ESPN to Debut First Primetime Newsmagazine Show Tuesday, October 16 at 7 p.m. ET

ESPN will debut the primetime news magazine show ESPN Reports (working title) beginning Tuesday, October 16 at 7 p.m. ET. The premiere will be followed by three additional one-hour episodes airing on consecutive Tuesdays, and will return for five weeks in April 2008 and six weeks in June 2008. The series will provide 15 original episodes a year.

Each show will offer a combination of investigative features, profiles of intriguing sports personalities, and cutting edge stories on innovations in the sports world including emerging sports and new technology. In addition, ESPN Reports will differentiate itself by offering a unique, behind-the-scenes portrait of its reporters by turning the camera on the reporters as they work on their stories. Each segment will meld the stories with a glimpse of the reporters' experiences � pitching the original idea, creating storylines with producers and interviewing their subjects. Reporter out-takes and diaries will also be incorporated.

The ESPN program will be the first television magazine show to be produced and broadcast in high definition television. It will complement ESPN's award-winning Outside the Lines franchise � enhancing the network's overall commitment to long-form journalism.

"The pages of ESPN The Magazine will come to life on ESPN Reports through the vibrant lens of the top technical cameras and access-driven stories that will be told by award-winning reporters and producers," said Robert Wallace, ESPN's vice president of content development. "The series will be hard-hitting, current and compelling. It will broaden the current boundaries of the television news magazine genre."

A team of award-winning ESPN journalists � Jeremy Schaap, Lisa Salters, Tom Farrey, Rachel Nichols and Michael Smith � will report in each show, with additional guest reporters appearing periodically.

Content from the program will be distributed across several ESPN platforms � ESPN.com, ESPN360.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN International, ESPN Mobile Publishing, ESPN Mobile TV and ESPN podcasts.

ESPN Reports will be produced by a team of seasoned and award-winning television documentary producers. The production team is led by Wallace, an Emmy Award-winning producer, formerly with ABC News and a 30-year veteran of print and television journalism. Longtime ESPN feature producer Andy Tennant, who has earned several Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Awards, will serve as the executive producer. Emmy Award-winning producer Robert Abbott, who oversaw ESPN25, the network's 25th anniversary programming, will be the coordinating producer, and former HBO director of documentary programming Julie Anderson, an accomplished television documentary producer who has earned several Emmy and Peabody Awards, will serve as senior producer.