ORLANDO, Fla. -- Golf Channel announced the addition of Joe Riley, Bill Hentschel and Courtney Holt to the network's news staff.

Riley will assume the position of senior director of news and will be responsible for news-related event coverage, as well as the network's daily flagship program, Golf Central. He spent the past 11 years with Comcast, most recently serving as news director for Comcast SportsNet Chicago. There, he managed more than 60 employees and 250 live events and news programs a year. In 2005, he was responsible for SportsNet's live coverage and programming of the Chicago White Sox World Series championship. Riley started his career at ESPN in news and spent four years at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia before moving to Chicago.

Hentschel is joining the network as senior director of studio production. In this role, he will be responsible for all talk programming, and will work together with Riley on news and event coverage. Prior to joining GOLF CHANNEL, Hentschel spent nine years with NBA TV. There, he was a coordinating producer overseeing all live studio production. In addition, Hentschel served as producer for Live at the Finals with Ahmad Rashād. Before joining NBA TV, he served as producer for Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia's daily morning news program SportsRise.

Holt is joining Golf Channel in the newly created position of director of booking and player relations. Holt leaves Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia after seven years, where she oversaw player relations and bookings for all news programming surrounding Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and the National Football League. In addition, Holt produced the network's premier daily, 90-minute talk show "Daily News Live."

For more information contact, GOLF CHANNEL Public Relations, 407/355-4653