ESPN Reportedly Makes Decision On 'Pardon The Interruption'

With the cancellation of Around The Horn, Pardon The Interruption with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser remains one of the only longtime afternoon variety shows at ESPN. Now that the network has some extra timeslots on their hands, will ESPN give more airtime to PTI? 

For the time being, the answer appears to be no. 

According to Ben Strauss of The Washington Post, ESPN actually approached the two showrunners about extending their show from a half-hour to an hour. But despite wanting to double their runtime, ESPN balked at giving them a significant pay raise. 

As a result, no deal was done and PTI will remain a half-hour show.

Pardon The Interruption debuted in 2001 with Kornheiser, Wilbon and Tony Reali as part of a one-hour block alongside Around The Horn. 

Reali left the show in 2014 to move to New York City but continued hosting Around The Horn. But ESPN has been undergoing tons and tons of overhauls through the years due to changes in both the industry and their own bottom line. 

It's led to talents being laid off, shows being canceled and a change in focus on a number of other key areas. Content is still king though and PTI has consistently been a great source of entertainment whether fans agree with Kornheiser and Wilbon or not. 

ESPN will be hard-pressed to find suitable replacements for them if and when they decide to retire. But if ESPN were really serious about keeping them for the long-term (or as long a term as two men over 65 can manage), offering more money probably would have been the smarter play. 

Once Around The Horn goes away, ESPN will probably have to fiddle around with their content schedule until they find a suitable show to follow PTI.