ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference announced its schedule of live events to be distributed exclusively on The Valley on ESPN -- the league's co-branded digital network.
Originally branded and launched as The Valley on ESPN3 in August 2015, the league's new digital initiative is available through the redesigned ESPN App and features live-event programming on both ESPN3 and ESPN+ -- the premium multi-sport, direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International Group and ESPN.  
The new, redesigned and re-imagined ESPN App gives fans a premier, all-in-one digital access point for everything ESPN offers -- 1) news, scores, highlights and audio, 2) "TV Everywhere" video and 3) ESPN+. The league's digital endeavor is part of its 10-year contract with ESPN which runs through the 2023-24 academic year.
"After delivering quality content with our Fall programming lineup on ESPN3 and ESPN+ via the ESPN App, we are excited to distribute our upcoming men's and women's basketball productions this winter," said Jack R. Watkins, MVC Associate Commissioner.
The exclusive regular-season live events will be produced and transmitted by production units on each of the league's campuses, while the exclusive post-season tournaments will be produced and distributed by Tupelo Raycom of Indianapolis, Indiana -- the Conference's digital production agency.
An additional 63 linear live events -- productions by institutional partners and Niles Media Group (the league's Kansas City-based linear production agency) -- will be made available for distribution via the ESPN App. Those include regular-season and post-season coverage of men's basketball and regular-season programming for women's basketball.
A total of 131 exclusive women's hoops contests will be shown, and an additional eight linear productions will be made available for ESPN distribution. Post-season championship coverage will include the first six games from the 2019 State Farm MVC Men's Basketball Tournament on March 7-8 and all nine games from the 2019 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament on March 14-17. The women's coverage will also include a tournament preview show on March 14.
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