DC50, the CW in Washington DC, has partnered with ESPN Regional Television, the syndication home for the Southeastern Conference, to broadcast SEC Basketball, beginning January 2012, and SEC Football, coming Fall 2012, as an SEC Network affiliate with a multi-year deal exclusively on DC50 in the Washington DC area. 

As an SEC Network affiliate, DC50 will air 18 regular season SEC basketball games beginning this Saturday, Jan 7 with the 1:30 p.m. broadcast of the SEC Network pre-game show with ESPN’s Dari Nowkhah and Barry Booker leading into the Auburn at Vanderbilt game followed by the 4 p.m. telecast of South Carolina at Kentucky.  Each Saturday, DC50 will air a pre-game show produced from the ESPN Charlotte, N.C. studios at 1:30 p.m. followed by a men’s basketball game double header.

The 2012 basketball schedule (http://www.dc50tv.com/sports/SEC ) includes matchups between Kentucky and LSU (Saturday, Jan 28 at 4 p.m.) Mississippi State and the University of Florida (1:45 p.m.) as well as Alabama and Ole Miss (Saturday, March at 4 p.m.)  DC50 will also air several rounds of the SEC Tournament in March. 

As part of the agreement, DC50 will also air SEC College Football games beginning this Labor Day Weekend. 

“We’re excited that DC50 will be the new home for the SEC Network. With the addition of SEC Basketball on Saturdays and the Washington Nationals airing on Sundays, DC50 is Washington’s home for live sports all weekend. As we add SEC Football to the station, we will be able to provide sports for our viewers all 12 months of the year,” said Ashley Messina, Vice President and General Manager of DC50.

“We’re excited that DC50 will be the new home for the SEC Network. With the addition of SEC Basketball on Saturdays and the Washington Nationals airing on Sundays, DC50 is Washington’s home for live sports all weekend. As we add SEC Football to the station, we will be able to provide sports for our viewers all 12 months of the year,” said Ashley Messina, Vice President and General Manager of DC50.

SEC Network
ESPN, Inc., and the Southeastern Conference entered into a landmark 15-year agreement for extensive football, men’s and women’s basketball, Olympic sports and conference championship content across multiple ESPN entities beginning with the 2009-10 academic year. As a result, ESPN Regional Television became the over the-air syndication home for Southeastern Conference programming and the largest college sports syndication television package in the country. In 2010, SEC Network basketball games were distributed in 71 local television markets, representing 39.0 million homes; SEC Network football games were distributed in 97 local television markets, representing 81.2 million homes, which is 70% of the U.S.

ESPN Regional Television/Event Ownership
The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 1,200 telecasts of sporting events and holds ownership of several sporting events. ERT, based in Charlotte, N.C., is also the production headquarters for ESPNU; the syndication rights holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, SEC, WAC) and manages the Big 12 Corporate Partner Program.