Are you chomping at the bit with World Cup fever, but sadly not a proud 4K/Ultra-HD television owner quite yet? You don’t own a television at all, you say? Never fear – radio is here. Starting today, users of the versatile radio-streaming service, TuneIn, will have access to a bundle of eight new 24/7 ESPN podcast channels, including ESPN Radio’s extensive live coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
TuneIn’s latest syndicated ESPN coverage will include all 64 matches, from the Brazil vs. Croatia opener on June 12, to the final match set for July 13, adding up to 600-plus hours of live coverage. The service will carry ESPN Radio’s fully loaded schedule of news and information programming, with SportsCenter Express and World Cup Express in evening and weekend time slots, and special one-hour FIFA World Cup Today episodes at select times throughout the tourney.
ESPN Radio is also set to produce a 30-minute ESPN FC program that will air multiple times each night of the Cup, as well as various World Cup vignettes leading up to the June 12 opener. And that’s just one sport. The new channels will provide an abundance of sports coverage of all kinds, with multiple selections picked from across the ESPN broadcast family.
Below are the eight new ESPN podcast channels that launched on TuneIn today:
- Mike & Mike: “Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg start the morning with a mix of sports news, analysis, entertainment and big name interviews.”
- SVP & Russillo: “Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo. The home of next-level humor.”
- Paul Finebaum: “Paul Finebaum provides his unique takes on the SEC and the world of college football.”
- The Thundering Herd: “A daily dose of the best of The Herd with Colin Cowherd provides Colin’s unique perspective on the world of sports.”
- ESPN Fantasy: “Fantasy Focus Baseball, Fantasy Focus Basketball, Fantasy Focus Football, and Fantasy Underground.”
- ESPN Today In Sports: “Football Today, Hockey Today, Baseball Tonight with Buster Olney, and Mike Tirico’s Monday Night Football Preview Show.”
- ESPN Talk Show Podcasts: “Audio from both ESPN television and ESPN Radio including Around the Horn, PTI, Olbermann, First Take, Highly Questionable with Dan Le Batard, and The Tony Kornheiser Show.”
- ESPN Perspectives: “Perspectives Capital Games, Perspectives Inside Out, Perspectives SportsBiz, Outside The Lines, and Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap.”
TuneIn, founded in 2002, has always been a great app for listening to live radio broadcasts on your phone – the app-based service’s simple model amassed more than 50 million active users each month since inception.
But last month, TuneIn went from being a mere radio station directory to a full-on social network, built around live and on-demand radio. The completely revamped platform is a nice and cozy home for ESPN’s plethora of programs – World Cup-related and otherwise. And we wouldn’t be surprised if more content providers want in after this experiment.
World Cup addicts can either follow ESPN Radio via the free radio service, search for “World Cup” within the TuneIn app, or simply head to TuneIn’s online headquarters for World Cup coverage – each option allows you to listen to various pre- and post-shows, bookmark your favorite podcasts, and keep tabs on scheduling for upcoming matches.
