Fang's Bites

Comcast SportsNet Drops All Fox Sports Net Programming Including Dan Patrick

This story dropped onto my lap last night. Thanks to Matt Sarzyniak of Matt’s College Sports for bringing it to my attention. He received a tip that the Comcast SportsNet affiliates were no longer carrying Fox Sports Net programming including the Dan Patrick Show as of July 31.

We both checked our DirecTV guides and noticed that none of the CSN affiliates that had been carrying DP and had either infomercials or other programming in its place. And after checking with several sources within the NBC Sports Group/CSN family, it was confirmed that indeed FSN was not being cleared on the CSN networks in Chicago, New England, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Both NBC Sports Group and Fox Sports Net gave statements on the matter to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand. First, NBC:

“Our arrangement for the Dan Patrick Show expired and we couldn’t come to terms on a long-term deal. We’re still in negotiations and remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement.”

And Fox Sports Net:

“We were unable to reach a new agreement with the Comcast RSNs for the continued distribution of our programming.”

An NBC Sports spokesman tells me that talks are continuing between CSN and FSN and it’s hoped that the programming will return. In the interim, CSN viewers will have to make due without the Dan Patrick Show and Big 12 and Conference USA football.

Breaking Out Some Thursday Linkage

Let’s do the Thursday linkage. We’re doing well so far this week, knock on wood.

Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal reports NBC’s overnight rating for Wednesday’s Olympic Primetime was up from Beijing.

Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal says YouTube is looking to further strengthen its live sports portfolio after streaming Olympic content in Africa and Asia.

Austin Karp of SBJ says NBC’s Olympic ratings remain ahead of Beijing’s pace.

Michael Katz of USA Today notes that USA gold medal-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney taught NBC’s Jenna Bush how to do the Dougie. Can’t wait for Colin Cowherd to criticize both for their upbringings.

Speaking of McKayla, Erin Carlson of the Hollywood Reporter notes that one of the funniest internet memes has come Maroney’s reaction to winning the silver medal last week in the individual vault event. Here is the site, “McKayla Maroney is not Impressed” which is being updated quite frequently.

Major League Baseball has released the 2012 Postseason schedule with networks.

John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable says Comcast is still fighting an FCC decision requiring the cable provider to make room for Tennis Channel.

Dan Alexander at Forbes writes that the U.S. Fierce Five gymnasts stand to make a lot of money in endorsements.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age says the 2012 Olympics may be winding down, but NBCUniversal has already sold a portion of its ad time for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says NBC’s strategy to put the Olympics on NBC Sports Network is paying off.

Steve Lepore at SB Nation provides his rankings for NBC’s Olympic announcers.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report is surprised to learn that CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus and golf producer Lance Barrow aren’t concerned with slow play in golf.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says critics of NBC’s tape delays should be focusing their anger at something else.

Steve Myers at the Poynter Institute says a new Gallup Poll finds viewers want their Olympics live in primetime.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead has video of Fox’s Erin Andrews and Eddie George dancing to “Call Me Maybe”.

NBC Sports provides a sneak peek at its new digs currently under construction in Connecticut.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group explores how the Olympics are being sent to Australia.

Bill Carter of the New York Times writes that female Olympic athletes are finding the spotlight and scrutiny rather harsh, especially Lolo Jones.

Arthur S. Brisbane, the Times’ public editor believes Jeré Longman’s article that began the public takedown of Jones was too harsh.

Sam Borden of the Times says viewers of women’s water polo are getting a bit more exposure than they anticipated.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette notes that ESPNU won’t airing any college hockey regular season games again.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that local radio stations will be picking up national college and NFL broadcasts this fall.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes from DCRTV.com notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will be all over the Baltimore Ravens and DC NFL Team in the preseason.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun looks at a poll which shows a majority of Americans like how NBC is handling the Olympics.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says MLB Network’s Kevin Millar and ESPN’s Dick Vitale (?) are weighing in on the Nationals’ strategy to shut down pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner writes that NBC is setting viewership records both online and on TV for the Olympics.

At the Bleacher Report, Jim looks at Telemundo’s coverage of the 2012 London Games.

Back to Eric Deggans, this time in his home newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, says NBC’s syndicated Olympic Zone program blurs the line between real news and advertising.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Reds’ hot July pumped Fox Sports Ohio’s ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Big Ten Network’s college football announcers have some local ties.

Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business writes that local TV ratings for the Olympics are good, but not at the top of the country.

David Brauer of the Minnesota Post looks at Minneapolis-St. Paul’s radio ratings including the sports radio wars.

Scott D. Pierce from the Salt Lake Tribune says Salt Lake has the highest ratings in the nation for the Olympics once again.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says it’s about time for the annual Vin Scully announcement on whether he’ll return for another season.

Sports Media Watch has some of the bottom feeders among the local ratings for the Olympics.

Joe Favorito says the soccer exhibition “friendlies” may now be over in the U.S., but they helped to grow the game.

The latest Awful Announcing podcast has ESPN’s Darren Rovell as the guest.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth looks at some teams making flagship radio station moves.

And that’s going to finish us for today.

Some Quick Monday Links

My apologies for not bringing you links over the last week. It’s been a crazy time for me. Some linkage now.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that NBC’s Rowdy Gaines doesn’t believe that Michael Phelps won’t be swimming competitively four years from now. And Hiestand reports that Matt Millen will ruin your college football viewing experience during primetime this fall.

John Ourand and Tripp Mickle at Sports Business Journal’s Olympics site find what former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol is doing in London during the Games.

Ourand talks with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts about the Olympics being a guinea pig for new media.

Ourand writes that NBC execs are feeling bullish on the Olympics after a very good start.

Mickle says a change in strategy has led the International Olympic Committee to increase its take in rights fees from global TV partners.

Sports Business Journal’s Austin Karp writes that NBC saw a slight bump from Sunday’s Olympic Primetime from Beijing.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable says last night’s Olympic ratings were down from last Sunday.

Jeanine Poggi of Advertising Age says we can complain all we want, NBC is still laughing all the way to the bank with its increased Olympic TV ratings.

Media Life notes that NBC’s Today Show is back on top of the morning show ratings thanks to the Olympics.

A former GM of an NBC affiliate tells Chuck Ross of TV Week what the network can learn from the BBC in televising the Olympics.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report chastises NBC for not showing Usain Bolt’s gold medal-winning run in the 100 meters live yesterday.

Speaking of Bolt, BroBible has video of him stopping a post-race interview with a Spanish reporter as Sanya Richards-Ross was getting her gold medal at the Olympics.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group notes how the Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium downsized its operation for London as compared to its huge undertaking in Vancouver.

Jason looks at BBC’s preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead says NBC’s handling of the London Olympics pales in comparison to the BBC in the UK.

Also from The Big Lead, Jason McIntyre notes that the increasingly bitter Phil Mushnick of the New York Post has set his sights on Olympic gymnasts wondering why they’re so tiny and don’t have any breasts. C’mon, Phil.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has video of the BBC track & field studio crew off-camera openly rooting for Mo Farah when he won his gold medal in the 10,000 meters and then again the following day for Usain Bolt in the 100 meters.

Peter Kafka of All Things Digital reports that the long-rumored Turner Sports purchase of the Bleacher Report for an estimated nine figures will finally close today.

John Koblin of Deadspin has the entire Twitter discussion between ESPN tome co-author James Andrew Miller and ESPN’s Darren Rovell from earlier today.

Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has video of NFL Network’s Mike Mayock singing during last night’s Hall of Fame preseason game.

Jane Kellogg of the Hollywood Reporter writes about NBC’s rights extension for the French Open.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the NFL season hasn’t officially begun, yet CBS is close to being sold out for Super Bowl XLVII.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that US judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison got to meet Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers at the NBC Olympic studios in London where he’s the studio analyst for basketball.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post goes after MLB today.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says NBC is attempting to ride the Michael Phelps gravy train for as long as possible.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has video of the new Subway ad starring DC NFL Team QB Robert Griffin III.

Dan has a look at the DC NFL Team’s preseason TV schedule.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says NBC has not been hurt by tape delaying Olympic events.

Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes about last week’s debut of the new local sports radio station.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Friend of Fang’s Bites Trenni Kusnierek will be leaving her radio gig at the end of the month to become an anchor/reporter for Comcast SportsNet New England. In effect, Trenni replaces Nicole Zalmouis who left for NFL AM on NFL Network.

At Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks says outgoing Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok got a rousing sendoff from White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski the other night.

Sarah has a picture of the sendoff at her Twitter account.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY tells you where Sarah is going.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post looks at the Broncos’ radio and TV and other related broadcasts.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBC’s Olympic daytime ratings are up.

And I’ll end it there for now.

Looking at the Next Generation of Olympic Announcers

As we go into the second week of the 2012 London Olympics or the Games of the XXX Summer Olympiad, I thought I would take the opportunity on this middle Sunday to look ahead for the next set of Games on television.

We know that NBCUniversal will carry the Olympics through 2020, that’s two Winter and two Summer Games in that timespan. While the network has been served well by its current crop of announcers, some of whom date back as far back as 1988, it’s time to replace them with a new generation of hosts, play-by-play callers and analysts who can carry the network through 2020 and possibly beyond.

I’ll focus this post on the Summer Games since that’s what we’ve been watching for the last 8 days. I’ll do a Winter Olympics announcing post at a later date. I’ll start with hosts, then go by the glamor sports.

HOSTS

Bob Costas — Bob is 60 this year and while his youthful look betrays his age, he’ll be 64 in 2016 for Rio and 68 in 2020 at a site yet to be determined. ABC’s Jim McKay hosted his last Olympics in 1988 at age 65. Costas remains the best interviewer on sports television and should be allowed to host the Olympics on NBC for as long as he wants. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.

Dan Patrick — Dan is just four years younger than Bob, but if Costas decides to leave, DP could step into his shoes as Primetime host.

Liam McHugh — For 2016, I would think this is where NBC could tap Liam McHugh and put him in Al Michaels’ place on Daytime. Al would be 71 in Rio and while he would still be very good at calling Sunday Night Football in four years, I would not put him in the host’s chair in Rio. McHugh has proven he can be very versatile hosting the NHL Postseason, the Stanley Cup Final, the Tour de France and the Olympics over a four month span. That is not easy, but Liam has made it look easy and that’s the sign of a very good host.

Bonnie Bernstein — ESPN’s Bonnie Bernstein is the best personality not to have an Olympic gig. This is like saying she’s the Best Golfer Not To Win A Major. She has proven as a substitute host for Dan Patrick and on Twitter that she can discuss multiple sports. And Bonnie’s also a former gymnast. Watching BBC’s coverage of the London Games, the network utilizes both studio and venue hosts. Making Bonnie a venue host at Gymnastics with Nastia Liukin as her analyst would work to one of her strengths. She was a five-time host of the NCAA Gymnastics Championship when she was at CBS. I would love to see her work an Olympic Games.

Ryan Burr — Ryan will be coming to the NBCUniversal family to work at Golf Channel and at NBC Sports Network. We could see him host on either MSNBC or NBCSN.

Michelle Beadle — Michelle’s done a great job thus far in London. She has shown she can talk Olympic sports and bring some humor as well.

Kelly Tilghman — I’ve liked her work on MSNBC. I can see her on future Olympics as well.

ANNOUNCERS

Let’s do this by sport.

BASKETBALL — If the NBA continues sending players to the Olympics, then NBC could continue utilizing Bob Fitzgerald from Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and Chris Carrino. This is where NBC should tap Turner Sports for a Steve Kerr or even Reggie Miller for analysts.

If basketball becomes an Under 23 tournament as speculated, NBC may have to hire college basketball announcers. Borrowing Ian Eagle from CBS and YES to call games would be a good move. Jay Bilas from ESPN would forge a strong team with Ian throughout the Games. And NBC should still utilize Craig Sager as the reporter although he looks muted with a regular wardrobe.

On the women’s side, if NBC could get Doris Burke on loan from ESPN, that would be ideal. She could work men’s games too as she’s proven over the past few years. If NBC can’t get Doris Burke, why not former ESPN’er Stacey Dales or Fox Sports Net’s Debbie Antonelli?

BOXING — Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas are a very good team and should remain, but I’d love for NBC to bring in its old friend Jim Lampley with Larry Merchant and Emmanuel Steward from HBO to call one or two bouts a day. What could be better than that? And bring in Harold Lederman for judging analysis while we’re at it.

Host Fred Roggin should be replaced with boxing fan Brian Kenny of MLB Network.

CYCLING — If it’s not Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, NBC should go announcer-less.

DIVING — Can you believe Cynthia Potter has worked every Summer Olympics on network television since 1984? She’s been solid, but it’s time to bring in some new blood. 2000 gold medalist Laura Wilkinson who worked the Diving Trials for NBC Sports Network in June is a potential candidate.

GYMNASTICS — Utilizing a favorite word of Tim Daggett’s, the announcing on this sport over the last two Olympiads has been catastrophic. Normally, I like Al Trautwig, but his calls of gymnastics in 2008 in Beijing and this year in London is reaching John Tesh disastrous proportions in 1996. Al makes everything seems at life or death levels. In addition, his penchant to focus on crying gymnasts borders on creepy.

Tim Daggett’s constant talking and use of the word “catastrophic” is annoying. Elfi Schlegel has been reduced to short sentences. NBC needs to replace this team for 2016.

This is where NBC can utilize a venue host (see Bonnie Bernstein above) with an analyst. Nastia Liukin could fill that role very nicely. Bela Karolyi has proven to be Must See TV and should be one of the studio analysts. And if his wife, Marta retires, imagine the fireworks on the set between those two.

NBC is using Terry Gannon this year to call rowing. Why not have Terry call Olympic Gymnastics in 2016? He has called the sport for ABC and did it well. And having watched the World Feed this year through NBC’s Olympics Live Extra app, I’m very impressed with Shannon Miller from 1996′s Magnificent Seven Team. She’s been the sole analyst for Olympic Broadcasting Services and has done very well in explaining certain moves, the scoring system and their implications without sounding overdramatic. Terry Gannon and Shannon Miller would make an excellent team.

GOLF — Remember, golf makes its return to the Olympics in Rio in 2016, having made its last appearance in 1904. NBC/Golf Channel has an established team with Dan Hicks, Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo, Roger Maltbie, Brandell Chamblee, Frank Nobilo, Rich Lerner, the aforementioned Kelly Tilghman, David Feherty, the incoming Ryan Burr and so many others who could work this event.

Some people have asked me on Twitter if Dan would stop calling swimming to do golf. I think Dan could do both especially if the IOC (with the help of NBC) decides to schedule golf in the second week of the Olympics, so that it doesn’t interfere with swimming, tennis, gymnastics and other sports in the first week. This is where a venue host would come in handy, perhaps Kelly or Ryan with one or two of the many Golf Channel analysts. And we could expect Golf Channel to have a role in picking up the first two rounds of Olympic Golf with NBC coming in for the last two rounds.

SOCCER — NBC used its MLS crew, Arlo White and Kyle Martino on the men’s games along with JP Dellacamera, Glenn Davis, Steve Cangialosi and Allen Hopkins. I’d love to see English Premier League announcers Martin Tyler and Ian Darke on US TV calling some Olympic action.

Brandi Chastain despite Hope Solo’s complaints last week is doing well on women’s games and I would keep her in the booth.

