The Walt Disney Company’s ESPN will become the new home of “The Rich Eisen Show” on broadcast radio and streaming TV platforms in September, the network announced on Tuesday.
Starting September 2, sports radio fans will be able to tune in to Rich Eisen’s eponymous show from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time on their local ESPN Radio affiliates. A video simulcast of the show will also stream on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus.
Good Karma Brands will manage advertising sales for the Rich Eisen Show across radio and streaming platforms, the network affirmed. The show will continue to be produced out of Los Angeles, where Good Karma-owned KSPN (710 AM) will serve as the flagship station for the program.
“Rich Eisen is one of the most respected and recognizable voices in sports media. His ability to seamlessly blend insight, humor, and star power has built a loyal following across platforms,” said David Roberts, the Executive Editor of Sports News and Entertainment at ESPN. “We’re thrilled to welcome Rich back to ESPN Radio and to expand his show’s reach across our audio lineup and streaming services, including Disney+.”
Eisen, a former ESPN anchor and the first studio host of Major League Baseball on ESPN Radio, reflected on the move as a homecoming of sorts.
“Once we struck a deal with Disney for the video version of The Rich Eisen Show, it made complete sense to migrate the audio version to ESPN Radio, where I got started in the terrestrial radio world almost 30 years ago,” Eisen said in a statement. “It’s just another way to return to my roots with my old and now new friends at ESPN and GKB. I couldn’t be more excited about our future together on multiple platforms.”
The new agreement also includes an expansion of Eisen’s podcast footprint. His full lineup from The Rich Eisen Podcast Network will now be distributed through ESPN platforms. Among the upcoming projects is an untitled SportsCenter legacy podcast that will feature interviews with ESPN colleagues from Eisen’s tenure at the network between 1996 and 2003, as well as other current and former ESPN personalities.
As part of its ongoing live event coverage, The Rich Eisen Show will continue to travel to marquee NFL events, including the Super Bowl, NFL Draft, and NFL Combine, providing on-site interviews and live broadcasts from the heart of the action.
The Disney deal replaces a business arrangement between Eisen and Roku, which saw video simulcasts of his show made available for free through the ad-supported platform The Roku Channel. In recent months, live broadcasts have shifted to the Roku Sports Network, while video replays were available through Eisen’s own channel on the service.
