• Variety, Sunday, July 12, 2009 9:49 PM

Some of the most compelling sports radio hosts are becoming TV personalities -- again. Dan Patrick, a 15-year veteran of ESPN, now co-hosts NBC's "Football Night in America," writes for Sports Illustrated and hosts his own national radio show. DirecTV plans to launch a three-hour televised version of that radio show. "The Dan Patrick Show" debuts on Aug. 3 at 9 a.m.

There will be five robotic cameras and a handheld to give the TV show a feeling akin to "The Office." Patrick's staff will also enter "confessionals" during commercial breaks to discuss their thoughts on sports news of the day and different aspects of the show.

In other examples, Colin Cowherd's morning radio show is being broadcast on ESPN U and Scott Van Pelt has the last hour of his just-launched radio show simulcast on ESPN2. Televising radio programs is an inexpensive way to fill programming hours at a relatively low cost. Networks such as ESPN don't have to acquire outside programming and besides a possible salary bump, the hosts are already on payroll.

Read the whole story at Variety »