SWIMMING — Dan Hicks has made this one of his signature sports along with golf throughout his career at NBC. I can’t see him leaving the sport unless golf is scheduled in the first week, but I don’t think that would happen. Rowdy Gaines has been a good salesman for swimming and he’s doing yeoman’s work to raise money for the sport to establish a training center. However, I’ve grown tired of his screaming and his voice raising over 50 octaves. This is where NBC could bring in a plethora of gold medalists to replace Gaines. This is also a sport that could utilize a venue host and it’s where Liam McHugh could go if NBC decides to keep Al Michaels in Daytime.

While Phelps has said he’s retiring, NBC would like to see him in Rio either as a swimmer or perhaps an analyst. If the network uses him on TV, I’d prefer to see him in the studio. At first thought, I felt putting Phelps on camera would be a bad move, but this was based on his interviews in Beijing where he looked uncomfortable. During his NBC interviews in London, Michael has looked more at ease, but that does not necessarily make for a good analyst. If he wants to go the TV route, putting him in the studio for short spurts might be best for 2016.

As for the races, I’d go with Amy Van Dyken to replace Rowdy. For the past year, Amy has been co-hosting Fox Sports Tonight with Rob Dibble on Fox Sports Radio and she’s been in London analyzing the Olympic swimming for FoxSports.com. Amy is not only funny, but she speaks her mind. She knows the mind of an Olympic athlete and I think she’d be perfect with Dan in calling the races.

TENNIS — This sport finally received some glamor treatment from NBC this year. However, it was treated badly with Pat O’Brien as the venue host. Not only did Pat demonstrate a huge lack of knowledge, he conducted awkward interviews as well. Brett Haber and Andrew Catalon did very well on the play-by-play and I liked Rennae Stubbs to want her to return in Rio. Justin Gimelstob was a weak link in the crew. I’d replace him with ESPN’s Darren Cahill or have John McEnroe call more matches.

TRACK & FIELD — There’s not much I would replace here. Tom Hammond is about as classy an announcer as you will find. Ato Boldon has become a very strong analyst. And NBC has brought back Craig Masback, long a staple of track coverage in the 1980′s and 1990′s. But for 2016, I think Lolo Jones would make for a good studio analyst. And Michael Johnson who has been on the last few Olympics for the BBC would work well too. Having Bob host Primetime from the Athletics venue would be a nice change of pace from being in the studio. And he could mix it up with Lolo and Michael.

Those are my suggestions. If you have some of your own, put them in the comments below.

Some Olympic Media Links

I owe you some linkage and I gathered so many over the last few days that I’m slowing down by browser with so many tabs. I have to clear them so my browser can run properly.

So many things to go over. Let’s do this.

First at SportsGrid, Jordan Rabinowitz at SportsGrid notes that NBC actually spoiled itself by running a Today Show promo about Missy Franklin winning the gold medal in her 100 meter backstroke race just minutes before it aired!

Cork Gaines of the Business Insider has video of that Today promo. It’s in proper context too.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today live blogs Monday night’s NBC primetime telecast.

Michael explains NBC’s policy of holding the glamor Olympic events for primetime.

Will Oremus at Slate reviews the very strange story of NBC getting a UK reporter’s Twitter account suspended because he was critical of the network’s tape delay shenanigans and for tweeting a public e-mail address of a network producer.

Sam Masters of The Independent in the UK says that reporter is a colleague at his newspaper.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead has NBC’s statement on the matter through Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.

Sports Business Daily Global looks at the global Olympic TV ratings.

Sports Business Daily notes the three-day average rating for NBC for the first weekend of the 2012 Olympics.

John Ourand at SBD’s Olympic site says NBC is utilizing its Comcast SportsNet affiliates to help promote the Games.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has an interview with NBC Olympics rowing analyst Yasmin Farooq.

Matt writes that NBC’s tape delay policy continues to anger some viewers.

Steve Lepore of SB Nation says despite the tape delays, NBC has nothing to apologize for.

Jeff Jarvis at Buzz Machine is intrigued by the Twitter hashtag #nbcfail which has been popping up since the Olympics began.

ESPN’s Julie Foudy is saddened by US Women’s Soccer National Team goaltender Hope Solo’s Twitter attacks on former teammate Brandi Chastain who has been working for NBC during the Olympics.

John Clarke at Forbes SportsMoney says NBC reaped in the ratings for the Opening Ceremony last Friday, but took a beating on Twitter.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says while every Olympic event is being streamed online by NBC, not everyone can see them.

Richard says NBC may have thought putting events online would have eased complaints about tape delays, but they haven’t.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report looks at how newspapers are covering the 2012 Olympics with fewer resources at their disposal in the present day.

Ed says problems with online streaming at NBCOlympics.com should be expected.

By the way, I tried to watch the streaming of Missy Franklin in the 100 meter backstroke on Monday and this is how it looked on my iPad through the NBC Olympics Live Extra app. Actual image.

It should be much clearer than that, but I’m getting that type of quality especially when an event of high interest is on. NBC has to correct that.

Sports Media Watch says Olympic Daytime and Late Night are doing well for NBC.

SMW says the Olympics are off to a fast start on NBC.

A few links that aren’t Olympic-related.

The Big Lead reports that the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb is expected to leave ESPN for CBS and a formal announcement will be made later this week.

SportsRantz got up early on Monday and took notes on the first hour of the premiere edition of NFL AM.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth says a new policy on making injuries public could hurt Jacksonville Jaguars beat reporters.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette can’t believe the latest in bad home run calls by Yankees radio voice John Sterling.

Sports Media Watch says it appears ESPN has snatched the rights to the new “Champions Bowl” that will pit teams from the SEC and Big 12.

And that’s is where we will end the linkage for now.

The Olympics Are Here; Let’s Do Some Links

Olympics start today with women’s soccer and there’s more soccer action tomorrow on the men’s side. Let’s bring you some linkage before I get distracted by the live streaming.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reports that Erin Andrews will get some high profile NFL assignments working with the Fox Sports “A” announcing team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver on Thanksgiving and the postseason.

Roger Yu of USA Today looks at NBC’s Olympic online streaming plans.

Reid Cherner of USA Today says the Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies will not be streamed online by NBC. Both will be held for primetime broadcast. Grrrrr.

David Bauder of the Associated Press has your Olympics Viewing Guide.

I have my own Olympics Viewing Guide.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report wonders if NBC will force Bob Costas to back of his pledge to honor the slain Israeli athletes from the 1972 Munich Olympics during this year’s Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Jason Fry and Kelly McBride of the Poynter Review Project as the ESPN Ombudsman review ESPN’s coverage of the Penn State story on Monday.

Sports Business Daily Global notes that the Olympics are the second most valuable brand worldwide.

ESPN may not be the Olympics rightsholder in the US, but it does have the rights in Latin America and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal’s Olympic site looks at its sponsors for the Games.

UK Radio personality Polly James of Absolute Radio has started an Olympics blog and it’s quite good.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says Showtime and CBS will team up to show the professional debut of several Olympic boxers.

John Eggerton of Mulitchannel writes that Tennis Channel won a huge victory from the FCC in its carriage battle with Comcast.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel says Netflix feels that growth will be stunted in the current quarter due to the Olympics.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable notes that NBC News will use Storify to piece together certain stories of the Olympics.

Christopher Heine of Adweek reports that one Penn State sponsor has dropped the school in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY talks with former CBS News and WCBS anchor Dave Marash who covered the 1972 Munich tragedy.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that CBS Sports Network will air some US Open Tennis on Labor Day Weekend.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has Fox Sports college football analyst Charles Davis talking about the Penn State sanctions.

Laura Nachman notes that ESPN SportsCenter anchor Ducis Rodgers will be joining the Philadelphia ABC affiliate.

Tim Richardson in Press Box writes that the military will continue its sports sponsorships in the mid-Atlantic region.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the DC NFL Team has already e-mailed the media on quarterback Robert Griffin III’s availability.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks about the Olympic streaming smorgasbord online.

Mel also looks at the local ratings from the weekend.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals aren’t going to relax their requirements to ease TV blackouts.

Robert Feder of TimeOut Chicago says a popular Comcast SportsNet reporter is leaving the Windy City.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune has NBC’s Bob Costas lashing out at those who write about Olympic tape delays.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott optimistic about getting DirecTV on board for the Pac-12 Networks.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with CTV Olympic Daytime host James Duthie.

Sports Media Watch looks at NBC Sports Network’s new highlight show.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing says the Olympics going digital.

AA’s Matt Yoder feels Fox should ditch the local announcers on its MLB broadcasts.

That’s going to do it.

It’s A Thursday Link Thing

Let’s do some linkage now. Fifth straight day! This is a record!

Michael Florek at USA Today’s Game On blog notes that Time Magazine will have six separate covers in four regions for its Olympic preview issue. For the U.S., guys will have Lolo Jones to gawk at, women get Ryan Lochte. Gymnast Gabby Douglas also adorns a cover.

To Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Journal who profiles NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell who is not only following in his mentor, Dick Ebersol’s footsteps, but still has to do his regular job of overseeing the Today show as well.

Sports Business Daily says a nightly Olympic light show in London will display colors based on the overall mood of Tweets during the Games. I kid you not.

Nick Zaccardi and Richard Deitsch at Sports Illustrated provide you with fifty Twitter feeds you should follow during the Olympics.

Speaking of SI, Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report delves into the staff cuts made this week at the fabled magazine.

Brian Steinberg of Advertising Age looks at where SI made its staff cuts.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable notes a new NFL analyst hire for ESPN.

Noreen O’Leary at Adweek writes that Cadillac has launched a new short film to target consumers just before the Olympics.

Jenny Tsao at Arbitron notes that sports radio on FM is drawing a higher and younger audience than AM.

Matt Hayes from the Sporting News reports that the college football four team playoff system could get a huge rights fee and that ESPN is a big favorite to get the whole kit and caboodle.

John Koblin of Deadspin finds more evidence of ESPN.com writer Lynn Hoppes lifting material.

Tom Ley at Deadspin had a funny battle with a horse dressage site this week. And thanks to Deadspin’s readers, the dressage site’s editor had to humbly apologize. The comments in both stories are just plain hilarious.

And Issac Rauch of Deadspin has video that has become a worldwide sensation, Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke’s pre-race dance before her heat at the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times writes about Sports Illustrated’s staff cuts.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says the MLB All-Star Game drew well in New York.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says the local ESPN Radio affiliate will have a weekly show devoted to the Saratoga horse racing season starting tonight.

Adam Sichko of the Albany Business Review says a local TV studio will assist NBC in producing its summer horse racing series at Saratoga.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local radio station will pick up the Buffalo Bills this season.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says Fox Soccer will air over 20 college soccer gamesin the fall.

In Press Box, Tim Richardson reports that a decision is close on the MASN/Washington Natonals rights fee dispute.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog writes that DC NFL Team linebacker Ryan Kerrigan guest anchored on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic this week.

Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com talks with Kerrigan about his experiences on the TV side.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that two sports radio hosts with local ties made Talkers Magazine’s Heavy 100 list.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch talks with ESPN Chicago NBA beat writer Nick Friedell.

Jack Denker of the Fremont (NE) Tribune profiles a native who’s working behind-the-scenes at ESPN.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says NBC is hoping for big numbers from the London Olympics.

Dave Paresh of the San Francisco Chronicle says NBC and Adobe have teamed up to create two Olympic mobile apps.

David P. Greisman at Boxing Scene says NBC is seeking to increase the time in-between rounds so it can squeeze in more commercials.

Joe Favorito says the Houston Rockets should be taking a page from the Brooklyn Nets’ playbook and start reaching out the community.

We are done.

Let’s Do Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for the links on this Wednesday. Let’s check out what we have.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter talks with NBC’s Bob Costas about the Olympics, Jerry Sandusky and being short. That’s right.

Daniel Kaplan from the Sports Business Journal writes that the NFL will not sign a telecommunications partner this season and will see how the Wi-Fi experience goes at five stadiums before deciding.

Owen Gibson of the London (UK) Guardian reports that BBC has scored the rights to the Olympics through 2020.

BBC Director-General Mark Thompson blogs about the Beeb keeping the UK rights to the Olympics.

I have the BBC press release on the new Olympics contract.

Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly says ESPNU will have its own late night entertainment/talk show premiering in late August.

Also from EW, Dan Snierson says disgraced former Cincinnati Reds star Pete Rose will get his own TLC reality show. The question is, who doesn’t have a TLC reality show?

Brian Moran at Broadcasting & Cable says World Team Tennis will get live national coverage this weekend on Tennis Channel and the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life writes that ratings for the Home Run Derby were up while the All-Star Game took a hit.

The SportsCasters speak with Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim about Joe Posnanski’s book on Joe Paterno.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report wonders why SI passed on printing an excerpt of Posnanski’s book.

Ed notices that the promotional video for the Paterno book has been removed from YouTube.

Ed talks with an ESPN executive on the network now using its own cameras instead of relying on the BBC to cover the Open Championship.

Reinhardt Krause of Investor’s Business Daily look at how cable providers are finding ways to drive up sports rights fees.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Eric Deggans in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center talks with Real Sports’ Frank Deford about his updated piece on marching band hazing at historically black colleges.

SportsGrid’s Eric Goldschein has video of Los Angeles Dodgers voice Vin Scully scolding the team for its failure to execute a rundown play.

Patrick Burns at Deadspin says the Joe Paterno story dominated ESPN’s news coverage last week.

Deadspin’s John Koblin notes that Sports Illustrated is beginning to use the photo sharing site, Instagram.

The London (UK) Mirror provides 100 bizarre facts about the Olympics.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN’s Paul Azinger about the Open Championship.

Brandon Marcello of the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger says the SEC Storied documentary series will produce a film on a former Mississippi State football coach.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that with the Thunder’s Kevin Durant, USA basketball vs. Brazil on ESPN drew very well locally.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer wonders what exactly will the new TLC Pete Rose reality show be about?

John says a local internet service provider will add ESPN3 in August.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times looks at ESPN paying the Rose Bowl $80 million per year starting in 2015.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a preview of tonight’s “The Franchise” episode on Showtime which will show the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton going under the knife.

Joe Flint of the Times has Comcast appealing to the government to butt out of its programming decisions i.e., Tennis Channel.

Sports Media Watch notes that TNT’s NASCAR season finale saw increased ratings.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Chinwe Nwadike at Chinwe’s Corner wonders why some in the media are angry at Fox’s Erin Andrews.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says the WWE has established a social media hub for investors.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has a screengrab of the Longhorn Network taking one final shot at Texas A&M before it leaves the Big 12 for good.

Jason Boog at Galleycat says an NBC Sports producer has published a children’s book on the Olympics.

That will do it for today.

Doing Some Monday Linkage

Let’s bring out some Monday links today.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he talks with Fox’s Erin Andrews (weird to write that) about her decision to leave ESPN.

A.J. Perez of Fox Sports has Erin’s reaction to joining the network.

Jane Kellogg and Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter write about Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

As for replacing Erin at ESPN, Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead seems to be in Samantha Steele’s corner.

Back to Hiestand at USA Today, he notes that the U.S. Olympic Trials scored for NBC this past weekend.

Michael says the CBS Sports golf crew did as best as they could in a difficult situation when heavy storms ravaged the Washington, DC area and affected the AT&T National PGA Tour stop.

