Time to give you some linkage from around the country either through the nation’s newspapers or blogs.
I was not able to partake in Neil Best’s live chat over at Newsday.com due to my wacky work computer’s lack of memory, but you can certainly read what transpired over here. And Neil discovers that New York Giants President and co-owner John Mara owns four dogs, but none a poodle as Sirius XM’s Chris Russo contended.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell attempts to find out the skinny under an ESPN/ABC factoid that the University of Florida did not invent Gatorade, but that Florida State did. But later, Darren finds that Florida State’s invention does indeed exist. And Darren says two sponsors are helping fans defray the cost of the Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao pay per view boxing match.
Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News gives his impressions of NHL First Class Jerk (my words, not Barry’s) Sean Avery. Barry says thanks to the Avery story, the Stars outrated the Mavericks in Dallas on Tuesday. Barry reports that fired Tampa Bay Lightning coach Barry Melrose is heading back to some familiar grounds in Connecticut.
Former Chicago Tribune golf and sports media writer Ed Sherman is now blogging on sports business for Crain’s Chicago Business. Nice to see Ed again. I had wondered where he had gone. And Ed writes that the great Sports Illustrated football writer, Paul Zimmerman is recovering from two recent strokes. Ed says Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s Dan Plesac is leaving for the MLB Network.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Bob Wolfley says Brett Favre is still a ratings hit in Wisconsin.
The St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press reports that CBS-owned 8-3-0 WCCO has laid off several staffers including one sports reporter.
Robert Carter of the North Jefferson (AL) News found one satellite provider that does not have ESPN on its basic package.
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says the local ABC affiliate will pick up the Tampa Bay-Carolina game on Monday night pre-empting “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
Chris Albrecht of NewTeeVee.com writes that CBS will offer this Saturday’s SEC Championship Game online.
Andrew Neff of the Bangor (ME) Daily News says the local CBS affiliate did not air SEC football games this fall.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Versus is the new home for “The Contender”. And Tom has the sports blogs listed in
“The 100 Blogs That Will Make You Smarter.” Unfortunately, I’m not listed.
Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times writes that USC basketball and Anaheim Angels broadcaster Rory Markas is recovering after a blood clot was removed from his brain. And Diane writes that she can’t wait to see sports in 3-D.
Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Fox Sports is hoping to add to the 3-D momentum with its BCS Championship Game next month.
Eric Pfanner of the International Herald-Tribune says Europe may see more American-style coverage of the Olympics with more commercials, increased local hype and tape delays with the ouster of the European Broadcasting Union from the bidding for the 2014 and 2016 Games. The IOC has been looking for money grabs as it has broken from traditional rightsholders like CBC in Canada, 7 Network in Australia and now the EBU. I don’t think this bodes well for NBC when it bids for the same games starting next year. With Fox and ESPN expected to bid based on the ratings for this year’s Olympics in Communist China, the IOC may see a bid of over $2 billion this time around.
Ira Teinowitz of TV Week says the FCC is trying to speed up hearings on cases that involve the NFL Network and MASN.
I’ve learned from Steve over at the Sox & Dawgs blog that NESN did not show any coverage of the Dustin Pedroia news conference at Fenway Park announcing that he had signed a six year contract extension. Now, you would think that being the Red Sox network, NESN would have had some live coverage, if not at least a live cut-in of the announcement. However, Steve told me that some program called “Kettlebottom Outdoor Pursuits” was shown in its entirety without any sign of a crawl. Then again, in an interview with Multichannel News last month, NESN president Sean McGrail said he wanted to expand the channel from a sporting events-based channel to one that provides entertainment as well. This may be an example of what McGrail is talking about.
Larry Barrett of Multichannel writes that NESN premieres a new hockey show on Thursday.
Get ready to hear about a brewing battle between ESPN and Cablevision over the cost of the network to cable providers. Ted Hearn of Multichannel News writes that Disney is trying to appeal to the FCC over Cablevision’s possible move to put ESPN in a package or sell it separately to those who want it.
Also from Multichannel, Linda Moss writes that fueled by college and pro football, ESPN won the cable ratings for November. And Linda adds that an “anomaly” led the AC Nielsen to overstate ratings for NFL simulcast games on the NFL Network and ESPN.
Anthony Crupi of Mediaweek says Monday
Night Football steered ESPN to a win in the three major demographics last month.
Awful Announcing links to an interview that College Hoops Journal conducted with ESPN Dictator George Bodenheimer about the possibility of the Alleged Worldwide Leader teaming up with CBS Sports for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
That’s going to do it for now.
