The NFL’s two RedZone channels have become a TV phenomenon, whipping viewers around to potential scoring plays on any given Sunday. Now, IMG will launch its own RedZone-like channel for college football fans on Saturdays. But they’ll do it via digital radio.
IMG tells Sporting News they plan to announce the new College Football Blitz, a live and on-demand digital audio platform, as early as Thursday. Starting this Saturday, College Football Blitz will offer 10 hours of live, cut-in radio coverage all day on Saturdays from 2 p.m. ET to midnight. Plus, scoring updates, on-demand highlights, coaches interviews and analysis.
Produced by IMG, College Football Blitz will be available on SiriusXM, TuneIn Radio and IMGCollege.com. It will run through the end of the 2015 regular season, but won’t include postseason action. The whip around format will encompass an estimated 75 percent of Power 5 conference games played this season.
Think of College Football Blitz as the Internet radio version of ESPN’s Goal Line TV channel for college football and other collegiate sports. ESPN Goal Line offers whiparound TV coverage for viewers of college football, college basketball (Buzzer Beater) and college baseball (Bases Loaded). ESPN launched Goal Line in 2010. In addition to Goal Line for TV viewers, ESPN Radio broadcasts College GameDay from noon to 7 p.m ET on college football Saturdays to update listeners on the action.
But the best part of College Football Blitz is that fans will be able to listen some of the great, hometown radio talent calling regional college games from anywhere in the country, according to Chris Ferris, VP of Broadcasting for IMG Audio.
They include Don Criqui at Notre Dame, Dan Dierdorf at Michigan, Gene Deckerhoff at Florida State, Bill Roth at UCLA, Eric LeGrand and Ray Lucas at Rutgers, and Damon Huard at Washington.
Criqui is one of the most famous play-by-play announcers in sports history, calling NFL football for 47 seasons from 1967 to 2013. Sportscasters want to be heard by as many people as possible. The more fans listening to their work, the better, said Criqui in a statement to Sporting News.
“Football broadcasters will all welcome being incorporated into the Blitz,” he said. “How can you beat having your broadcast available everywhere? The Blitz is a win-win for everyone involved, listeners and broadcasters.“
About 80 percent of the action on College Football Blitz will be live, according to Andrew Giangola, VP of Strategic Communications for IMG College. There will also be halftime and post-game shows hosted by two anchors he declined to name.
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