John Ourand at Sports Business Daily talks with NBCUniversal’s CEO on how important the Olympics are important to the company.

Ryan Wilson at CBS Sports notes that the NFL has changed its blackout policy, reducing the requirements for local teams to ensure games will be seen in local markets.

Also at CBS Sports, Dennis Dodd writes that the Big 12′s TV contract has still yet to gain approval from the league’s presidents.

To Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report and he remembers the passing of Jack Buck ten years later.

Ed also looks at Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

Scott Roxborough of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the EURO 2012 Final racked up the ratings in Europe.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago has entered the game show arena.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the broadcast networks are looking to sports and reality to attract viewers during the dead summer season.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life notes NBC’s plans for the London Olympics later this month.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that NBC is mostly sold for the Tour de France.

Kevin Iole at Yahoo’s Boxing Experts Blog writes about NBC Sports expanding its boxing portfolio.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says no matter how you look at it, the NFL is a monopoly.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group notes the amount of cameras ESPN is using at the X Games.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after college athletics once again.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says a local minor league hockey announcer is moving on.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record talks with some area sports radio personalities about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

The Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune notes that an announcer with local ties will be part of NBC’s Olympic broadcast team.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Chick Hernandez was hit by a Tiger Woods drive this weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times still yearns for the faulty BCS.

Gary Brown of the Canton (OH) Repository notes that a Golf Channel crew was in town to do a story on a local golf pro.

At the Denver Post, Dusty Saunders says the U.S. Olympic Trials serve as an appetizer for the main course later this month.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for this week.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin pays tribute to a colleague who’s retiring this month.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing looks at the free agent frenzy among the TV networks over the last year.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of gymnast Nastia Liukin doing a horrific faceplant off the uneven bars during last night’s US Gymnastic Olympic Trials.

Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank says a popular Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter picked up a lot of Twitter love when she joined the service a few days ago.

MediaRantz notes that WFAN’s Boomer and Carton could be nationally syndicated on CBS Sports Radio in January.

Joe Favorito talks about the growth of American soccer.

And those are all of the links I could squeeze out today.

A Rare Saturday Sports Media Thoughts Post

Usually late Friday afternoon/early evening is reserved for news that needs to be buried, but with some surprising breaking sports media news, it causes your humble blogger to write some rare Saturday sports media thoughts. On the sports media beat, one never knows when news can break and that is certainly the case here.

As usual, they come in bullet form.

• Kudos to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who broke the story Friday that Fox Sports had emerged as a potential suitor for Erin Andrews’ services. Then shortly afterwards, ESPN’s Army of Public Relations personnel tweeted that Erin had indeed departed the network. And while it was speculated that Erin would stay at ESPN based on little to no offers from other networks, it seems that Fox Sports recently stepped to the plate and brought what she was looking for.

  The co-author of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN”, James Andrew Miller put out a series of tweets shortly after the news broke Friday and explained why ESPN chose not to pursue Andrews. According to Miller, talks between ESPN and Erin had broken down even before Fox had made overtures to her.

  And Miller tweeted that ESPN’s offer for Andrews to stay was in essence the same duties that she had had since 2010, host of College GameDay’s first hour during football season and sideline reporter for Saturday Night Football and Primetime college basketball.

  It was reported that Erin was interested in the Monday Night Football sideline reporter’s position, but she was passed over in favor of Lisa Salters. And ESPN had grown weary of Erin’s star status outside of the network. And the network doesn’t like its employees to grow bigger than the ESPN brand.

  Bristol doesn’t want to be star factory. It wants loyal Workers, e.g. @BobLeyESPN@cmckendry_espn @mortreport John Anderson @sagesteele.

  — James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) June 30, 2012

  As far as Fox is concerned, if the reports are true that it’s in line to sign Erin, then it would be a big move. At this point in her career, she wants something other than roaming the sidelines. With Fox Sports airing Big 12/Pac-12 college football games in primetime this fall, I would think the network would look to her to host in the studio or from game sites.

  Jim Miller says unlike ESPN, Fox would embrace Erin Andrews as a star and brand.

  Fox would value @ErinAndrews as brand more than ESPN. Bristol didn’t place premium on DWTS, GMA gigs, mag photos,or her commercial success.

  — James Andrew Miller (@ESPNBook) June 30, 2012

  Is it a good move? I believe it is. She’ll get to branch out and possibly wean herself off the sidelines. And if Erin wants to be in entertainment, there are possibilities within the Fox family to do other things than sports.

• This week, NBC finally unveiled its list of announcers and hostsfor the 2012 Olympics in London Olympics. Many are holdovers from past Games like Dan Hicks, Rowdy Gaines, Tom Hammond, Ted Robinson, Tim Ryan, Andrew Catalon, etc. However, in this new era of Comcast ownership of NBCUniversal, there are plenty of new announcers for the Olympics. And talent has been tapped from the Comcast SportsNet regional affiliates.

  For instance, Carolyn Manno (Sports Desk Anchor), Mike Gorman (Handball) and Donny Marshall (Basketball) come from CSN New England. Marshall Harris (Sports Desk Anchor) works at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. Bob Fitzgerald (Basketball play-by-play) and Jim Kozimorare from Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.

  This is just the tip of the iceberg for CSN. I would think we’ll see more Comcast SportsNet talent on future Olympics.

  As for other announcers, no longer do we have people loaned from ESPN like Mike Breen who called basketball in 2000, 2004 and 2008. There’s less of a dependence on Turner Sports although Craig Sager returns to the basketball sidelines without his loud wardrobe.

  Overall, I don’t have too many issues with the talent selection although I would have liked to have seen Mike Gorman who calls the Boston Celtics to be tapped for basketball.

• Sunday is WFAN’s 25th anniversary and this week, the station has been celebrating its influence as the nation’s first sports radio station. Back when it first launched on July 1, 1987, there were many skeptics. Media observers thought there was no way people could stand listening to sports 24/7. And in the first few months, WFAN’s future was quite shaky. Its first hosts including Greg Gumbel and Jim Lampley had national reputations. But WFAN found its voice by focusing on local sports, hiring talk show hosts with New York ties and realizing fans wanted to talk about their teams and athletes.
  
  There were big moments like WFAN moving its frequency from 1050 to 660 AM where it could be heard clearly at night throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Plus, Don Imus staying on the 660 AM frequency from WNBC gave the station huge credibility. However, the biggest move for New York sports radio was the pairing of Mike Francesa and Chris Russo to form “Mike and the Mad Dog”. The two were Type “A” personalities who wanted to host shows solo, but after they realized fans liked their banter and arguments, the two remained together from 1989 until 2008 when Russo accepted an offer from SiriusXM Radio to create his own station. For 19 years, the two were the show to listen to. And while they had their arguments, there’s no doubting their chemistry. Whenever the two pair up as they did again on Friday for a way too short 20 minute segment, it was as if they had never split.

  Once the sports radio format proved viable, other markets followed, Philadelphia, San Diego, Chicago and Boston. Sports radio is so successful that some markets now have as many as four or five stations.

  But WFAN started it all and it remains influential. Its format for sports updates every 20 minutes has been copied all over the country. Other stations have multiple hosts for shows sometimes even using as many as three hosts for one program. And CBS and NBC now want to create national sports talk networks of their own.

  Happy Anniversary to WFAN. May it last another 25 years.

And that will conclude the thoughts for today.

Your Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do some Tuesday links.

We’ll start with Matt Hayes of AOL Sporting News and he writes that the BCS is looking for a $5 billion TV deal over a decade for its new college football playoff.

In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley says the new college football playoff still can be improved.

Eric Fisher and John Ourand of Sports Business Journal write that the Washington Nationals and MASN continue to be at odds over what the team’s TV rights are worth.

Maury Brown in Baseball Prospectus goes inside the Nats/MASN TV rights dispute.

Mark Buteau and Alex Duff of Bloomberg report that NBC has signed a long-term extension to lock in the Tour de France.

Etan Vlessing of the Hollywood Reporter says CBC and CTV are dropping their joint bidfor the 2014/2016 Olympic Games.

Charlie Warzel of Adweek says the PGA and Turner Sports are parting ways as the golf association will handle its digital rights in-house and no longer outsource it to Turner.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable writes that Ion will provide the WWE with a third night of programming.

In Multichannel News, Tim has an article about NFL Network’s NFL AM show.

Media Life Magazine notes that a Spanish language ad ran during ABC’s NBA Finals broadcasts.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says CBS’ Jim Nantz is now pimping his own wine label. Surprised it’s not called “Hello, Friends.”

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has the amazing video of Mike Tyson on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption giving a preview of his new one-man Broadway play.

Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that the KHL has officially announced plans to play in the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn while trashing New York’s Madison Square Garden in the process.

The ESPN Front Row blog fires a shot at the new upstarts CBS Sports Radio and NBC Sports Radio Network on behalf of ESPN Radio.

Ben Lee at Digital Spy UK says Wimbledon’s primetime coverage on BBC2 drew over a million viewers.

Tara Pringle Jefferson at Loop 21 has six questions for ESPN’s Sage Steele.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says NBA Draft prospect Anthony Davis has trademarked his unibrow.

Darren wonders if US Olympic 100 meter sprinter Justin Gatlin can be marketable once again after sitting out a four year ban for steroids.

Sports Video Group notes that NESN has signedanother content sharing agreement with a third New England TV station, this time in Vermont.

All Access interviews a radio industry analyst who feels the new CBS Sports Radio will do well for the parent company.

Ian Bethune at Sox & Dawgs has the funny video of NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy entertaining the viewers during a Red Sox rain delay last night.

Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston writes about the Red Sox being in no rush to replace their late public address announcer Carl Beane.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post reports that a positive FCC ruling for Tennis Channel in its carriage dispute against Comcast could lead to more viewers for the network and make it more attractive to potential buyers.

Bob’s Blitz has WFAN’s schedule for Sunday when it celebrates 25 years as the Nation’s first sports radio station.

Kimberly A. Martin of Newsday notes that E! will air a special on New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow.

Neil Best of Newsday looks at ESPN’s start-to-finish coverage of Wimbledon.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has MLB Network’s live game schedule through the end of July.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call profiles a former local sports anchor who’s making his mark in Detroit.

Laura Nachman says a part-timer at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is now part of the regional sports network’s starting team.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Washingtonian magazine readers aren’t enamored with the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times chastises readers who complained about weather alerts about Tropical Storm Debby that cut into sports action.

At the Miami Herald, Barry Jackson looks at anti-Heat media comments almost a week after the team won the NBA Championship.

Marc Weiszer of the Athens (GA) Banner-Herald writes that ESPN is producing a documentary on the 2008 SEC Tournament game between Alabama and Mississippi State that was interrupted by a tornado that ripped through Atlanta.

Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times Picayune reports that the Hornets will have the soon-to-be Fox Sports New Orleans to call their home. Fox Sports NO will replace Cox Sports which is getting out of the pro sports business.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says NFL Network will air clips of a Brett Favre interview all week long.

Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business says the local Comcast SportsNet affiliate will launch a new trivia game show.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has a clip of Frank Deford’s appearance on last night’s Colbert Report.

Simon Houpt and Steve Ladurantaye of the Toronto Globe and Mail look at CBC and CTV ending their joint bid for the 2014/16 Olympics after two prices were rejected.

Ann Dempsey from the Toronto Star also has a story on the CBC/CTV disbanding.

Bill Harris in the Toronto Sun says Olympic viewing in Canada after this year is up in the air.

Monika Warzecha of Toronto Life wonders if Canadians will be stuck watching NBC for the 2014/16 Olympics.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes TSN did well in showing the NHL Draft and EURO 2012.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest says NBC and Shazam have teamed up to provide interactive coverage of the London Olympics.

And that’s going do it for our linkage.

Bringing Out The Thursday Linkage

Here to provide some links for you today. Looks like I’ll be out on Friday so posting may be scarce, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the meantime, I have some links for you now.

This week, CBSSports.com Deputy Managing Editor Craig Stanke passed away at the age of 56. He joined the site as a deputy editor when it was known as SportslineUSA.com. During his time, he helped to attract a number of writers and build CBSSports.com’s stable to a point where it challenges the best sports news websites. Stanke worked at a number of newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Palm Beach Post among others.

We have a number of links.

First, CBSSports.com’s Mark Swanson writes Stanke’s obituary.

Scott Miller, CBS Sports’ Senior Baseball Columnist mourns Stanke’s passing.

CBS Sports’ national columnist Gregg Doyel says Stanke continued to teach him even after his death.

Stanke’s good friend, T.J. Simers at the Los Angeles Times, the man who hired Stanke for his first job, says he can’t believe his friend is gone.

To other stories now.

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com notes that no matter how much the Big 12 expands, the TV payout money will remain the same. And Dodd tells us that the league’s TV deal with ESPN and Fox will be announced any day now.

Brian Steinberg at Advertising Age reports that CBS is 50% sold for Super Bowl XLVII and could reach 80% soon.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says despite CBS/Showtime dropping Warren Sapp from Inside the NFL this season, NFL Network has signed the controversial snitch for another year.

Reid Cherner at USA Today writes that many feel last night’s NBA Draft Lottery on ESPN was fixed in New Orleans’ favor.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin notes that almost a quarter of all of SportsCenter’s editions last week was devoted to the Miami Heat.

Richard Deitsch from Sports Illustrated has his monthly Media Power List.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says the 2012 NHL postseason has had the most viewers in ten years.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media has the viewership of all of the completed 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs to date.

Steve tweets the overnight ratings for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final were down significantly from last year.

And Steve has a story on the overnights at Puck The Media.

Tim Nudd of Adweek reviews the NHL’s newest Stanley Cup spot. It’s a winner, but still doesn’t hold up to last year’s “No Words” promo.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes that newspapers are dropping the printed word for digital content.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid has the video of Chicago White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson going nuts.

In the Sherman Report, Ed Sherman talks about Hawk’s homerism and his love of all things White Sox.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says talk about concussions may affect youth football participation.

Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk writes that the Miami Dolphins were the first pick of NFL Films for this year’s Hard Knocks and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union tells us that Sunday’s motorsports races finished in a ratings dead heat.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that the Anaheim Angels Radio Network is now being nationally syndicated.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that a colleague, Tarik El-Bashir, is leaving the paper to join Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

At the Miami Herald, David J. Neal says NFL Films won’t have a problem finding story lines for Hard Knocks with the Miami Dolphins.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman talks with ESPN softball analyst Michele Smith about the Women’s College World Series which starts today.

Daniel Dorfman at Chicago Side Sports talks with unabashed White Sox homer Hawk Harrelson.

Brent Schrotenboer of the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that San Diego State stands to get more TV money when it enters the Big East than from the Mountain West.

The Toronto Star’s Cathal Kelly rips CBC’s online attempt at satire of last night’s Stanley Cup Final Game 1.

To the Canadian Sports Media Blog which notes that Sportsnet has signed a deal to remain the home of the NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package which even includes NBC’s Thanksgiving Night game.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN received a good overnight number for Game 2 of the Celtics-Heat NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

I Am A GM notes that 10 NBA players are crying conspiracy over last night’s Draft Lottery.

At Awful Announcing, the Brothers Yoder list their favorite NBA announcers.

And that’s going to do it.

You Need Linkage On That Wall….

Yes you do. It’s overdue. I thought being on unemployment would give me more time for doing the site. Instead, I have less. I don’t know how that’s happened.

