You know about the new 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter hosted by Michael Smith and Jemele Hill. And the midnight ET edition has been hosted by Scott Van Pelt for more than a year. Those two are different as they are more personality and opinion-driven than previous editions of SportsCenter. Before SVP became the permanent host of the midnight ET SportsCenter, the show depended more on breaking news and highlights. Now, the shows depend on interviews, opinion, debate and more of the hosts than before.
So now you may see this on your cable or satellite TV listings, this is what you’ll see for the 6 p.m. ET SportsCenter:
And for midnight ET with Scott Van Pelt:
And the other SportsCenters:
The listings just started recently, but they are a way to show viewers that the 6 p.m. and midnight editions have permanent hosts. Gone are the days that no one is bigger than the SportsCenter brand.
As ESPN senior vice president of SportsCenter and news Rob King discussed previously about the new personality-driven editions:
Since we launched the midnight show with Scott Van Pelt, it’s been really clear that SportsCenter can be distinguished when it’s built around unique personalities and unique conceits, especially those ideas, personalities and conceits that work for specific audiences. The success of Scott at midnight has emboldened us to think about, “How do you feel when you wake up in the morning?” which is what we built SportsCenter:AM around. It definitely makes us think about that happy-hour time of day where the conversation around sports is really a conversation more than a moment to report something.
So it’s more about personality and conversation for these editions and it’s why we’re seeing different listings for the 6 p.m. and midnight SportsCenters.
