UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For the seventh straight year, Dave Revsine, Gerry DiNardo and Howard Griffith will cruise through Big Ten country to bring fans a 30-minute, on-site preview show from every Big Ten campus on the "Big Ten Football Preview Tour," presented by Culligan. The BTN crew will travel more than 3,000 miles in a customized chartered bus branded with the BTN logo. All shows can also be seen on BTN2Go.
The Penn State preview show will debut at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14, amongst eight consecutive hours of Nittany Lion football programming on BTN. The studio crew will visit Penn State’s practice on Thursday. The first preview show is Indiana, Penn State’s first Big Ten opponent, at 8 p.m. Aug. 12.
Preview shows will include interviews with head coaches and selected returning players as the BTN analysts measure each team’s progress for the 2013 regular season. Fans can also virtually jump on the bus via Twitter by following @BigTenNetwork, @BTNDaveRevsine, @HowardGriffith, @gerrydinardo and @BTNTomDienhart from the road. Dienhart, BTN.com’s senior writer, will also be providing daily stories from the tour at BTN.com/tour. Fans can also ride along with the crew by following Big Ten Network on Instagram.
The Penn State Football Preview Show will debut as the centerpiece event of eight consecutive hours of Nittany Lion Football programming on Aug. 14. At 6 p.m., the network will air Penn State’s thrilling 2012 Senior Day overtime win over Wisconsin, followed by the debut of the preview show. At 8:30 p.m., BTN will air the Nittany Lions’ 39-28 comeback win over No. 24 Northwestern from last season, followed by two more airings of the Penn State preview show.
Dienhart will also be providing stories from the tour’s stop at Penn State at BTN.com/tour.
BTN’s preseason football coverage continues with two, hour-long "Big Ten Football Preview" shows. The first show will highlight the Legends Division on Tuesday, Aug. 27, followed by the "Leaders Division Preview Show" on Wednesday, Aug. 28. Both shows will air at 7 p.m. with a bonus airing each night at 9 p.m.
BTN will televise more than 45 football games this season, kicking off the Big Ten football season with UNLV at Minnesota on Aug. 29. BTN will carry multiple Penn State football games this season, including contests vs. Eastern Michigan (noon Sept. 7) and UCF (6 p.m. Sept. 14).
The Big Ten Network is available to more than 90 million homes through agreements with more than 300 cable, satellite and telco providers in all 50 states and Canada. Armstrong, Blue Ridge and Adams Cable, though, do not carry the BTN in Pennsylvania and the Medina and Youngstown, Ohio, areas. More than 35,000 Penn State alumni live in the communities served by the three cable providers in Pennsylvania and the Medina and Youngstown areas, in addition to thousands of more fans and current Penn State students.
Armstrong, Blue Ridge and Adams Cable customers missed more than 110 Penn State events on BTN during the 2012-13 academic year, in addition to coverage from 15 conference championships.
A joint venture between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Networks, BTN is the first internationally distributed network dedicated to covering one of the premier collegiate conferences in the country. With more than 800 events, all in high-definition, the 24/7 network is the ultimate destination for Big Ten fans and alumni across the country, allowing them to see their favorite teams, regardless of where they live. BTN2Go is the 24/7 simulcast of BTN that delivers live and on-demand programming via the internet, smartphones and tablets to customers of participating video providers. Events include football, men’s and women’s basketball games; dozens of Big Ten Olympic sports and championship events; studio shows; and classic games. The network televises and streams more Olympic sporting events and women’s sports than has ever been aired on any other network. Original programming highlights activities and accomplishments of some of the nation’s finest universities. The groundbreaking Student U initiative provides real-world experience for students interested in careers in sports television. The network is in more than 52 million homes across the United States and Canada, including carriage by all the major video distributors, such as DIRECTV, DISH, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, Charter Communications, Comcast Xfinity, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Communications, Mediacom, RCN, WOW!, Rogers Cable, Shaw and Shaw Direct (Canada), and approximately 300 additional video providers across North America. For additional information, go to www.BTN.com.