The Ohio Valley Conference announced its slate of Conference games across ESPN networks for the 2018-19 season on Wednesday.
The schedule includes nine total men's basketball games (six regular season contests and three OVC Tournament games) that will appear on one of the linear networks during the season. Four of the six regular season contests and the OVC Tournament semifinals will air on ESPNU, with two additional regular season games to air on either ESPNU or ESPNEWS.
The OVC Tournament championship game will air on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 9. The tournament will be held at The Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana for the second consecutive year.
The schedule also includes a women’s basketball matchup on Thursday, January 10 as Belmont hosts Morehead State at 4 p.m. CT on ESPNU. In addition, all seven games of the OVC Women’s Basketball Tournament, as well as the first round and quarterfinals of the men’s tournament (four total games), will air on either ESPN3 or ESPN+.
In August, the OVC announced an extension of its media rights agreement to stream a minimum of 600 conference contests annually on ESPN+, the recently launched multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company Direct-to-Consumer & International segment and ESPN. This year 209 men’s and women’s regular season Conference games will be streamed on ESPN+ as will approximately 110 non-conference contests.
ESPNU is the 24-hour college sports television network televises more than 650 live events annually. Action includes a variety of top football and men’s and women’s basketball games, as well as Olympic sports from 26 Division I conferences. ESPNU is the destination for premier collegiate and high school programming, including elite football, basketball, baseball, softball and lacrosse events.
ESPN+ is the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International division in partnership with ESPN. It offers fans thousands of additional live events, on-demand content and original programming not available on ESPN’s linear TV or digital networks. ESPN+ is an integrated part of the completely redesigned ESPN App. Already the leading sports app, the new ESPN App is the premier all-in-one digital sports platform for fans across mobile and tv-connected devices. Fans can subscribe to ESPN+ through the ESPN App for just $4.99 a month (or $49.99 per year).
Games aired on an ESPN network will also be available through the ESPN App, accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider.
2018-19 OVC ESPN Television Schedule
Thursday, January 3
Jacksonville State at Belmont, 8:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Thursday, January 10 - WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Morehead State at Belmont, 4:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Thursday, January 17
Tennessee State at Tennessee Tech, 6:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Thursday, January 24
Belmont at Murray State, 8:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Thursday, January 31
Austin Peay at Tennessee Tech, 6:00 p.m. (ESPNU or ESPNEWS)
Thursday, February 14
Murray State at Austin Peay, 6:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Thursday, February 28
Jacksonville State at Eastern Illinois, 8:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU or ESPNEWS)
Friday, March 8
OVC Men’s Tournament Semifinal #1, 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
OVC Men’s Tournament Semifinal #2, 9:00 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Saturday, March 9
OVC Men’s Tournament Championship, 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPN2)