Sportsnet Goes Long with Action-Packed Weekend

– Full slate of Barclays Premier League matches includes league-leading Manchester City –

– Bills in Toronto Series returns Sunday to Rogers Centre -–

– UFC 137 coverage includes preliminary fights and live streaming of weigh-ins –

–The best in women’s tennis meet up in the WTA Championships from Turkey –

TORONTO (Oct. 26, 2011) – Sportsnet has a jam-packed weekend of Can’t Miss Events with the return of the Bills in Toronto Series, five Barclays Premier League matches, the UFC 137 Preliminary Fights and the final two rounds of the Women’s Tennis Association Championships.

Bills in Toronto Series

The Bills in Toronto Series returns this Sunday when the Buffalo Bills play host to the Washington Redskins at Rogers Centre @ 4 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m (PT) on Sportsnet East and Citytv.

Pre-game, viewers can tune in for highlights of the upcoming game on the live Boston Pizza Tailgate Show on Citytv from 3:30pm-4:05pm on Citytv Toronto. Live from the official tailgate party outside Rogers Centre, the pre-game show is hosted by CityNews sports anchor Hugh Burrill and Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s Barb Digiulio. From on the field in Buffalo, CityNews sports anchor Kathryn Humphreys brings viewers all the action from the Bills hometown while Breakfast Television Toronto's Jennifer Valentyne will be with sports fans at Boston Pizza at the corner of John St. and Front St.

Sportsnet Connected will provide special in-depth coverage on the Bills all week, while sportsnet.ca boasts widespread coverage including columnists Michael Grange previewing the match-up and Stephen Brunt posting a recap right after Sunday’s game.

In addition, sportsnet.ca features a Skype chat with one of the Bills players on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 12 p.m. (ET)/ 9 a.m. (PT).

Also on Sunday, two division-leading teams come face-to-face when the New England Patriots visit the Pittsburgh Steelers @ 4 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (PT) on Sportsnet Ontario, West and Pacific.

Barclays Premier League

First-place Manchester City welcomes Wolverhampton as part of Sportsnet’s Barclays Premier League weekend schedule on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 10:00 a.m. (ET)/7 a.m, (PT) on Sportsnet World.

Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest host SOCCER CENTRAL on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2:30 p.m. (ET)/11:30 a.m. (PT) on the Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific channels, focusing on all the weekend’s action from around the league.

Sportsnet's BPL broadcast schedule for the rest of the weekend is as follows:

Saturday, Oct. 29

Everton vs. Manchester United @ 7 a.m. (ET)/4 a.m. (PT) (Sportsnet World)

Sunderland vs. Aston Villa @ 9:30 a.m. (ET)/6:30 a.m. (PT) (Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific)

West Brom vs. Liverpool @ 12 p.m. (ET)/9 a.m. (PT) (Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific)

Sunday, Oct. 30 Tottenham vs. Queen’s Park Rangers @11 a.m. (ET)/8 a.m. (PT) (Sportsnet World)

UFC 137 Preliminary Fights

Sportsnet is the only network in Canada to broadcast the UFC 137 preliminary fights in High Definition as lightweight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone takes his five-fight winning streak to the octagon in a battle with Dennis “The Menace” Siver.

Cerrone (16-3) is coming off a first round knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC Live in August 2011. Siver (19-7) is on a four-fight winning streak and has only lost once since October 2008. The other preliminary fight on the card is a featherweight tilt between Tyson Griffin (15-5) and mixed martial arts veteran Bart Palaszewski (35-14).

The main card for UFC 137 has B.J. Penn, a former UFC Lightweight and UFC Welterweight champion, in a battle versus Nick Diaz. Diaz has won welterweight championships in both Strikeforce and World Extreme Cagefighting.

Sportsnet Connected will also provide coverage leading up to UFC 137 with nightly reports hosted by “Showdown” Joe Ferraro from Las Vegas during the evening and primetime editions starting on Wednesday, Oct. 26. For even more coverage, sportsnet.ca will have live streaming of the UFC 137 pre-fight press conference on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 4 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (PT), the UFC 137 official weigh-in on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. (ET)/4 p.m. (PT) and the post-fight press conference on Saturday, Oct. 29.

Women’s Tennis – WTA Championships

Sportsnet ONE serves up semifinal coverage of the WTA Championships from Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 10:30 a.m. (ET)/7:30 a.m. (PT).

The WTA Championship is the final tournament of the season and features all of the top-ranked players on the tour. It has the most prize money and the most ranking points outside of the four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open).

Coverage of the WTA Championship continues with the final on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 11 a.m. (ET)/8 a.m. (PT) on Sportsnet ONE.

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