ESPN has struck a deal to make liquor company Diageo the presenting sponsor of both "Around the Horn" and "PTI," according to Brian Steinberg of AD AGE. The sponsorship will be highlighted as "Happy Hour," and will be “identified as such throughout the course of the deal, which lasts from this month through next September.” Diageo will “promote a number of different products throughout the course of its year-long sponsorship.” The deal also includes the comparative shows on ESPN Deportes, and the company initially “will highlight Guinness Black Lager on ESPN and Captain Morgan Rum on Deportes.” ESPN on its website will set up a "video hub" featuring clips from both "Around The Horn" and "PTI" on its site, which also will be sponsored by Diageo. ESPN President of Customer Marketing & Sales Ed Erhardt noted Diageo has been “a long-time sponsor” of "PTI." Steinberg noted Diageo’s media agency, Carat, “thought taking a more noticeable stand in the programs' time slot would help get a message out to ‘young men of a drinking age, 21-plus, before they were going to go out and do what they were going to do.’" Kantar Media reports Diageo spent “around $21.7 million across ESPN's properties in 2010” (ADAGE.com, 10/5).
