• by Sara Guaglione , Staff Writer, October 24, 2019

ESPN's daily investigative and news show “Outside the Lines," which has aired since 2003, will end December 20.

Beginning in January, ESPN will launch an hour-long version of “Outside the Lines” on Saturday mornings.

It will also produce a number of prime-time specials and “OTL”-branded segments for shows like “SportsCenter,” “E:60” and online for ESPN.com.

Jeremy Schaap, who became host of “Outside the Lines” when longtime host Bob Ley retired this summer, will host the new Saturday morning edition of "OTL" starting January 18 at 9 a.m. ET.

He will continue to co-host ESPN’s monthly prime-time "E:60" program with Lisa Salters. 

Ryan Smith, an ESPN host and correspondent, will remain in a prominent role with "OTL."

“We’re taking away ‘OTL’s’ linear half-hour daily presence and expanding it,” Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president of event and studio production and executive editor, told Sports Business Daily. “If you compare that 30-minute weekday show from 1-1:30 to the amount of impressions that I’m going to get, we’re going to impact more people. ... Everything has to evolve. Consumer habits are changing.”

"OTL" will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a one-hour, prime-time special in May. (“Outside the Lines” debuted in 1990 and moved to a daily format 16 years ago.)

The show's investigative reporting has covered a range of sports-related events and topics, from the arrest of Conrad Mainwaring, a track coach accused of molesting 41 boys, to the problems with concession food at sporting events. 

Most recently, an "OTL" investigation reported that a Los Angeles Angels employee had told the DEA about the longtime drug abuse by Tyler Skaggs, the Angels’ pitcher who died in a Texas hotel room the night before a game.