ESPN To Host Block Party

ESPN is planning to go after a young urban audience this summer with two hours of programming called the Block Party.

The programming will air on ESPN2 between 7-9 p.m. eastern on Fridays ahead of the channel's regularly scheduled boxing coverage. The Block Party will begin June 28 and run 10 weeks.

"It's a programming block specifically targeted at urban youth," said Artie Bulgrin, SVP of research/sales development for ESPN. There will be a host in New York to keep the pace fast and there will also be interviews with athletes, musicians and other celebrities. A mixture of new and returning series will also air on a rotating basis during the Block Party, including:

  • The Life, an Emmy-nominated weekly program based on a section of ESPN The Magazine. ESPN bills The Life as a look at the top athletes in the country.

  • Streetball, a look at the best basketball players who aren't professional but play in street basketball leagues around the country.

  • An as-yet-unnamed half-hour program from ESPN Original Entertainment, which developed not only The Life but series like 2-Minute Drill, documentaries and original movies like The Junction Boys.

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    Advertisers have been lined up for the block, which will air live and not be repeated in other times zones. A significant portion of ESPN's viewership comes from the East and Midwest. Advertiser specifics have not been announced.

    Bulgrin said that the Block Party is designed to appeal to urban youth who go to clubs and do other activities on Friday night. ESPN2 plans to catch the urban youth in the hours before they go out, while they're IM-ing or doing other activities He said that ESPN2 wanted to target the urban demographic at a time of the year when it's harder to reach them with sporting events The Friday Night Fights on ESPN2, which has a high viewership among Hispanic males, will continue from 9-11 p.m. It's not likely that ESPN2 will continue the Friday Night Block Party past August, however. Bulgrin said that ESPN's commitment to live sporting events would make it difficult to do although he didn't rule it out.

    The Block Party isn't ESPN's only maneuver in the multicultural arena. The company already runs several Spanish-speaking Latin American sports networks and a profile series that will soon be reworked for Spanish-speaking Latinos in the United States. It will become, along with a special edition of Sportscenter and added to the Sunday night Spanish-language programming available during baseball and football season, among the centerpieces of ESPN Desportes. The digital-tier network will launch in the fall with 24 hour a day, 7 days a week coverage of sports such as the NFL, Major League Baseball, tennis and soccer.

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