Anyway, here are some links for you.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has soon-to-be NBC’s Michelle Beadle saying even she’s sick of the coverage on where she’s going next.

Michael takes a look at the Weekend TV ratings.

Nicole Auerbach of USA Today says Laurie Fine, wife of ex-Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, has officially filed her libel lawsuit against ESPN.

At Sports Business Journal, John Ourand and Michael Smith report that the Southeastern Conference, in the midst of restructuring its media rights deal with CBS and ESPN, could be resurrecting its plans to start an SEC Channel.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News goes over the “trade” between TBS and MLB Network giving the young network its first postseason action this season.

Tim Baysinger of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN 3D will air the last five days of Wimbledon later this summer.

David Mercer of the Associated Press says citing low ratings, the Big Ten Network will drop academic non-sports programming in order to air higher rated sports.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek talks about GM pulling out of advertising in Super Bowl XLVII.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs tells aspiring sports TV anchors how to thrive in local markets despite the shrinking amount of time in newscasts.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid has video of TNT’s Charles Barkley admitting to America that he waxes his eyebrows.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid has this funny video of Saturday Night Live’s Jay Pharoah getting Stephen A. “A is for Acrimonious” Smith down pat.

From the New Haven Register, David Borges talks with long-time Red Sox radio voice and Connecticut native Joe Castiglione about his career and his new book.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette talks about CBS Sports sublicensing some college basketball games from ESPN.

Pete Dougherty in the Albany Times Union has the French Open TV schedule.

Pete says the overnight ratings for the Preakness Stakes dropped double digits from last year.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com says NBC Sports Network will tap some familiar names to call MLS action this weekend.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun says NBC got the job done in its Preakness Stakes production.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is on the RGIII train.

The increasingly bitter Thomas Boswell of the WaPo feels MASN should pony up for the Washington Nationals media rights.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner writes that outgoing NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora is looking forward to working and writing for CBS.

Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says two writers from the newspaper including sports media writer Tom Jones will co-host a new morning show for the local sports radio station. Jones will now stop covering sports radio to avoid a conflict of interest.

Iliana Limón Romero of the Orlando Sentinel says the Big East is hopeful of finding a suitable TV suitor for the league.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has some sports media observations.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman writes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is looking forward to visiting Oklahoma City for the NBA Western Conference Finals.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds gave local radio station WLW a big ratings win last month.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at the local weekend ratings.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says a technical glitch forced Cardinals fans to watch Fox Sports San Diego’s feed of last night’s Redbirds-Padres game and listen to Dick Enberg which is not a bad thing at all.

Bryce Miller of the Des Moines Reigster says Iowan and Olympics hurdler Lolo Jones is on a media blitz.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the Dodgers will honor long-time Spanish radio voice Jaime Jarrin next month.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has video of NBC Sports Network’s Doc Emrick ripping diving in soccer.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says ratings for the NHL Conference Finals on the NBC Sports Group are down.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has some of Pam Ward’s “Greatest” hits over her years calling college football.

That will do it for now.

Let’s Get Some Linkage Out

I’ve accumulated a lot of links. They’re slowing down my browser so let’s clear them so I can let my computer get back some memory. Lots of stuff going on.

Let’s start with ESPN stuff as it dominated the news today with its network upfront presentation to advertisers and also confirmed personnel moves.

First, Sports Media Watch talks about Scott Van Pelt reupping with ESPN.

The ESPN Front Row blog has a Q&A podcast with Van Pelt in which he explains why he decided to remain with the Bristolians.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today recaps today’s ESPN upfront presentation in New York.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today notes that with Michelle Beadle leaving ESPN, the network is now focusing on keeping Erin Andrews in the fold.

The Hollywood Reporter goes over some ESPN upfront news including its plans to bring back the 30 for 30 documentary series.

Stuart Levin from Variety also has a story on the new set of 30 for 30 docs.

Jeannie Poggi of Advertising Age also reviews ESPN’s upfronts.

Alex Weprin from TVNewser says ESPN and ABC News will co-produce an interview series to be fronted by Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts.

Mike Shields from Adweek says ESPN.com will now partner to sell ads.

ESPN’s Vice President of College Sports Programming, Burke Magnus responds to a Dan Wetzel/Yahoo Sports article on the new ACC TV contract.

Chad Scott at ChuckOliver.net explains how third tier media rights work in college sports.

Andy Fixmer and Alex Sherman at Bloomberg report on how ESPN may expand its WatchESPN app to Apple TV platforms.

Andy Fixmer of Bloomberg says CBS is ready to take the coveted 18-49 ratings title from perennial winner Fox with the airing of Super Bowl XLVII next season.

The great SportsbyBrooks tweets that Erik Kuselias’ move to NBC Sports Network from Golf Channel’s Morning Drive is being considered a demotion by network higher-ups. I had a feeling this was the case. Do you consider this tweet inane, Mike Francesa?

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report enjoyed watching Survival Sunday on the Fox Sports platforms, but wondered why the most important English Premier League game was on another network.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has four different calls of the same moment when Manchester City won the EPL title on Sunday.

John Ourand from Sports Business Journal writes about a now-defunct Twitter account that got under the skin of several sports network executives.

Earlier today, WFAN’s Mike Francesa ranted on how much he hates Twitter.

If you want to see Mike’s veins popping out during this rant, you can see it here on the YES Network website.

And while Francesa seemingly hates Twitter, Media Rantz points out that Francesa has an app where he does something similar to Twitter.

Bruce Jenkins from Sports Illustrated says Tennis Channel failed to serve the WTA Tour’s Madrid Open like it did with the ATP’s side of the same tournament.

Phil Allaway at Front Stretch looks at ESPN’s coverage of this past weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Race.

BBC Sport has announced it will have 24 live HD streams dedicated to the Olympics this summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal has set the Olympics programming lineup for Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC.

John Eggerton at Multichannel News notes that a Federal Appeals Court has upheld an FCC ruling that Time Warner Cable did not discriminate against MASN when it refused to put the regional sports network on its North Carolina systems.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says the college conference realignment game won’t be settled for at least another decade.

Matt Boutwell of Maine Sports Media looks at a case I wrote about three years ago, about the mysterious tweeter, BrianAdExec.

NESN goes behind the scenes with Jenny Dell and the network’s production team on what goes on during a typical Red Sox gameday.

Rich Elliot of the Connecticut Post has SNY’s president talking about the regional sports network’s plans to air UConn Women’s basketball next season.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with NBC Sports’ Mike Emrick about calling his old team, the New Jersey Devils in the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

In the New York Times, Jay Schreiber talks about the last time the Devils and the New York Rangers met in the Eastern Conference Final and how he had to monitor the series without smartphones back then.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports on ESPN’s plans to bring back 30 for 30.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY writes that MSG Network will provide of wraparound coverage of the NHL Eastern Conference Final.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says YES Network will air a Yankeeography on David Wells this week.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that MSG Network will begin airing the WNBA’s New York Liberty starting this weekend.

Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says two local global conglomerates including Comcast expect to make some big money from the London Olympics.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com Sports goes behind-the-scenes with ESPN’s MLS production.

Jeff Barker from the Baltimore Sun says the Orioles and the Washington Nationals are waiting word from MLB on a decision on how much MASN should pay the Nats.

Over to Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog who writes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is making a change in its DC NFL team beat reporter.

Dan talks about former Post columnist Howard Bryant ranting against Washington Nationals ownership.

Mike Finger at the Houston Chronicle says the Longhorn Network may offer more Texas football games in another attempt to get carriage from state cable providers.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman writes that the Oklahoma City Thunder on TNT set another local ratings record.

In Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks goes over some hate mail.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune writes that Utahans should be able to see the Running Utes thanks to wider distribution of the Pac-12 Networks than the soon-to-be defunct the mtn.

Tuesday night, KNBC-TV did a story on the busy postseason in Los Angeles, but aired the wrong graphic for the Kings and showed the Sacramento Kings instead of the LA Kings. C’mon, man!

Martin Miller of the Los Angeles Times says ESPN upfront presentation showed the network was ready for some football.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media is telling everyone that a New York Rangers-Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Final might not mean boffo ratings as some NHL observers are saying.

Jay Koot of Busted Coverage is disgusted by Erik Kuselias’ engagement to Morning Drive news reader Holly Sonders.

And that’s where we’ll end the links tonight.

Capitals-Bruins Series Sets Ratings Record For Comcast SportsNet

This is certainly not a surprise. The four games of the NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series between the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals set a ratings record for Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

According to Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the four game average rating in Washington, DC was a 5.90 which makes the series the highest-rated NHL playoff series on the network. Last night’s Game 7 which resulted in the Capitals advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals was the 2nd highest-rated NHL game on the network resulting in an 8.10 rating.

In Baltimore, the rating resulted in a 3.72 which is a record. The previous high was set in 2008.

We have the press release from Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

COMCAST SPORTSNET’S COVERAGE OF CAPITALS-BRUINS SERIES DELIVERS RATINGS RECORDS

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s coverage of the Capitals’ first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins posted all-time Capitals ratings highs for the network.

Comcast SportsNet’s first-round coverage delivered a four-game average household rating in the Washington market of 5.90, making it the highest-rated Capitals playoff series in network history. The previous network record for a Capitals playoff series was set during the first round against the N.Y. Rangers in 2011, which earned an average 5.72 household rating. The 2.80 average household rating earned during the series in the Baltimore market is also a network all-time high for the Capitals.

Comcast SportsNet’s coverage of Game 7 of the series at Boston on Wednesday, April 25, registered the second-highest average household rating for a Capitals game in network history, earning an 8.01 in the Washington market. The rating is just shy of the network’s all-time high of 8.10, which was set in Game 7 of the 2010 first-round series against Montreal on April 28, 2010.

In the Baltimore market, Comcast SportsNet posted a Capitals all-time high average household rating of 3.72. The previous network record for Capitals coverage in the Baltimore market was a 3.66, earned in Game 7 of the 2008 first-round series against Philadelphia on April 22, 2008.

The Capitals’ 2-1 overtime victory attracted an average Washington/Baltimore-area audience of approximately 230,000 households and 344,000 viewers. Game 7 posted peak household ratings of 10.88 in the Washington market and 5.62 in the Baltimore market, which equates to a combined 320,000 households and 495,000 viewers towards the end of the overtime game.

That’s all.

Unveiling Some Thursday Links

Let’s get to some linkage. Four days in a row. Let’s keep up the momentum.

Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that the NFL is considering suspending the Pro Bowl.

Stuart Kemp of the Hollywood Reporter writes that BBC’s staff to cover the London Olympics will outnumber the British athletic contingent to the Games.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable says NBC Sports Network has renewed NFL Turning Point for three more seasons.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that Tide is now the Official Laundry Detergent of the NFL.

To E.J. Schultz of Advertising Age who writes that UFC sponsor Anheuser-Busch gave a warning over its fighters’ racist and homophobic comments.

Ed Sherman of the Sherman Report talks with ESPN analyst Bill Polian who will spending his first NFL Draft outside of a War Room.

Ed says NBC will be rooting hard for the New York Rangers tonight in its Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says despite an ugly domestic dispute involving his estranged wife this week, Deion Sanders will appear on NFL Network’s Draft coverage.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group says audio from the Olympics will be all-digital unlike in past years.

Karen Hogan of SVG goes inside ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage.

This pains me, but I’ll post this. Glenn Davis of SportsGrid has the audio of the Washington Capitals series-winning goal by Joel Ward to defeat the Boston Bruins in Game 7 last night.  And there were some idiotic racist tweets following the game. Those Bruins fans do not represent me. Stupid fucks.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the YES video of two Texas Rangers fans oblivious to a crying kid while they pose with a ball they caught during last night’s game with the Yankees. Luckily, the kid got another ball, but that couple should know to give the ball to the kid. Man alive.

Ty Duffy at the Big Lead looks at Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee using the “bad journalism” claim to hide behind the problems that led to the downfall of former football coach Jim Tressel.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Jeremy Lin’s uniform now outsells Kobe Bryant’s.

Speaking of Darren, he was the guest on the 100th edition of Sports Media Weekly and the podcast is a very good listen if I do say so myself.

Hispanic Business looks at the deal between Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions and Fox Deportes to put more boxing on the network.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about ESPN Radio NY moving to the FM dial as early as next week.

Justin Terranova of the New York Post says ESPN confirms what the Post reported earlier this week.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says ESPN Radio takes over a legendary FM frequency.

Kieran Darcy of ESPN NY writes about the ESPN Radio move.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY also has a story on the ESPN Radio-to-FM flip.

Jerry looks at the ratings for the New York Rangers on MSG Network.

Richard Sandomir from the New York Times talks with ESPN NFL Draft analyst Bill Polian.

Richard writes that the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are a ratings hit thus far.

Broadway World notes that NBC’s Al Michaels was honored by Fordham University with an award named after his idol, Vin Scully.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says a local sports anchor is leaving town next month.

Pete has the dates, but not times for the NHL Stanley Cup Western Conference Semifinals.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says NBC Sports Network will air the IIHF World Hockey Championships next month.

Over to Crossing Broad where it has audio of Phillies radio announcer Larry Anderson yelling at the team to appeal a play.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the last 24 hours have been great for local sports.

Dan writes that the ratings for Caps-Bruins, Game 7 were high, but not quite a record.

Dan has the newspaper front pages from DC and Boston regarding the Caps-Bruins series.

Dan has video of ESPN’s Neil Everett imitating the Caps radio call of the winning goal against the Bruins.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says it will be hard to choose either ESPN or NFL Network to watch for NFL Draft coverage.

Steven Campbell in the Tampa Tribune profiles SportsCenter anchor Sara Walsh who grew up in the local area.

Tim Griffin in the San Antonio Express-News says the NBA’s TV ratings couldn’t be any higher despite the lockout that almost wiped out the season.

David Briggs of the Toledo Blade has highlights of a talk that Fox Sports President Ed Goren gave at Bowling Green University.

In Chicagoland Radio and Media, we learn that Comcast SportsNet and WMAQ-TV will merge their sports staffs continuing what has already occurred between CSN Bay Area and KNTV in San Francisco.

At the new Chicago Sports Media Watch, Paul M. Banks talks with Ed Sherman.

The Reno (NV) Gazette Journal says the Perpetually Angry Doug Gottlieb of ESPN will be in town in July for an event.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the NHL has announced the dates for the Los Angeles-St. Louis series.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders how best to approach the media in a hockey-crazy country.

Sports Media Watch looks at the ramifications if the NFL ends the Pro Bowl.

SMW has some ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes solid ratings for the Devils-Panthers series.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has video of Hawk Harrelson doing what he does best, being a homer on Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

TVSpy has video of a young Jim Nantz working in Salt Lake in a hot tub with Utah Jazz point guard John Stockton among others. Hello!

And that’s going to do it for supersized set of links.

Knocking Out Some Wednesday Linkage

Time for some linkage again.

Starting with Sports Business Daily which gauges media reaction to last night’s extravagant NFL regular season schedule release on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reviews both the Monday Night and expanded Thursday Night Football schedules.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report has your potential hits and misses in the 2012 NFL regular season schedule for all of the league’s TV partners.

Dan Levy of the Bleacher Report talks with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch about Skippy Bayless, ESPN’s free agents and Twitter.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that NBC is now going all in to provide a live online Olympic experience.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today says the NFL Schedule Release Shows on ESPN and NFL Network filled fans’ thirst for football news.

Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press says thanks to a NASCAR-less Sunday, IndyCar’s race on NBC Sports Network got a ratings bump.

Stuart Kemp and George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter says London is hoping to build buzz for the XXX Olympic Summer Games in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable notes the FCC is appealing to the Supreme Court, the ruling from a lower court throwing out its decency complaint over CBS’ airing of Janet Jackson’s nekkid boob during Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Sarah Mahoney of MediaPost’s Marketing Daily says advertisers are jumping on the Olympics 100 Day Countdown.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center writes that cable provider Comcast is proving to be a very good broadcast competitor.

Jason McIntyre of the Big Lead says a lawsuit brought forth by a former ESPN.com writer against New York Post NBA big mouth Peter Vescey has been settled out of court.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid talks with ESPN’s Michelle Beadle about what her next move is.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group notes that NBCOlympics has tapped AT&T to manage private networking systems for the London Summer Games.

Zac Wassink in Yahoo! says MLS on NBC Sports Network is doing decently in the ratings.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe has the local sports radio ratings and CBS Radio continues to be on top.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC will stream all Olympic events live online, but there’s a bit of a catch.

Richard says the NBA is looking at allowing jersey sponsorships.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY notes the passing of a former Yankees, Islanders and Nets radio announcer.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette notes the good ratings for the NHL on NBC.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record has a viewing primer for the upcoming NFL season.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call discusses and dissects NBC’s Sunday Night Football schedule.

Keith says the NHL’s Battle of Pennsylvania is drawing big ratings in the Keystone State.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com’s Goalkeeper blog says a Spanish League soccer game on ESPN2 beat MLS on NBC Sports Network in the ratings last weekend.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has pictorial proof of the Space Shuttle Discovery passing various local sports venues on its last flight to the Smithsonian yesterday.

Tom Robinson at the Virginian-Pilot reports that the United Football League could have a TV contract with CBS Sports Network.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says the Texas Rangers’ ratings on Fox Sports Southwest are way up this season.

Mike Bailey of the Houston Chronicle talks with a local golfer who took part in the upcoming season of Golf Channel’s Big Break reality show.

Mel Bracht in The Oklahoman says a local sports radio show moves from middays to afternoon drive.

Mel has the local weekend TV ratings.

Berry Tremel of The Oklahoman writes that NBC’s Sunday Night Football is the NFL’s premier TV package.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer remembers a former NBA announcer.

Bill Shea at Crain’s Detroit Business says the Tigers are looking at a big payday for their TV rights.

Robert Channick in the Chicago Tribune profiles Comcast SportsNet Chicago head man Jim Corno.

Eric Goodman at Mile High Sports feels he wasted three hours of his life watching ESPN’s NFL regular season schedule release special.

Sarah McLellan of the Arizona Republic says Phoenix Coyotes TV analyst Tyson Nash is feeling the wrath of Chicago Blackhawks fans for comments he made about a hit on ‘Hawks star Marian Hossa.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News mourns the passing of a former Kings radio voice.

Tom Cheredar of Venture Beat talks about NBC’s extensive plans to stream the Olympics online.

Sports Media Watch notes the rise of NHL ratings for a couple of regional sports networks.

SMW talks about CBS passing on broadcasting this upcoming season’s Pro Bowl.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says NBC may air both Bruins-Capitals NHL Playoffs games this weekend.

Joe Favorito says sometimes, it’s a little idea at a major network that could catch fire elsewhere.

And that is all for now.

Some Tuesday Links

Been crazy with the schedules again, but I’m giving you some linkage today because you’re owed some. Let’s get busy.

Sports Business Daily notes the dueling NFL regular season schedule release shows on ESPN and NFL Network today.

Terry Lefton of Sports Business Journal says Comcast wants to replicate the success of its “Xfinity Live!” Philadelphia “mall of sports bars” in other cities.

Jason Fry of the ESPN Poynter Review Project a.k.a., the ESPN Ombudsman reviews the network’s ad-approval process.

Ed Sherman, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business has launched his new sports media website and I’m quite impressed. A couple of links to his site which started this week.

First, Ed talks with the polarizing Skippy Bayless of ESPN.

With tonight’s NFL regular season schedule being unveiled, Ed wonders which network will get Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos debut?

Laura Donovan at the Jane Dough is not a fan of a sexist WFAN ad featuring Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton.

MediaRantz predicts which NFL team will get the most primetime games in 2012.

Congratulations to Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim who at the age of 24 becomes one of the youngest to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. She wins for her coverage of the Jerry Sandusky-Penn State scandal and she continues to report on the story.

Ivey DeJesus at the Patriot-News has the story on Ganim’s well deserved award for her reporting.

And here are pictures in the Patriot-News newsroom the moment Sara was informed that she won the Pulitzer.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Coconut Water is here to stay or will it become a huge bust?

George Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter looks at the BBC and Eurosport putting a portion of their coverage of the London Olympics on the UK’s pay satellite service, BSkyB.

Marc Graser at Variety says Wrestlemania set a pay per view record for the WWE.

Lindsay Rubino at Broadcasting & Cable writes that the NBC Owned Stations group will sell national advertising for four Comcast SportsNet affiliates.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBC Sports Group is winning with the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Kristie Chong-Adler in ESPN’s Front Row blog looks at ESPN.com folding its Page 2 section into a new ESPN the Magazine-fronted portion of the website.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has the video of a new Michael Jordan-themed ESPN promo.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing breaks down one of the funniest and uncomfortable moments in sports television as YES’ Ian Eagle and Mike Fratello seemed to mix it up during last Saturday’s Celtics-Nets game.

However, Ian tells the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman says while the videos have gone viral, it was all in fun between he and the Czar of the Telestrator.

Matt at AA still doesn’t buy the explanation that it was a bit.

Bob’s Blitz notes that WFAN’s ratings took a tumble for the second straight Arbitron ratings period, but ESPN Radio New York failed to take up the slack.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that NBC saw higher ratings for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to airing one more game than last year.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Jim Kaat about the Nationals.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog introduces readers to new MASN Nationals reporter Kristina Akra.

Tony Grossi at ESPN Cleveland and WKNR Radio explains why the Browns flagship TV station had to move the team’s first preseason game to another station (scroll down).

Bonnie Miller Rubin of the Chicago Tribune looks back at being her newspaper’s first “gal” sports reporter in 1973 and how far women sportswriters have advanced since then.

Sports Media Watch notes that Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins will be back on NBC this summer to analyze Olympic basketball, a role he filled in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

To Steve Lepore at Puck The Media who notes that the NHL on NBC Sports Network continues to rack up the ratings.

And Dave Kohl of the Broadcast Booth explores the Sacramento market.

I’ll be out for bit, but be back after 7 p.m. ET for the NFL TV schedules. We’ll analyze them together.

Comcast SportsNet Chicago To Air All Games of Blackhawks-Coyotes

We have the last of our NHL-centric press releases for today. This one from Comcast SportsNet Chicago which outlines the coverage plans for the Chicago Blackhawks-Phoenix Coyotes series.

As NBC decides to ignore the Blackhawks for the first round, it means Comcast SportsNet Chicago can air the entire series. It will have complete local exclusivity meaning that the national telecasts will be blacked out.

Pat Foley and Eddie Olcyzk will call the games except for Games 2 and 5 when studio analyst Steve Konroyd steps in for Edzo. Sarah Kustok will be the rinkside reporter and there will be times when pre and postgame host Chris Boden joins Sarah as game reporter.

Boden and Konroyd host the studio portion of the broadcasts.

Here’s the press release. All times listed below are Central.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ACTION RETURNS TO COMCAST SPORTSNET

First Round Coverage Begins this Thursday, April 12, which includes the debut airing of “Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita – Monuments to Excellence” at 7:00 PM;
VERY first round game vs. Phoenix to Air Exclusively on Comcast SportsNet in the Chicago Market;
CSNChicago.com to provide LIVE video stream of EVERY Blackhawks post-game press conference, plus exclusive behind-the-scenes video from team practices and post-game reports from Blackhawks “Insider” Tracey Myers;
CSN posts the Highest Blackhawks Regular Season TV Ratings average in Chicago regional sports network history

Chicago, IL (April 10, 2012) – Comcast SportsNet, the television home for the most games and most comprehensive coverage of the Chicago Blackhawks, is ready to bring fans the thrilling excitement of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs with exclusive first round Western Conference Playoffs action as the Blackhawks take on the Phoenix Coyotes.  Comcast SportsNet will be the exclusive local television home in the Chicago market to see Games 1-4, along with Games 5-7 (if necessary).  Every Comcast SportsNet Stanley Cup Playoff game telecast will also be presented in a high-definition (HD) format.

Comcast SportsNet’s Blackhawks Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage gets underway this Thursday, April 12 at 7:00 PM with the Comcast SportsNet debut airing of the acclaimed “Blackhawks TV” documentary, Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita – Monuments to Excellence, which will be followed by an encore edition of Inside Look: John McDonough at 8:00 PM.  At 8:30 PM, Comcast SportsNet’s begins its exclusive, local coverage of Game 1 between the Blackhawks and Coyotes with Chevy Blackhawks Pre-Game Live featuring hosts Chris Boden and Steve Konroyd; opening face-off is set for 9:00 PM from the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, AZ.  Immediately following all playoff games – Jose Cuervo Blackhawks Post Game Live will feature live locker room interviews, detailed analysis, along with head coach Joel Quenneville’s post-game press conference and numerous player interviews.

Pat Foley and Eddie Olczyk will continue to provide the expert play-by-play and analysis for Blackhawks Stanley Cup Playoffs action on Comcast SportsNet, plus – Comcast SportsNet’s Sarah Kustok and/or Chris Boden will provide in-stadium reports throughout the first round for all playoff games.  NOTE: Steve Konroyd will fill in as game analyst for Olczyk for Games 2 & 5 (if nec.) of the opening round series.

Throughout the playoffs, viewers can also look forward to SportsNet Central: Playoff Central (scheduled nightly at 10:30 PM, times may vary due to airing of live events) for the most in-depth Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage, including game recaps, previews, up-to-the-minute team/player updates, interviews and numerous playoff highlights from around the league.

Also, throughout the playoffs, Comcast SportsNet’s comprehensive website, CSNChicago.com, will provide fans with even more exclusive Blackhawks Stanley Cup Playoffs content including the following:

• CSNChicago.com will stream EVERY Blackhawks postgame press conference LIVE providing insider access to Coach Joel Quenneville addressing the media as it happens.
• CSNChicago.com Blackhawks “Insider” Tracey Myers will be on-site — for EVERY Blackhawks playoff game — filing stories and video for each game and team practices, plus – Myers will provide up-to-the-second Tweets via @TraMyersCSN throughout the series.
• New-look Blackhawks team page offers latest news, player interviews, highlights, video and more 24/7
• Game highlights available on CSNChicago.com “during” and “following” every game.
• Live, in-game chat sessions featuring Comcast SportsNet Blackhawks on-air talent.
• ‘Blackhawks Talk’ (@BlackhawksTalkCSN) offers news, views and analysis from Myers, Blackhawks Pre/Post Game Live host Chris Boden (@CSNBoden) and Blackhawks analyst Steve Konroyd.
• Additional Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage content sharing/cross-promotion via ChicagoBlackhawks.com, NBCSports.com & ProHockeyTalk.com.

For the 2011-12 “regular season,” Comcast SportsNet posted the highest Blackhawks final regular season TV ratings average in the history of Chicago regional sports television — a 3.11 final household season average (approx. 108,299 households watching per game) — a 12% increase over last season’s 2.78 final average — a 28% increase from the final season average two years ago (2.44) — a 147% increase from three years ago (1.26) — and a 394% increase from four years ago (0.63).

Note the following first round schedule of games and additional coverage information on Comcast SportsNet:

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS vs. PHOENIX COYOTES on COMCAST SPORTSNET

* Game 1: Thu, April 12, 9:00 pm – Blackhawks at Coyotes (Jobing.com Arena) in HD

(NOTES: CSN debut airing on “Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita – Monuments to Excellence” at 7pm, followed by an encore edition of “Inside Look: John McDonough” at 8pm…“Blackhawks Pre-Game Live/Blackhawks Post Game Live” before/after the game, plus “SportsNet Central” immediately following the post-game show for even more comprehensive Blackhawks/NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage)

* Game 2: Sat, April 14, 9:00 pm – Blackhawks at Coyotes (Jobing.com Arena) in HD

(NOTES: “Blackhawks Pre-Game Live/Blackhawks Post Game Live” before and after the game; “SportsNet Central” to follow)

* Game 3: Tue, April 17, 8:00 pm – Blackhawks vs. Coyotes (United Center) in HD

(NOTES: “Blackhawks Pre-Game Live/Blackhawks Post Game Live” before and after the game; “SportsNet Central” to follow)

IMPORTANT CUBS NOTE:  The Cubs at Miami Marlins game (originally scheduled on Comcast SportsNet at 6:00 pm) will now be live on both Comcast SportsNet and CSN+ (or CLTV in the Chicago market) from 6:00-7:30 pm…at 7:30pm, Comcast SportsNet will cut away for “Blackhawks Pre-Game Live” (the Cubs game will continue to be shown on CSN+).

* Game 4: Thu, April 19, 7:00 pm – Blackhawks vs. Coyotes (United Center) in HD

(NOTES: “Blackhawks Pre-Game Live/Blackhawks Post Game Live” before and after the game; “SportsNet Central” to follow)

* Game 5:  Sat, April 21, 9:00 pm – Blackhawks at Coyotes (Jobing.com Arena) (if necessary) in HD

* Game 6: Mon, April 23 (Time TBD) – Blackhawks vs. Coyotes (United Center) (if necessary) in HD

* Game 7:  Wed, April 25 (Time TBD) – Blackhawks at Coyotes (Jobing.com Arena) (if necessary) in HD

That’s it.

Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia Covers Flyers-Penguins

The Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins series has the potential to be a barnburner as these rivals will see each other over the next couple weeks. It all begins tonight at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia offers coverage of the series in the Delaware Valley and will carry as many as five games.

Jim Jackson and Bill Clement will call the games. Michael Barkann will host pre and postgame. He’ll be joined by Steve Coates, Al Morganti, Ian Laperriere and Rick Tocchet.

In addition, CSN Philly will have plenty of other programming surrounding the Flyers playoff run plus features at its website.

Let’s look at the press release.

COMCAST SPORTSNET PHILADELPHIA ANNOUNCES FLYERS FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF ACTION

Live Games, Pre- and Postgame Programs and Online Exclusives Highlight Playoff Coverage
Flyers Game Ratings Increase on Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network

PHILADELPHIA (April 10, 2012) – Comcast SportsNet, the leader in local sports news, will have extended coverage of the Philadelphia Flyers on their quest for the 2012 Stanley Cup both on-air and at CSNPhilly.com. In addition to live game coverage, Comcast SportsNet will provide viewers with extensive pre and postgame coverage and analysis.

Throughout the playoffs, Flyers fans can catch the latest team developments, game previews and opposing team analysis from Lisa Hillary (@LHillaryCSN) on “Daily News Live,” “SportsNite,” “Flyers Pregame Live,” “Flyers Postgame Live,” and online at CSNPhilly.com. During the 2011-12 season, Flyers games ratings delivered double-digit increases on both Comcast SportsNet and The Comcast Network.

