Original production beckons for ESPN

Walt Disney-owned cable network ESPN is making a bold leap into original production in an attempt to halt declining ratings at the sports cable network.

ESPN is to spend some $25m a year on new programming, a figure that seems trifling compared with the $600m a year it pays for NFL rights and a further annual bill of $136m for major league baseball rights.

With competition from the likes of Fox Sports and TNT, ESPN is hoping to attract younger demographic, one which isn't so sports mad as its core audience. The move is also a reflection of the failure of high-cost sports events to shore up ratings.

First on the list is a 120' telefilm called A Season on the Brink: A Year With Bob Knight & the Indiana Hoosiers, based on the book by John Feinstein. Production begins this November, with a March 2002 tx date lined up.

A co-production with the National Basketball Association is also in the pipeline. The primetime reality soap series, entitled The D-League, follows the personal and on-court lives of a group of bona fide basketball players taking part in an experimental league being launched this year by the NBA.

Developmental League games will be broadcast on ESPN2,
An ESPN spin-off channel that also airs sport. The series itself will debut in January, shortly after the D League season kicks off.

Beg Borrow & BS is another new ESPN programme. The gameshow debuts in February and will have contestants travelling the country, completing various ESPN sports-related tasks, such as catching a NFL quarterback's pass.