The Big Ten Network will offer live television coverage of President Barack Obama’s commencement address at U-M. Live coverage of the commencement from Michigan Stadium will begin at 10:30 a.m. May 1 as a special edition of the network’s University Showcase programming.
Obama’s speech will be the first televised commencement address for the three-year-old network, a partnership between the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks. The entire commencement ceremony also will be streamed live at www.BigTenNetwork.com.
Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman says such a major national event taking place on a Big Ten campus was a natural fit for the network. “The Big Ten Conference is about more than just athletic excellence. Our universities also represent the very best in higher education. President Obama’s commencement address at the University of Michigan is undoubtedly a newsworthy occasion, and we’re pleased to be able to carry it live to a national audience.”
In addition to airing more than 350 live sporting events, studio shows, original programming, coaches’ shows and classic games, the network also provides universities the ability to produce programming focused on campus activities unrelated to sports through University Showcase. This year, the network will air more than 100 hours of University Showcase.
Obama will become the fourth sitting American president to visit U-M in Ann Arbor, following George H.W. Bush in 1991; Gerald R. Ford, who launched his re-election campaign there in 1976; and Lyndon B. Johnson, who announced the Great Society Program at the campus in 1964. This will be Obama’s first visit to the university as president.