Cup Quest
Comcast SportsNet will air Flyers playoff specials with “Cup Quest.” John Boruk (@JohnBorukCSN) will host and be joined by hockey experts including Tim Panaccio, Bill Clement, Al Morganti and Steve Coates. “Cup Quest” will air throughout the playoffs.

Live Game Coverage
Comcast SportsNet will air five of the possible seven Flyers games during the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, all in high definition. The network will air “Flyers Pregame Live” and “Flyers Postgame Live” for all games, including nationally broadcast games.

Wednesday, April 11 – Game One
5 p.m. — Daily News Live
6 p.m. –SportsNite
6:30 p.m. — Flyers Pregame Live
7:30 p.m. — Flyers at Penguins
10 p.m. — Flyers Postgame Live
10:30 p.m. –SportsNite
1 a.m. — SportsRise

*** Sixers vs. Raptors will air live on The Comcast Network at 7 p.m.
*** Phillies vs. Miami will air live on WPHL at 7 p.m.

Friday, April 13 – Game Two
5 p.m. — Daily News Live
6 p.m. — SportsNite
6:30 p.m. — Flyers Pregame Live
7:30 p.m. — Flyers at Penguins
10 p.m. — Flyers Postgame Live
10:30 p.m. — SportsNite
1 a.m. — SportsRise

*** Sixers vs. Nets will air live on The Comcast Network at 7 p.m.
*** Phillies vs. Mets will air live on WPHL at 7 p.m.

Sunday, April 15 – Game Three
2 p.m. — Flyers Pregame Live
3 p.m. — Flyers vs. Penguins live on NBC
5:30 p.m. — Flyers Postgame Live
6 p.m. — SportsNite
10 p.m. — SportsNite

Wednesday, April 18  – Game Four
5 p.m. — Daily News Live
6 p.m. — SportsNite
6:30 p.m. — Flyers Pregame Live
7:30 p.m. — Flyers vs. Penguins
10 p.m. — Flyers Postgame Live
10:30 p.m. — SportsNite
1 a.m. — SportsRise

***Sixers vs. Cavaliers will air live on The Comcast Network at 7 p.m.
***Phillies at Giants will air live on The Comcast Network at 10 p.m.

Friday, April 20 – Game Five (if necessary)
5 p.m. — Daily News Live
6 p.m. — SportsNite
6:30 p.m. — Flyers Pregame Live
7:30 p.m. — Flyers at Penguins
10 p.m. — Flyers Postgame Live
10:30 p.m. — SportsNite
1 a.m. — SportsRise

*** Phillies vs. Padres will air live on The Comcast Network at 10 p.m.

Sunday, April 24 – Game Six (if necessary)
TBD — Flyers vs. Penguins

Tuesday, April 26 – Game Seven (if necessary)
TBD — Flyers at Penguins

Pre- and Postgame Coverage
In addition to live game coverage, Comcast SportsNet delivers pre and postgame coverage and analysis. Before every Flyers playoff game, viewers can catch the latest team developments, game previews and opposing team analysis on “Flyers Pregame Live.”

After every playoff game, fans get a game breakdown with stats and highlights, and a look ahead to the rest of the series on “Flyers Postgame Live.” Other features include coach Peter Laviolette’s press conference and reaction from the locker room. “Flyers Pregame Live” and “Flyers Postgame Live” are hosted by Michael Barkann (@mikencueCSN) with analysis provided by Steve Coates, Al Morganti, Ian Laperriere and Rick Tocchet.

“Flyers Pregame Live” will broadcast live from the Wells Fargo Center for all Flyers home playoff games. Viewers will also hear from fans watching the games for all home and away games throughout the playoffs.

Digital/Social Media
CSNPhilly.com’s Flyers Insider Tim Panaccio (@TpanotchCSN) will have daily coverage of the Flyers playoffs, including breaking news, game previews and key matchups with extensive video and in-depth features. He will also provide live reports for “Daily News Live” and “SportsNite.” CSNPhilly.com columnist John Gonzalez (@GonzoCSN) and feature writer Sarah Baicker(@SBaickerCSN) will also contribute to the site throughout the playoffs.

CSNPhilly.com will also host special playoff editions of “Dropping the Gloves” with John Boruk and Tim Panaccio, as well as “Flyered Up” with Sarah Baicker. Fans can join the conversation by using the hashtag #FlyersTalk.

Ratings Increases
Flyers games averaged a 3.3 HH rating on Comcast SportsNet and a 2.2 HH rating on The Comcast Network during the 2011-12 season, a 38% and 10% increase respectively over the 2010-11 season. “Flyers Pregame Live” increased 60% on Comcast SportsNet with “Flyers Postgame Live” also posting increases of 17% over last season.

And that’s it for this post. Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s coverage plans of the Blackhawks are next.

CSN Mid-Atlantic All Over B’s-Caps

As mentioned in the previous post, the Boston Bruins-Washington Capitals series starts on Thursday. We had NESN’s press release and now let’s take a look at the other regional sports network that will cover the series.

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will offer comprehensive coverage of B’s-Caps starting on Thursday. Like NESN, CSN Mid-Atlantic will have the rights to show as many as five games in the DC-Baltimore area. NBC will show at least one of the games in the series and possibly two if it goes beyond four.

Joe Beninati will call the action. Craig Laughlin will join him in the booth at the TD Garden and Verizon Center. Al Koken will be at rinkside.

Rob Carlin and Al Koken will rotate as hosts of Capitals Central and Capitals Postgame Live. Alan May will be the studio analyst and Jill Sorenson will be the reporter for both shows.

Here’s the CSN Mid-Atlantic press release.

COMCAST SPORTSNET ANNOUNCES COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE OF CAPITALS-BRUINS EASTERN CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS

NETWORK TO PROVIDE UP TO FIVE LIVE GAMES AND EXTENSIVE NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION THROUGHOUT FIRST-ROUND SERIES

Bethesda, Md. (April 9, 2012) -– Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic has announced its comprehensive multiplatform coverage of the Washington Capitals’ best-of-seven series against the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. The network’s opening-round coverage is highlighted by up to five live games that will air exclusively on Comcast SportsNet throughout the Washington/Baltimore region, extensive pregame and postgame shows and comprehensive multiplatform news, analysis and opinion throughout the series.

Comcast SportsNet’s schedule of live coverage of the Capitals’ first-round series begins with Game 1 at Boston on Thursday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. and continues with Game 3 at Washington on April 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Game 4 at Washington on April 19 at 7:30 p.m. NBC will present exclusive national coverage of Game 2 on April 14 at 3 p.m. and, if necessary, Game 5 on April 21 at 3 p.m. Game time and television information for Game 6 on April 22 and Game 7 on April 25, if necessary, will be announced at a later time. Emmy Award-winning play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati, analyst Craig Laughlin and reporter Al Koken continue to lead the network’s live-game coverage in the postseason.

Comcast SportsNet will also deliver extensive pregame and postgame coverage surrounding the Capitals’ first-round series. The network will present Capitals Central, the half-hour pregame show, immediately prior to all games on Comcast SportsNet. Capitals Postgame Live will follow all seven possible first-round games, regardless of which network airs the game. These shows – which are hosted alternately by Rob Carlin (home games) and Al Koken (road games) – feature analysis from Alan May and reporting from Capitals television beat reporter Jill Sorenson.

SportsNet Central, the network’s daily news show, will offer expanded playoff coverage every night throughout the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Prior to weeknight match-ups in the first-round, special hour-long editions of SportsNet Central will deliver full pregame news and interviews beginning at 6 p.m. Complete coverage will continue on multiple editions of SportsNet Central following each game. In addition, SportsTalk Live with Brian Mitchell and Ivan Carter, the network’s daily entertainment show, will provide opinion and debate throughout the Capitals playoffs.

Comcast SportsNet’s digital properties, highlighted by CSNwashington.com, will continue to provide extensive online coverage of the Capitals throughout the playoffs. Led by Capitals Insider Chuck Gormley, Comcast SportsNet will offer complete online news, analysis and opinion from the network’s stable of hockey experts. In addition to the comprehensive written, video and interactive content, CSNwashington.com will feature ‘In-Game Live,’ the real-time statistics and information platform, during all Capitals post-season games.

The Capitals’ 2011 opening-round series against the N.Y. Rangers was the highest-rated Capitals playoff series in Comcast SportsNet history, posting an average household rating of 5.72 in the Washington DMA in three games. The series also posted a 2.57 average household rating in the Baltimore DMA.

Capitals-Bruins 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Regional TV Schedule

Thursday, April 12
7:00 p.m. — Capitals Central
7:30 p.m. – Washington at Boston
10:00 p.m. — Capitals Postgame Live

Saturday, April 14
3:00 p.m. — Washington at Boston, NBC
5:30 p.m. — Capitals Postgame Live

Monday, April 16
7:00 p.m. — Capitals Central
7:30 p.m. – Boston at Washington
10:00 p.m. — Capitals Postgame Live

Thursday, April 19
7:00 p.m. — Capitals Central
7:30 p.m. – Boston at Washington
10:00 p.m. — Capitals Postgame Live

Saturday, April 21*
3 p.m. — Washington at Boston, NBC
5:30 p.m. — Capitals Postgame Live

Sunday, April 22*
TBD — Boston at Washington
TBD — Capitals Postgame Live

Wednesday, April 25*
TBD — Washington at Boston
TBD – Capitals Postgame Live

*If necessary.

NBC Sports Network is scheduled to provide coverage of Games 1, 3 and 4 of the Capitals-Bruins first-round series, but it is non-exclusive and will be blacked-out in the Washington/Baltimore area. Those games will be available to regional viewers exclusively on Comcast SportsNet. Games 2 and 5, if necessary, will be exclusive to NBC and Games 6 and 7 are to be determined (TBD.)

And we’ll offer Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia’s press release on the Flyers series against Pittsburgh Penguins next.

Bringing Out Some Tuesday Linkage

Let’s do linkage again. Trying to get this done as I have several errands to run in the afternoon.

At Multichannel News, Mike Reynolds says Fox Sports is eying several sports properties which are coming up for grabs as potential programming for a cable channel which would challenge ESPN.

Mike talks with the President of New York regional sports network SNY about what he’s looking for in 2012.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today discusses the lower ratings for The Masters^®.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter goes in-depth on Fox Sports taking over Saturday nights in 2012.

Tim Nudd of Adweek looks at New Era’s sequel to last year’s funny Yankees-Red Sox ads with a new batch for the Cubs-White Sox rivalry.

Mike Shields from Adweek explores how ESPN tries to get fans use its sites as “second screens” while they watch sports on other networks in real time.

David Goetzl at MediaPost notes that ESPN’s public relations blog has now added podcasts.

Also from MediaPost, Wayne Friedman talks about the NCAA Tournament being one of TV’s biggest social media activities.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life says while Bubba Watson brought excitement to The Masters^®, it didn’t translate in the ratings.

To Forbes where Trefis Team analyzes what a Fox Sports cable network would mean for parent company News Corp’s stock price.

Also from Forbes, Tom Van Riper looks at the commitment NBC Sports Group is assembling for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Fox Sports reports that NFL Network is unlikely to bring back Warren Sapp. He just recently filed for bankruptcy.

SportsbyBrooks notes that ESPN’s Skippy Bayless lied about his high school basketball career.

The Lost Ogle which looked into Bayless’ claims about his high school basketball career has an extensive post unearthing Daily Oklahoman stories and box scores. Great stuff.

Sports Video Group looks at one company that will stream the Olympics all over the world.

Evan Silva from Pro Football Talk says based on the success of Super Bowl XLVI, Indianapolis plans to make another run at hosting another Big Game.

Amy K. Nelson has the Miami Marlins statement suspending manager Ozzie Guillen for his comments in Time regarding Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has Magic Johnson talking about the exorbitant sales price for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Darren notes that incoming NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III has signed an endorsement deal with Castrol?

Alex Weprin of TV Newser has a video tour of MLB Network’s New Jersey studios.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says MLB will unveil its version of the Red Zone Channel tonight on three satellite and cable providers.

Laura Nachman notes that a former Philadelphia Phillie joins a local sports radio station for the 2012 season.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg says a local sports radio host continues to fan the Crosby vs. Ovechkin flames.

Lisa De Moraes says “Cops” is the victim of Fox giving Saturday primetime to its sports division.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson says embattled sports radio host Sid Rosenberg has been suspended. Again.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Time Warner Cable subscribers won’t have access to three Astros games on Fox Sports Net.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says Wednesday’s Reds game will be picked up by MLB Network.

Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago reports that a local sports radio host returned to work this week after being out due to health issues.

Sports Media Watch says Fox is reaching back to the old Baseball Network for “Baseball Night in America.”

At Awful Announcing, Ben Koo wishes there would be more synergy between NBC and the Comcast SportsNet regional networks.

To the Bleacher Report where Jim Williams asks which network offers the best MLB announcers?

That’s going to do it.

Ron Burgundy on The Dan Patrick Show

It’s only been eight years since we last saw Ron Burgundy and the Channel 4 Evening News team. Well, on Wednesday, Ron showed up on TBS’ Conan to announce that indeed, a sequel to Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy will be produced. Let me say that it’s about time. Anchorman was one of the first comedy classics in the 21st Century and remains revered by fans today.

Ron’s appearance on Conan has been embedded all over the place, but since I haven’t been able to update the site as much as I’d like this week, let’s post it here as well.

Truly a very funny appearance. And to top it off, Burgundy called in to the Dan Patrick Show and we have that appearance thanks to Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Ron tells us that he was originally against a sequel, but thanks to a lot of money, he was all in.

That’s it.

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

This week has been hellish for me and I apologize for not being able to post as much as I would like. I’ve been away from my computer for most of the day and by the time I get home, I’m tired and don’t want to update the blog.

Well, with me already done my errands for today, I’ll give you some linkage that has been seriously lacking this week.

Of course, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks which you can peruse.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jim Rome is hoping to make a splash as he prepares to launch his new daily show on CBS Sports Network.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On! blog says perpetually angry ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb is throwing his hat into the Kansas State coaching ring.

The Associated Press was on hand to witness Root Sports Northwest’s production of the Seattle Mariners-Oakland A’s regular season openers in Japan without actually traveling to the Far East.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim has more thoughts on the numerous conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has Fox Sports’ statement on its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable over Fox Sports San Diego.

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Around the Rings has the press release regarding the European Broadcasting Union obtaining the rights to the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute says college basketball analyst Bob Knight should not be allowed to live by his own rules when he’s on TV.

Scott Soshnick and Steven Church of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Los Angeles Dodgers sale was sparked by media rights.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says former Sony Pictures head Peter Gruber who’s part of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group could bring a new attitude towards marketing the team.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calling rights fees for college football are undervalued.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NESN National is being launched in Indianapolis.

Tim Nudd at Adweek says Chrysler is unveiling four new follow ups to its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spots during various events this weekend including the NCAA Final Four and Mad Men.

Adweek’s Mike Shields writes ESPN.com is partaking in Facebook’s Open Graph, but with some restrictions.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age notes that CBS/Turner brought in its highest sales revenue ever for March Madness Live.

Ronnie Ramos at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says March Madness has been enhanced by social media and the digital experience.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing cast the upcoming Anchorman sequel using ESPN’ers. This is good.

Ben Koo at AA is not a huge fan of the overhead shots employed by CBS/Turner for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Los Angeles Times feels there’s one person who could spoil the new ownership for the Dodgers.

