Sports Media Report
Family entertainment network BYUtv, available over cable, satellite and streaming, today announced that Dave Phillips Jr. has been tapped to oversee all studio and live event sports content and production as the network’s head sports producer. Throughout his career, Philips has produced both studio and live sports for a number of Utah professional and college teams, including the Utah Jazz. BYUtv broadcasts more live collegiate sports programming than any other network outside of ESPN through state-of-the-art facilities both stationary and mobile including Big Blue (a 51-foot-long high definition truck), two cutting-edge production studios and fiber connectivity in many of Brigham Young University’s sports venues.
“Over the course of Dave’s career, he has worn every hat both creatively and logistically, honing a tremendous array of skills in all aspects of sports production,” said Michael Dunn, managing director of BYUtv. “His work ethic and reputation as a leader preceded him, and his deep professional and collegiate sports broadcasting experience have shaped BYUtv’s vast programming operations. Dave has proven himself a leader at BYUtv, and we look forward to creating the best sports co-viewing opportunities for families in the country.”
Prior to joining BYUtv in 2013, Phillips produced pre-game, halftime and post-game shows for the NBA’s Utah Jazz and Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake. Previously at KJZZ-TV, he produced and directed live sports for Utah State University, Weber State University, high school and NBA D-League broadcasts. He started his career working for Salt Lake City’s CBS affiliate, KUTV, on its production crew and producing sports content.
As the live graphics supervisor at BYUtv for the past six years, Phillips became integral to the network’s sports programming. Working closely with the sports production team, he shaped the look and feel of the content, personally leading two graphics redesigns with responsibility for all on-air graphics used in live sports.
As Sports Producer, Phillips will be a key member of the BYU Broadcasting content development team, leading strategy, development and production of all sports-related programming for BYUtv, including live and tape-delayed sports broadcasts, studio programs and original sports content.
“The achievements of BYUtv sports broadcasting are unprecedented in collegiate athletics, and my objective is to continue to break ground with more than 700 hours of live HD content and 135 live sporting events each year,” said Phillips. “BYUtv is a wonderful, unique place to work, dedicated to bringing the best collegiate athletes from across the country to our viewers. Too often the great competitions on campuses are reserved for ticket holders, but thanks to BYUtv’s cutting edge broadcast operations we bring both the high profile and lesser known women’s and men’s teams to fans across the country, including football, basketball, baseball, softball, gymnastics and soccer.”
Original sports programs include “BYU Sports Nation,” “BYU Basketball with Mark Pope,” “BYU Football with Kalani Sitake,” “BYU Sports Special” and “Football Media Day.”
ESPN and BYUtv have enjoyed the longest running collaboration between a college football program and the sports cable company, which began in 1984 when the brand-new ESPN aired its first regular season NCAA football game at Brigham Young University. BYUtv set a new standard for college football through a groundbreaking agreement with ESPN to host televised pre-game shows, hand off game coverage to ESPN, and then re-broadcast the ESPN games on BYUtv’s “GameDay Replay” the same day. Any game not broadcast by ESPN can be aired on BYUtv live, unless already being aired on another network via opposing team conference agreements. BYUtv also has exclusive rebroadcast rights to any BYU ESPN game ever aired, in perpetuity.
