With a new sports-only program and a consistent time slot, Northwestern News Network is hoping to finally find its niche.

After years of bouncing between different time slots and channels, NNN now will air on Evanston’s Public Access Channel 6 every weekday at 10 p.m. for half an hour. The network will bring back its undergraduate-run campus news show Monday and Wednesday, and graduate news shows will cover national news Tuesday and local headlines Friday. NNN Sports Night, a new sports show, will air Thursdays, allowing reporters to provide in-depth coverage of every university sports team.

“In the past we were only able to show highlights and the top news, but we could not go into much depth,” said Ryan Daniels, NNN’s co-sports director. “This will be the only show to do analysis, interviews and rundowns of all NU sports news.”

With the luxury of a full half-hour, the show will include weekly player profiles, coach interviews and analysis of the previous week’s games.

“For the fall, the main focus will be on football, but it will also give us a chance to cover the other sports that don’t get into the news as often, like soccer and field hockey,” said Jordan Burgess, the network’s other sports director.

NNN’s regular programming begins Oct. 7, and the sports show will premiere Oct. 10 with a live, in-studio interview with men’s soccer coach Tim Lenahan. To provide football analysis, safety Torri Stuckey will appear semi-regularly, and some of his teammates will appear weekly to play the video game NCAA Football 2003 with staff member Matt Pearl.

The programming expansion also was facilitated by the opening of the McCormick Tribune Center next to Fisk Hall. The new Medill building is home to a television studio, which will be solely dedicated to student broadcast.

“It has been easier to plan on doing more programs,” said Ben Harper, NNN news director. “Now we can always have the studio set up for what we need to do.”

In the past the network had to share space with Medill’s broadcast department and often had to work while classes were being taught, said Harper, a Medill senior.

Along with its regular block on public access, NNN hopes to have its programs appear on dorm cable, Harper said.

“It’s something everyone wants to happen, we just need to figure out the logistics,” he said.

Medill has supported the network throughout its existence, but as production becomes more regular, it also will become more expensive, Harper said. NNN is trying to take some of its financial burden off the school by appealing to alumni and corporate sponsors, he said.

Despite the expense, Medill Dean Loren Ghiglione has made five nights a week of broadcast a priority, said Ivan Meyers, NNN’s broadcast production manager and a second-year graduate student.