5 Qs with ESPNU vp/gm Burke Magnus

ESPNU’s 1st birthday’s tomorrow. What’s been its biggest success? The number of live events, we’ve done 477. That’s almost 200 more than we projected. On distribution, we started at 2.5mln and with Adelphia, Insight, Mediacom, Dish, DirecTV and Verizon, we now sit at 8mln. What sport could become the next big college TV property? Women’s softball is a great TV sport because it’s only a 2-hr window as opposed to baseball’s 3 hours. And it features dominating performances. We had a game last week where the pitcher from Texas struck 18 batters in a regulation game. I’d also say baseball, hockey, women’s volleyball and lacrosse. Wrestling has potential, too. Plans afoot for the ESPNU brand? We plan to roll out ESPNU through [broadband service] ESPN360, Mobile ESPN, ESPN.com and other new media platforms. We want to establish the ESPNU brand as the gateway to college content when it lives on these other platforms. I’d add ESPNRadio and ESPN the Magazine in there, too. How will ESPNU at 2 years differ from year 1? Beyond more live events, our biggest growth opportunity is to get more active in the summer. We’ll stretch the definition a bit and add international competitions in swimming, diving, track & field and soccer, some of which feature intercollegiate competitors [from US colleges]. We’ll also beef up what we do between games, like studio shows, specials and news/information. How does coverage of Historically Black Colleges/U’s fit? When we started we saw it as the last untapped area with a massive, underserved fan base. We thought it could be a foundational element for us. Everything’s come true. We plan to grow that and make part of our reputation the home of black college sports.