues Successful First Year.

BRISTOL, Conn. -- This week's ESPN College Football Primetime telecast Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:45 p.m. ET will feature #5 Miami at #3 Virginia Tech. ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network which debuted in March, will complement ESPN's coverage by showing the game primarily from the "Skycam" angle. The telecast will mark the first time any television network has presented an entire sporting event from the unique aerial view.

Live play will be presented on ESPNU from "Skycam's" overhead angle with cuts to ESPN's game feed periodically for replays, statistics, cut-ins and analysis. Both networks will utilize the commentator team of Ron Franklin, Bob Davie and Holly Rowe.

MORE ABOUT ESPNU

What:

ESPNU is a multi-media college sports initiative including a 24-hour television network.

When:

The network launched "03-04-05" - Friday, March 4, 2005, during the eve of Championship Week (a week-long series of basketball conference tournament games).

TV Network Programming and Distribution:

The ESPNU schedule will feature more than 300 live events (regular-season and championships) in the network's first year. Action includes a variety of top football and men's and women's basketball mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games, plus specials and more.

The network has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA calling for extensive coverage of several NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons. In addition, ESPNU has agreements with a variety of top college conferences and schools to televise football, men's and women's basketball and numerous other sports.

ESPNU, currently in more than 7.5 million households, has secured distribution agreements with DIRECTV (Channel 609), Echostar's DISH Network (Channel 148), Adelphia, Insight Communications, Mediacom, Verizon, several smaller affiliates and is close to distribution agreements with others.

Multi-Media Effort:

In addition to the TV network, ESPNU content and components will be featured across ESPN's services, such as ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, Mobile ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN Interactive, ESPN360, merchandising and more.

ERT:

ESPN Regional Television (ERT), a subsidiary of ESPN, Inc., handles the primary production responsibilities for the ESPNU television network out of its Charlotte, N.C. headquarters. ERT is the nation's largest syndicator of college sports programming with more than 740 events produced each year, accounting for more than 2,000 live and/or original hours.

ESPNU VP & General Manager:

Burke Magnus