Pardon the Interruption (PTI) is a sports television talk show. It airs weekdays on several different ESPN channels as well as TSN, ESPN America, and XM. It is also available on Sirius radio and as downloadable podcasts. It airs at 5:30PM EST when it is not preempted by a live event. It is then repeated on
The Other various outlets. The hosts are
Tony Kornheiser and
Michael Wilbon. Both Kornheiser and Wilborn are former columnists for The Washington Post. They have a moderator for parts of the show, which is usually
Tony Reali, from ESPN's Around the Horn, or an unaccredited producer.
Pardon the Interruption started in 2001 and is still going strong with a little over one million viewers daily. In 2009, it won a Sports Emmy Award for best Daily Outstanding Studio Show. The show is known for its humor and loud tones, which is clear from the studio layout of the show alone with cardboard heads of athletes and celebrities and toys that they have received. The "rundown" graphic on the right side of the screen with upcoming topics for that particular show is also popular. Because of PTI's success, ESPN has created several similar shows as well as similar segments on other series the morning editions of SportsCenter use the rundown graphic.
Kornheiser and Wilborn primarily cover baseball, basketball, football and hockey with some coverage of tennis, golf, and boxing.