FSN Southwest has reached a comprehensive four-year programming and marketing agreement with the Houston Texans branding FSNSW as the "Official Regional Sports Network of the Houston Texans" and featuring 90 minutes a week of Texans-related programming during the NFL season, including live pre- and postgame shows.
Beginning with this week's season opener against the San Diego Chargers, FSN Southwest will telecast COUNTDOWN TO TEXANS KICKOFF Sundays at 11:00 AM CT and TEXANS WRAP Sundays at 11:00 PM CT. The 30-minute programs will be shown before and after each Texans regular season game throughout the network's Southwest coverage area reaching more than 8 million cable and satellite TV homes in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
Marketing elements include FSN Southwest sponsoring the Texans annual Outreach Tour in the team's outer markets, the rights to use the Texans name and logo in network related advertising and promotions, and opportunities to jointly market the team outside of Houston within the network's regional footprint.
"We're excited about our new relationship with the Texans," said FSN Southwest Senior Vice President/General Manager Jon Heidtke. "This is an opportunity for us to continue our commitment to produce compelling shows for sports fans in Houston and all parts of our region. Working with the Texans, we're able to create more Texans programming and marketing opportunities that will reach a wide audience through our distribution across the Southwest region, creating more exposure for the team across the state."
COUNTDOWN TO TEXANS KICKOFF originates live from Reliant Stadium prior to all Texans home game with co-anchors Bart Enis and Patti Smith setting up the day's action. For road games, Enis files live on-site reports with either Kevin Eschenfelder or John Rhadigan anchoring the show from the FSNSW studio.
Ric Renner and Emily Jones host the TEXANS WRAP post-game studio show with former Texas A&M and NFL running back Greg Hill providing analysis and Enis and Smith reporting. Former Baylor and NFL defensive tackle Santana Dotson and Houston Chronicle Texans beat writer Carlton Thompson will be regular contributors to FSNSW's Sunday Texans programming.
TEXANS HUDDLE, a 30-minute magazine show now in its third season, rounds out FSN Southwest's extensive Texans coverage Thursdays at 6:30 PM CT. Hosted by Eschenfelder and Rhadigan with Texans radio voice Marc Vandermeer adding insight, the program goes beyond the playing field to give viewers a glimpse of what life is like at home for Texans players away from football.
"We are excited to have a significantly enhanced relationship with FSN Southwest" said Texans Senior Vice president Jamey Rootes. "This relationship will allow us to provide an even more extensive array of high quality Texans programming to serve our fans in Houston and across the region."
