ESPN said it would place sports host Max Kellerman in a new mid-afternoon program after taking him off the popular hot-talk show “First Take” last month, unveiling a daytime schedule it hopes will keep viewers interested for a longer period of time.
Kellerman’s new program, “This Just In,” will debut September 14 at 2 p.m., and offer news, opinion and analysis of trending sports headlines as well as looking ahead at potential sports news from the evening ahead. Kellerman is slated to be joined by several of ESPN’s sports insiders and analysts each day.
“With the addition of ‘This Just In,’ we’ve added yet another opportunity for live reaction in a key timeslot,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN’s executive vice president and executive editor, production, in a statement. “Max is always able to successfully connect and resonate with fans in meaningful ways across platforms and it’s great to have him leading this new show.” The program will follow a roster of live studio programming that includes the morning program “Get Up,” the Stephen A. Smith-led hot-talk show “First Take,” and two live editions of “SportsCenter.”
The launch of Kellerman’s new program will mean the cancellation of another. ESPN said it would end the debate program “Highly Questionable,” which it has shown since 2011 and which was built as a vehicle for the now-departed Dan Le Batard. The Disney-backed sports-news outlet expects to infuse some elements of “Questionable” into “Debatable,” a new digital series slated to launch October 4. That program, slated to run weekdays for 45 to 60 minutes, will run exclusively on ESPN’s Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts and the ESPN App and is the first show the network has launched in this model.
ESPN also said the “Jalen & Jacoby” podcast would air on ESPN2 at 4 p.m., starting September 14.
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