SEC Network Launches Tonight
Aug. 14, 2014 SEC Network, the new national sports network devoted to the Southeastern Conference and operated by ESPN, will officially launch at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 14.
The network will kickoff with a special three-hour edition of SEC Now that will visit every SEC school and feature the 21 sports within the conference. Shannon Spake will be on hand at the My Carolina Alumni Association Fall Sports Preview Party, providing live cut-ins during the three-hour extravaganza.
The show will feature a diversity of sports coverage, a host of SEC Network experts, high-end features, behind-the-scenes access and sit-down interviews – backbone elements for the regularly schedule SEC Now show.
Highlights of the debut special:
• Faces of SEC Now: Hosts Dari Nowkhah and Maria Taylor will anchor the first live show from the network’s Charlotte, N.C., studios. They will be joined by broadcasting legend Brent Musburger as well as Paul Finebaum, Greg McElroy and Booger McFarland
• Live Whip Around Reporting: Analysts, reporters and even a SportsCenter anchor will be dispersed and reporting live from the following SEC locations: Marcus Spears (Alabama), Niki Noto (Arkansas), Rece Davis (Auburn), Joe Tessitore (Florida), Tim Tebow (Florida), Matt Stinchcomb (Georgia), Laura Rutledge (Kentucky), Peter Burns (LSU), Ben McDonald (LSU), Tony Barnhart (Mississippi State), John Anderson (Missouri), Kaylee Hartung (Ole Miss), Shannon Spake (South Carolina), Ryan McGee (Tennessee), Kayce Smith (Texas A&M) and Jessica Mendoza (Vanderbilt)
• All-Access: Go inside football camps with wired coaches; listen live at Mississippi State practice with Coach Dan Mullen, stride alongside Florida’s walkthrough with coach Will Muschamp and shout with Yell Leaders at Aggies Yell practice
• Features: Auburn offensive lineman Shon Coleman was sidelined in 2011 and 2012 while fighting leukemia. Coleman returned last September and is battling for the starting left tackle position vacated by Greg Robinson, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft
• Highlights: Live look-ins and highlights from in-progress soccer matches UAB at Vanderbilt and Creighton at Arkansas
• Interviews: Sit down with coaches that represent 10 total championships, including five defending championship coaches from within the SEC’s 21-sponsored sports; Spears interviews his former LSU coach, now head coach at Alabama, Nick Saban; Tebow returns to Gainesville to interview Florida’s quarterback Jeff Driskel
The following 14 days will feature an array of events and specials, including customized programming to feature 14 schools in 14 days with team previews, greatest games and SEC features leading into the network’s first college football game on Thursday, Aug. 28, Texas A&M at South Carolina. Just prior to that contest, SEC Nation pre-game show will originate from Gamecock Park on the SEC Network, beginning at 4 p.m.
The SEC Network will surround more than 45 exclusive football games this fall with a line-up of in-depth studio programming and original content. From the opening game to the SEC Championship in Atlanta, Ga., the network will provide viewers an all-access pass to SEC football.
THE SOUTH CAROLINA OPERATION
The University of South Carolina will produce 110-120 events with an ESPN-caliber production. These include baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, volleyball and sand volleyball games that are not covered by CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or the SEC Network linear channel. Live operations for the SEC Network at Carolina are led by David Cockfield (producer), Mark Slice (engineer) and Justin Stoll (graphic design). Play-by-play duties will be handled by familiar voices Brad Muller, Andy Demetra and Derek Scott.
HOW TO FIND THE SEC NETWORK
The SEC Network Channel Find may be accessed via the following link: http://getsecnetwork.com/channel-finder This link also provides information about all the SEC Network and SEC Network + events on mobile devices, tablets and computers.
RECOCCURING WEEKDAY PROGRAMMING:
SEC Now – news & information show featuring SEC Network hosts Peter Burns, Dari Nowkhah or Maria Taylor and network analysts, discussing all the SEC news of the day. The show airs at 7 p.m. ET on Monday and Tuesday and begins at 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
The Paul Finebaum Show – Paul Finebaum brings his legendary radio show to TV, taking callers to talk all things SEC, weekdays 3-7 p.m.
SEC in 60 – re-live two games and the sights and sounds that surrounded them over the weekend in a compact one- hour format.
Film Room – every week sit down with a different head football coach in the SEC for an exclusive film session, breaking down the X’s and O’s of game footage.
SEC Walkthrough – get prepared for the weekend’s upcoming games with a look back at relevant matchups.
WEEKEND PROGRAMMING:
SEC Nation – analysts Marcus Spears and Tim Tebow join host Joe Tessitore, Paul Finebaum and Kaylee Hartung on a different SEC campus each week in the SEC Network pre-game show airing every Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
SEC Scoreboard– a Saturday evening recap show featuring highlights and analysis of all the day’s SEC football games.
SEC Rewind – Sunday night at 10 p.m., take a look back at an historic game from the SEC, beginning with 1980’s South Carolina vs. Georgia, a showdown between two Heisman trophy winning running backs, Herschel Walker (Georgia) and George Rogers (South Carolina).
2014 SEASON ORIGINAL CONTENT
SEC Storied: The Stars are Aligned –
What do Ashley Judd, Darius Rucker, James Carville and Governor Rick Perry have in common? Well, they live and die with the fortunes of their respective SEC schools. In The Stars Are Aligned, 14 famous figures–each representing a different college in the Southeastern Conference–spill their emotions and explain why they’ll never forget where they came from. Among the other celebrities featured are Charlie Daniels, Amy Robach, Jonathan Papelbon, Melissa Joan Hart, Emmitt Smith, Shepard Smith and Ralphie May.
SEC Storied: Bo, Barkley and the Big Hurt –
It started with the unheralded arrival of a wisecracking heavyweight basketball player named Charles Barkley. Then came the recruitment of multi-sports legend Bo Jackson, a victory in itself since he might have gone to Alabama. When Frank Thomas wasn’t drafted by a major league baseball team, he decided to cast his fate with Auburn… as a football player. Told through an unforgettable reunion of the famed trio at the 2013 Iron Bowl, here’s the real story of how these future Hall of Famers turned the orange and blue of Tiger athletics into gold.
SEC Storied: The Believer –
The SEC is in Steve Spurrier’s blood. He grew up in Tennessee as a fan of the Volunteers. He won the Heisman Trophy as the quarterback for the University of Florida, and then came back to coach the Gators to a national championship. Now he coaches the University of South Carolina, the team that produced the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NFL draft, Jadeveon Clowney. Co-executive produced by Kenny Chesney and Shaun Silva, “The Believer” reveals the essence of the most competitive man in the most competitive football conference in the nation.
SEC Storied: It’s Time –
Premiering Thursday, September 4 at 8 p.m. this film tells the story of Ole Miss Football Player Chucky Mullins, who was paralyzed following an in-game collision with Vanderbilt fullback Brad Gaines in 1989. Mullins inspired his teammates for the rest of that season and beyond, as the school established the Chucky Mullins Courage Award in his honor, which awards the recipient with the right to wear Mullins’ number 38 that seaso