Ahmed Yussuf at EPL Talk gives a first-hand account of following the English Premier League from Australia.

Sports Media Watch says last weekend’s rain-shortened NASCAR on Fox event did not do well in the ratings.

Joe Favorito asks if ‘The Hunger Games” could give archery a boost in time for this summer’s Olympics.

Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead reports that Joe Posnanski is leaving Sports Illustrated.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says the potential Fox cable sports network may not knock down ESPN, but could give it a run for its money.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about two rival Hollywood agencies representing Tim Tebow simultaneously.

Bob’s Blitz says WFAN’s Craig Carton browbeat former Tiger Woods swing coach Hank Haney to the point where he hung up.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says CBS returns to New Orleans where it began its Final Four journey 30 years ago.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says ESPN MLB analyst Curt Schilling is facing hypocrisy calls after he criticized his former Red Sox team this week.

Chad adds some thoughts on Schilling and on NESN’s Jenny Dell that didn’t make his column.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes in SB Nation that a Tiger Woods in contention is good for The Masters^® and its TV partners.

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reviews this year’s edition of the MLB At-Bat app.

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

Anthony Riemer of Newsday looks at Jeremy Lin’s lunch with the sacked ESPN.com editor who unwittingly made a racial slur last month.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson should not be advocating violence. I don’t think he did, Phil, but continue to hate everything, ok?

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Tennessee and current Sirius XM analyst Bruce Pearl on the Final Four.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has the ESPN MAC football schedule.

Pete has CBS excited about this year’s Final Four.

Jane Kwiatkowski of the Buffalo News says this is a tough time for the local TV sportscast.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at a local PBS documentary on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready for Phillies baseball.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” gave another of many Capitals references.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Mitch “Wildi Thing” Williams.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Houston Open should be helped by a lot of interesting storylines.

David says Jim Rome is getting ready for his CBS Sports Network closeup.

David writes that Texans running back Arian Foster is taking his show to the team’s radio flagship station.

In The Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has ESPN’s MLB analysts predicting the upcoming season.

Mel says there will be plenty of baseball available in the Oklahoma City market.

Mel reports a local radio station has flipped to being a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel writes that a local radio sports director has been laid off thanks to Clear Channel.

Midwest

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says New Orleans has provided CBS with plenty of Final Four excitement.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local TV station plans to ride the Kentucky train for as long as possible.

John says a couple of long-time local radio veterans got the ax due to Clear Channel cost cutting.

John writes that a radio documentary on late Cincinnati Reds voice Waite Hoyt airs this weekend.

The Indianapolis Star says Butler coach Brad Stevens will be a guest analyst for CBS on the Final Four.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the Brewers have extended their radio rights deal with their long-time flagship station.

Bob says a local sportscaster is back to work after a long illness.

Bob tells us that Marquette coach Buzz Williams will also be a guest analyst on CBS this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that CBS loves New Orleans at Final Four time.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 20 Cardinals games won’t be seen by AT&T U-Verse subscribers this season.

Dan writes that the defending champions Cardinals will be in the national spotlight quite a few times this season.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Fox Sports San Diego is not optimistic of getting a deal with two cable providers in time for Padres opening day.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has ESPN’s MLB analysts praising Magic Johnson’s presence with the Dodgers.

Jim was surprised that Kentucky-Louisville wasn’t the nightcap for the Final Four.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans are enjoying having guest analysts on radio broadcasts this season.

Tom talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

The usually uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports appears to be rudderless as it heads into a new NHL negotiation.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the viewership numbers for Canadian sports television from last week.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Ringing In Some Monday Linkage

Let’s do our Monday linkage today.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today writes that CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg will have a big “get” during halftime of Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament First Four game.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says MSG Network has a new show dedicated to the best and worst baseball trades and deals.

Mike says YES Network’s national feed will be seen by California cable subscribers for the first time.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age looks at SB Nation’s foray into producing original content for YouTube with former ESPN’ers Bomani Jones and Amy K. Nelson.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine says the NCAA Tournament can be a sports marketer’s dream.

Kevin Wagstaff of Time Magazine says YouTube will be the official video player for NBCOlympics.com, however, don’t expect to see live Olympics on the video streaming service.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead spent a day following ESPN’s Jay Bilas at the Big East Tournament.

Ty Duffy of The Big Lead wonders if NBC’s entrance into MLS will help to grow soccer in America.

Timothy Burke of Deadspin has the funny video of ESPN’s Dick Vitale being Dick Vitale during last night’s Bracketology show.

Ken Belson of the New York Times describes the Mets first-ever radio broadcast which included the late Howard Cosell as pregame host.

Michael O’Keefe of the New York Daily News talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury who has been battling depression and hoping to make a TV comeback bid. The story never mentions Salisbury’s MTV2 gig with the Lingerie Football League.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post writes that TV continues to ignore athletes’ bad behavior.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has the tip times for the FIRST FOUR and 2nd Round games of the NCAA Tournament.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes that the voices of the Philadelphia Phillies’ minor league affiliate get their call to the big club this week.

Bob Rossi in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says NBC will go all out for the NHL Playoffs this spring.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television and I find that I disagree with a couple of his points.

Richard Connelly of the Houston Press says the new Comcast SportsNet Houston plans to build studios that will allow for a Today Show-like atmosphere outdoors.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says former Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer is in talks to have a movie based on his interesting life.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says there wasn’t much anger directed at the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee this year from the TV analysts.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Dan McLaughlin returned to Fox Sports Midwest Sunday after a long suspension over his drunk driving arrests.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says Peyton Manning’s visit to the Mile High City gave the local media plenty to talk about over the weekend.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times had a chance to tour Jon Gruden’s offices as he prepared to host several incoming NFL quarterbacks for his ESPN shows this Spring.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about rebranding the conference.

Tom also has his sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that the Canadian NHL clubs want some changes in CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Bruce also looks at the coverage of the death of Canadian skier Nik Zoricic over the weekend.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says when Don Cherry leaves Hockey Night in Canada, he will be sorely missed.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on Fox lost a million viewers for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the previous year.

Paul Kennedy at SoccerAmerica feels NBC Sports Network did well in its MLS debut.

SoccerNation says NBC has tapped a well-known composer to produce its MLS theme music.

And that’s going to do it for now.

Some Selection Sunday Sports Media Thoughts

On this NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday, it’s time to present some sports media thoughts and as usual, they come in bullet form.

• With college basketball’s conference tournaments wrapping up and we get ready for three awesome weeks of the NCAA Tournament, ESPN’s coverage of Championship Week (11 days in reality) has been nothing short of stellar. Whether it be the mid-major tournaments or the BCS conferences, for the most part, the production of the games has been clean, and the transitions from game to game have been quite good. Some of the announcing on the mid-major tournaments have been lacking, but overall, it’s been good. I wish CBS/Turner could bring over the Big East team of Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery as one of its crews. Sean and Jay have worked for CBS in the past and Raft currently works with Uncle Verne Lundquist on the Tournament, but I feel Sean, Jay and Raft give ESPN its best college basketball team.

  The studio with Rece Davis leading as the main host along with Karl Ravech and Ryan Burr have done well. I like Hubert Davis as one of the studio analysts, but Digger Phelps has been grating on me in recent years.

  But overall, I give ESPN an A for its Championship Week coverage. College basketball is one of the sports that the Alleged Worldwide Leader does well from beginning to end.

• With CBS/Turner taking over the main college basketball stage starting on Tuesday, it means Jim Nantz will be the lead announcer once again. Up until Saturday when he called the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, he had only called one regular season game this season. In recent years, Nantz has called one regular season college basketball game. Granted, he’s busy in December and January calling the NFL and he also does the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing in February. But is it necessary to sacrifice college basketball in the process? I’ve gotten on Joe Buck for calling half of the MLB on Fox schedule, but in Nantz’s case, it’s even less.

  I think it’s time for CBS to name either Kevin Harlan or Ian Eagle as the #1 college basketball play-by-play man or have Jim Nantz commit to more games. CBS can contend that by the time the NCAA Tournament ends, Nantz will have called 12 games, but that’s not good enough.

  If ESPN had the tournament, it would have Dan Shulman as the lead and he would have called over 20 regular season games along with the ACC Tournament. That’s what the lead announcer should do, call a full slate of regular season games, not just one. Just as I do with Joe Buck on Fox’s MLB schedule, I will keep track of how many regular season college basketball games Jim Nantz calls for CBS.

• Lastly, I want to give shoutouts to two Friends of Fang’s Bites for work over the last two days. Jen Royle made her first appearance on Comcast SportsNet New England’s Sports Tonight program on Friday night. She discussed baseball with co-hosts Michael Holley and Lou Merloni. I thought she did a very good job and looked comfortable on the air. Here’s hoping for more appearances on CSN for Jen. And CSN should not have Merloni co-host. Brutal.

  On Saturday, Courtney Fallon had the rare extended local sports segment on WLNE (ABC6) in Providence, a whopping six and a half minutes. And she used the time wisely focusing on the RI high school championship hockey and basketball games. This is the way local sports can differentiate itself from ESPN and not lose time by keeping hyperlocal and finding compelling stories. Courtney did a bang up job in her segment.

Just three topics for Sunday. I hope you’ve turned your clocks ahead one hour. Back later tonight with NCAA Tournament announcing assignments.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks Again

Linkage has been scarce around the site this week, but I should be able to get a good set of megalinks in today as we head into NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday. You deserve the links and I thank you for your patience around some server problems this week.

As usual, you can check the Weekend Viewing Picks for all weekend sports and entertainment recommendations.

Let’s get to the linkage.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today profiles ESPN’s bracketologist Joe Lunardi who got a big endorsement from Louisville’s Rick Pitino this week.

Erik Spanberg at Sports Business Journal looks at Major League Soccer hoping for big returns from its new contract with NBC Sports.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch explores NBC’s new approach to airing soccer and reviews ESPN’s new documentary on Magic Johnson.

Karen Hogan at Sports Video Group looks at ESPN’s innovative plans for MLS games this season.

Lindsay Flans of the Hollywood Reporter says A-List celebrities have caught Linsanity fever.

And the Reporter provides a seating chart of where celebrities sit at Madison Square Garden to get a glimpse of Jeremy Lin.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Michael Bradley feels the mid-major conferences sacrifice regular season integrity in exchange for TV exposure with their post-season tournaments.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is recovering after his alma mater, Northwestern, played its way out of the NCAA Tournament this week.

Joe Favorito says even in this day and age, the little guy can make a splash in sports marketing.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

SMW notes that NBC Sports will replace the departed Wimbledon with the Tour de France this summer.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says ESPN Films is suffering from an identity crisis.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC’s innovation in hockey production is now extending to the soccer pitch.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth isn’t a fan of speculation.

At Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog, Dan Devine says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made a gay joke at Bill Simmons’ expense with him present.

Erik Malinowski of Deadspin says Cuban has apologized for making that remark.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn looks at CBS/Turner’s plans for the NCAA Tournament.

Chad notes that a prodigal son is returning to WEEI this weekend.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen at SB Nation Boston says the Boston Herald will miss Patriots beat reporter Ian Rapoport as he departs for NFL Network.

George Cain at Sports of Boston compares and contrasts the two sports radio stations ratings.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette says different generations watch sports differently.

Paul Devlin of the New Canaan (CT) Patch talks with ESPN High Grand Poobah of News Vince Doria.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks with Magic Johnson about ESPN’s documentary on his HIV announcement 20 years ago.

Neil notes the opening of a new Broadway play on the rivalry between Magic and former Boston Celtics star Larry Bird.

Neil says it’s time for our annual search to find truTV for the NCAA Tournament.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after the “gang mentality” in football.

The Post’s Justin Terranova has five questions for NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY notes that MSG Network is about to unveil a new baseball-centric show.

Chris Boyle at the Merrick (NY) Patch says two alumna of a local high school, now ESPN personalities, made a visit to their old stomping grounds.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that Buffalo Sabres games are back on MSG after a technical glitch prevented fans from seeing their games for two weeks.

Pete talks with Uncle Verne Lundquist of CBS who’s going into his 49th year of broadcasting.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record says a local man has been chosen to take part in this year’s MLB Fan Cave.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who says he’ll miss working with Ron Jaworski every Monday Night.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner speaks with tennis Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Chris Evert.

South

Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer says for the first time, viewers in the ACC footprint can see ESPN’s coverage of the ACC Tournament.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald likes watching the ESPN/ABC NBA studio show.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that Comcast SportsNet Houston is getting ready for its fall launch.

And David expands on his column on CSN Houston in his blog.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman has a few Sooner State sports media news and notes.

Midwest

Jeff Moss at Detroit Sports Rag has a field of 64 to decide the Worst Detroit Sports Media Personality.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says CBS and Turner are enjoying their NCAA Tournament partnership.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviews the one week experiment of Joe Buck and Tim McKernan co-hosting a radio show that could turn into something bigger down the road.

Dan says don’t expect too many changes for this year’s NCAA Tournament coverage on CBS and Turner Sports.

West

John Maffei at the North County Times writes that if NCAA Tournament coverage ain’t broke, then CBS and Turner aren’t going to fix it.

John says Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch any day now, provided MLB approves the Padres’ deal to air games on the network.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star says the success of the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament consortium surprised officials at both companies.

Jim says Peyton Manning’s former coach, Tony Dungy now of NBC, feels San Francisco would be a good fit for him.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Magic Johnson’s life-changing announcement, 20 years later.

Tom explores how Time Warner Cable will present LA Galaxy games while it’s still in the process of launching its new SoCal regional sports network.

Tom has a few items that didn’t make his weekly media column.

Percy Allen of the Seattle Times notes that ESPN will air next year’s Pac-12 Basketball Championship Game.

Canada

Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star says CBC’s Don Cherry and Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke are acting like a couple of spoiled divas in their public spat.

And that’s going to do it for today. Enjoy your sports weekend.

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 03/03 & 03/04/12, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule courtesy of Matt’s College Sports

Saturday, March 3

Men’s Schedule

College GameDay live from Durham, NC — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Atlantic Sun Championship, Macon, GA
Belmont vs. Florida Gulf Coast — ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Big South Championship, Asheville, NC
VMI vs. UNC-Asheville — ESPN, noon

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, Richmond, VA
Quarterfinals
Drexel vs. UNC-Wilmington — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic & New England)/The Comcast Network, noon
Old Dominion vs. Delaware — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic Plus & New England)/The Comcast Network, 2:30 p.m.
VCU vs. William & Mary — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic Plus & New England)/CSS/The Comcast Network, 6 p.m.
George Mason vs. Georgia State — Comcast SportsNet (Mid-Atlantic Plus & New England)/The Comcast Network, 8:30 p.m.

Horizon League Tournament, Valparaiso, IN
Semifinals
Detroit vs. Cleveland State — ESPN3, 6 p.m.
Butler vs. Valparaiso — ESPNU, 8:30 p.m.

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, St. Louis, MO
Semifinals
Wichita State vs. Illinois State — Fox College Sports Central/Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest, 2:30 p.m.
Creighton vs. Evansville — Fox College Sports Central/Comcast SportsNet Chicago/Fox Sports Midwest, 5 p.m.

Ohio Valley Conference Championship, Nashville, TN
Murray State vs. Tennessee State — ESPN2, 2 p.m.

Patriot League Tournament (Home Sites)
Semifinals
Lafayette at Bucknell — CBS Sports Network, 2 p.m.
American at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network, 4:30 p.m.

Summit League Tournament, Sioux Falls, SD
Quarterfinals
Oral Roberts vs. IPFW — Fox College Sports Central, 7 p.m.
South Dakota State vs. IUPUI — Fox College Sports Central, 9:30 p.m.

West Coast Conference Tournament, Las Vegas, NV
Semifinals
San Francisco vs. St. Mary’s — ESPN2, 9 p.m.
BYU vs. Gonzaga — ESPN2, 11:30 p.m.

noon
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech — ACC Network
West Virginia at South Florida — Big East Network: Bright House/MASN/MSG Network/Root Sports Pittsburgh
Memphis at Tulsa — CBS
George Washington at Dayton — CBS Sports Network
Pittsburgh at UConn — ESPN

12:30 p.m.
Nebraska at Minnesota — Big Ten Network

1:30 p.m.
Oklahoma State at Kansas State — Big 12 Network
South Carolina at Georgia — SEC Network

2 p.m. 
Charlotte at Xavier — A-10 Network: Fox Sports Ohio
Georgetown at Marquette — Big East Network: MASN/SNY
LSU at Auburn — CBS
Washington at UCLA — CBS
Cincinnati at Villanova — ESPN
Southern Mississippi at Marshall — Fox Sports Net (national)

2:30 p.m.
Boston College at Miami — ACC Network
Northwestern at Iowa — Big Ten Network

4 p.m.
URI at UMass — A-10 Network: Comcast SportsNet (New England & Philadelphia)/CSS
Missouri at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network
Texas A&M at Oklahoma — Big 12 Network
Louisville at Syracuse — CBS
Vanderbilt at Tennessee — ESPN
Colorado at Oregon State — Fox Sports Net (national)
Boise State at New Mexico — NBC Sports Network
Alabama at Mississippi — SEC Network
Colorado State at Air Force — the mtn.

5 p.m.
Arkansas at Mississippi State — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports South/Sun Sports

6 p.m.
Seton Hall at DePaul — Big East Network: Altitude/MASN/MSG Network

7 p.m.
North Carolina at Duke — ESPN
San Diego State at TCU — the mtn.

8 p.m.
St. John’s at Rutgers — Big East Network: MASN/MSG Network

9 p.m.
Texas at Kansas — ESPN

10 p.m.
Wyoming at UNLV

Women’s Schedule

ACC Tournament, Greensboro, NC
Semifinals
Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina State — ESPNU, 11 a.m.
Maryland vs. Wake Forest — ESPNU, 1:30 p.m.

Big Ten Tournament, Indianapolis, IN
Semifinals
Ohio State vs. Nebraska — Big Ten Network, 5 p.m.
Penn State vs. Purdue — Big Ten Network, 7:30 p.m.

SEC Tournament, Nashville, TN
Semifinals
Kentucky vs. LSU — ESPNU, 4 p.m.
Tennessee vs. South Carolina — ESPNU, 6:30 p.m.

noon
Iowa State at Baylor — Fox Sports Net (national)

Sunday, March 4

Men’s Schedule

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament, Richmond, VA
Semifinals
Drexel vs. Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/CSS/The Comcast Network, 2 p.m.
VCU vs. George Mason — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus/CSS/The Comcast Network, 4:30 p.m.

Missouri Valley Championship, St. Louis, MO
Creighton vs. Illinois State — CBS, 2 p.m.

Northeast Conference Tournament (Home Sites)
Semifinals
Robert Morris vs. Wagner — Fox College Sports Atlantic/MSG Network, noon
Quinnipiac vs LIU — Fox College Sports Atlantic/MSG Network, 6 p.m.

Summit League Tournament, Sioux Falls, SD
Quarterfinals
Western Illinois vs. North Dakota State — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Detroit, 7 p.m.
Oakland vs. Southern Utah — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Detroit, 9:30 p.m.

noon
Kentucky at Florida — CBS
Clemson at Florida State — ESPN2

1 p.m.
Illinois at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network
Michigan at Penn State — ESPN

2 p.m.
Virginia at Maryland — ACC Network

3:30 p.m.
Arizona at Arizona State — Fox Sports Net (national)

4 p.m.
Ohio State at Michigan State — CBS

5:30 p.m.
Cal at Stanford — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Purdue at Michigan — Big Ten Network
North Carolina State at Virginia Tech — ESPNU

Women’s Schedule

ACC Championship, Greensboro, NC
Maryland vs. Georgia Tech — ESPN2, 2 p.m.

Atlantic 10 Tournament, Philadelphia, PA
Semifinals
St. Bonaventure vs. St. Joseph’s — CBS Sports Network, noon
Temple vs. Dayton — CBS Sports Network, 2:30 p.m.

Big East Tournament, Hartford, CT
Quarterfinals
Georgetown vs. West Virginia — ESPNU, noon
Notre Dame vs. DePaul — ESPNU, 2:30 p.m.
St. John’s vs. Louisville — Big East Network: SNY, 6 p.m.
UConn vs. Rutgers — ESPNU, 8:30 p.m.

Big Ten Championship, Indianapolis, IN
Nebraska vs. Purdue — ESPN2, 4 p.m.

SEC Championship, Nashville, TN
LSU vs. Tennessee — ESPN2, 6 p.m.

1 p.m.
Texas A&M at Texas — Fox Sports Net (national)

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/25 & 02/26, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports on TV

Saturday, February 25

College GameDay live from Storrs, CT — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m./ESPN, 8 p.m.

11 a.m.
Robert Morris at Quinnipiac — ESPNU

noon
Virginia Tech at Duke — ACC Network
Vanderbilt at Kentucky — CBS
Northeastern at Delaware — Comcast SportsNet New England/CSS/The Comcast Network
Notre Dame at St. John’s — ESPN2

Women’s: DePaul at Louisville — Big East Network: MASN/SNY

1 p.m.
Boston College at Wake Forest — Fox Sports Net: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports West/NESN
LaSalle at Fordham — YES

1:30 p.m.
Iowa State at Kansas State — Big 12 Network
Oklahoma at Baylor — Big 12 Network
Drake at Wichita State — Fox College Sports Central/Comcast SportsNet Chicago Plus/Fox Sports Midwest
LSU at Mississippi — SEC Network

2 p.m.
St. Louis at URI — A-10 Network: Comcast SportsNet New England/Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia/Cox Sports RI
UCLA at Arizona — CBS
Villanova at Georgetown — CBS
Texas A&M at Oklahoma State — ESPN2
Boise State at Wyoming — the mtn.

2:30 p.m.
Maryland at Georgia Tech — ACC Network
NC State at Clemson — ACC Network

3 p.m.
St. Francis at Sacred Heart — Fox College Sports Atlantic

4 p.m.
Texas at Texas Tech — Big 12 Network
Missouri at Kansas — CBS
Lafayette at American — CBS Sports Network
Drexel at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Comcast SportsNet New England/Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
North Carolina at Virginia — ESPN
Creighton at Indiana State — ESPN2
Hawaii at Louisiana Tech — ESPN Plus
Memphis at Marshall — Fox Sports Net (national)
Air Force at UNLV — NBC Sports Network
Arkansas at Auburn — SEC Network
Florida at Georgia — SEC Network

5 p.m.
Rutgers at Seton Hall — ESPNU
Houston Baptist at North Dakota — Fox College Sports Central

6 p.m.
Purdue at Michigan — Big Ten Network
Portland at BYU — BYU TV
UMass at Dayton — CBS Sports Network
Mississippi State at Alabama — ESPN
George Mason at Virginia Commonwealth — ESPN2

Women’s: Oklahoma at Texas — Fox Sports Net (national)

7 p.m.
Temple at St. Joseph’s — ESPNU
New Mexico at TCU — the mtn.

8 p.m.
Nebraska at Michigan State — Big Ten Network
UTEP at Central Florida — CBS Sports Network
Richmond at Xavier — ESPN2
Middle Tennessee at Western Kentucky — Fox College Sports Atlantic
USC at Arizona State — Fox College Sports Central/Fox Sports Prime Ticket/Fox Sports Arizona
Washington at Washington State — Fox College Sports Pacific/Root Sports Northwest
Tennessee at South Carolina — Fox Sports Net: Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest/Sun Sports

Women’s: Texas Tech at Texas A&M — Fox Sports Net (national)

9 p.m.
Syracuse at UConn — ESPN
Northwestern at Penn State — ESPNU

10 p.m.
Colorado State at San Diego State — the mtn.
Nevada at Fresno State — WAC Sports Network

11 p.m.
Cal Poly at UC-Santa Barbara — ESPNU

Sunday, February 26

noon
Cincinnati at South Florida — Big East Network: Altitude/Cox Sports Television/MASN/SNY
Maine at Stony Brook — CBS Sports Network

Women’s: Indiana at Purdue — Big Ten Network

1 p.m.
Indiana at Minnesota — ESPN

Women’s: Boston College at Miami — Fox Sports Net: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports South/NESN/Sun Sports Plus
Women’s: Central Florida at Houston — Fox Sports Net (national)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: Kentucky at Mississippi State — ESPNU

2 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Louisville — CBS

Women’s: Minnesota at Penn State — Big Ten Network
Women’s: UMass at Xavier — CBS Sports Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: Duke at North Carolina — ESPN2
Women’s: Washington State at Washington — Fox Sports Net (national)

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Old Dominion at James Madison — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic
Women’s: Florida at Tennessee — ESPNU
Women’s: Mississippi at Auburn — Fox Sports Net: Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports Southwest Plus/SportSouth/Sun Sports Plus

4 p.m.
Wisconsin at Ohio State — CBS

Women’s: Ohio State at Nebraska — Big Ten Network

5 p.m.
Women’s: LSU at Georgia — ESPN2

5:30 p.m.
Cal at Colorado — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Iowa at Illinois — Big Ten Network
Florida State at Miami (FL) — ESPNU

7:30 p.m.
Oregon at Oregon State — Fox Sports Net

8 p.m.
Akron at Ohio — ESPNU

College Basketball Viewing Picks For 02/18 & 02/19/2011, All Times Eastern

Men’s Schedule Courtesy of Matt’s College Sports on TV

Saturday, February 18

College GameDay live from Ann Arbor, Michigan — ESPNU, 10 a.m./ESPN, 11 a.m./ESPN, 8 p.m.

BracketBusters
Drexel at Cleveland State — ESPNU, 11 a.m.
Wichita State at Davidson — ESPN2, noon
Buffalo at South Dakota State — ESPNU, 1 p.m.
Akron at Oral Roberts — ESPN2, 2 p.m.
Drake at New Mexico State — ESPNU, 3 p.m.
Nevada at Iona — ESPN2, 4 p.m.
Old Dominion at Missouri State — ESPNU, 5 p.m.
St. Mary’s at Murray State — ESPN, 6 p.m.
UNC-Asheville at Ohio — ESPN3, 7 p.m.
Texas-Arlington at Weber State — ESPN3, 8 p.m.
Long Beach State at Creighton — ESPN2, 10 p.m.

11:30 a.m.
Bryant at St. Francis (NY) — Fox College Sports Atlantic/MSG Network

noon
Louisville at DePaul — Big East Network: Cox Sports Television/CSS/MASN/SNY
Marquette at UConn — ESPN

1 p.m.
Florida State at North Carolina State — ACC Network
Maryland at Virginia — ACC Network
UCLA at St. John’s — CBS
UNLV at New Mexico — CBS
UTEP at Memphis — Fox Sports Net (national)
Wake Forest at Miami (FL) — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports South/NESN

Women’s: Boise State at TCU — the mtn.

1:30 p.m.
Kansas State at Baylor — Big 12 Network
Oklahoma at Iowa State — Big 12 Network
LSU at South Carolina — SEC Network
Tennessee at Alabama — SEC Network

2 p.m.
Duquense at Temple — A-10 Network: CSS/The Comcast Network
Missouri at Texas A&M — ESPN

Women’s: Marquette at Syracuse — Big East Network: MASN/SNY
Women’s: Xavier at St. Bonaventure — CBS Sports Network

2:30 p.m.
Women’s:  Bryant at St. Francis (PA) — Fox College Sports Atlantic

3 p.m.
Arizona at Washington — Fox Sports Net (national)
Georgia Tech at Virgina Tech — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports South/NESN/Sun Sports

Women’s: South Carolina at Alabama — SEC Network

4 p.m.
Seton Hall at Cincinnati — Big East Network: Fox Sports Ohio/MASN/SNY
Texas at Oklahoma State — Big 12 Network
Lafayette at Lehigh — CBS Sports Network
St. Joseph’s at George Washington — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia
Clemson at North Carolina — ESPN
San Diego State at Air Force — NBC Sports Network
Mississippi at Kentucky — SEC Network
TCU at Boise State — the mtn.

5 p.m.
Illinois at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Colorado at Utah — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
LaSalle at UMass — CBS Sports Network
Florida at Arkansas — ESPN2

Women’s: Western Kentucky at South Alabama — Fox College Sports Central

6:30 p.m.
Women’s: New Mexico at UNLV — the mtn.

7 p.m.
Georgetown at Providence — Big East Network: Cox Sports RI/Cox Sports Television/MASN/SNY
Northwestern at Minnesota — Big Ten Network
BYU at Santa Clara — ESPNU

Women’s: Texas at Kansas State — Fox Sports Net (national)

8 p.m.
Texas Tech at Kansas — Big 12 Network
Dayton at Xavier — CBS Sports Network
Western Kentucky at South Alabama — Fox College Sports Atlantic
Mississippi State at Auburn — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest

9 p.m.
Ohio State at Michigan — ESPN
Notre Dame at Villanova — ESPNU
Wyoming at Colorado State — the mtn.

Sunday, February 19

noon
Women’s: Michigan at Indiana — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Maryland-Baltimore County at Hartford — CBS Sports Network
Women’s: Georgia State at George Mason — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/CSS

1 p.m.
Michigan State at Purdue — CBS
Syracuse at Rutgers — ESPN
Vanderbilt at Georgia — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South/Fox Sports Southwest/Sun Sports

Women’s: Rice at SMU — Fox Sports Net (national)

1:30 p.m.
Women’s: North Carolina State at North Carolina — ESPNU

2 p.m.
Women’s: Wisconsin at Nebraska — Big Ten Network
Women’s: Tennessee at Mississippi — SEC Network

3 p.m.
Women’s: VCU at Old Dominion — Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus
Women’s: Duke at Maryland — ESPN2
Women’s: UCLA at USC — Fox Sports Net (national)
Women’s: South Carolina at Alabama — Fox Sports Net (regional): Fox Sports Florida/Fox Sports Houston/Fox Sports North Plus/Fox Sports South

3:30 p.m.
Women’s: Georgia at Florida — ESPN2
Women’s: Florida State at Miami — Fox Sports Net (regional): Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic/Fox Sports South/NESN/Sun Sports

4 p.m.
Penn State at Wisconsin — Big Ten Network

5 p.m.
Women’s: Purdue at Michigan State — ESPN2
Women’s: Washington at Arizona — Fox Sports Net (national)

6 p.m.
Indiana at Iowa — Big Ten Network
Duke at Boston College — ESPNU

7 p.m.
South Florida at Pittsburgh — ESPN2
Oregon at Stanford — Fox Sports Net (national)