Fang's Bites

TNT Extends PGA Championship Coverage

Due to inclement weather, actually more than just inclement, more like extremely stormy weather at the PGA Championship on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, SC, the third round of the last major of the year on the golf calendar was suspended.

It will be picked up Sunday morning and TNT which originally planned to hit the air at 11 ET will now begin at 8.

TNT Extends Live Coverage of 94^th PGA Championship

Sunday, August 12 from 8 AM – 2 PM ET

August 11, 2012 – Due to suspended play during Saturday’s Third Round of the 94^th PGA Championship from The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., TNT will extend its live coverage on Sunday, Aug. 12 from 8 AM – 2 PM ET.

That’s all. Short and sweet.

US Olympic Rights Fees Since 1960

This comes from NBC and its Olympics media guide for 2012. This is one interesting chart that the network made and it contains the rights fees for all of the Olympics televised in the United States dating back to 1960. CBS aired both set of Games, Winter and Summer in 1960. You can see for the Winter Olympics in Sqauw Valley, CA, CBS paid a mere $50,000 to air just 15 hours of coverage. And for the Rome Summer Olympics, CBS paid a bit more, just under $400,000. And back in 1960, CBS had to fly film from Rome and have Jim McKay narrate the action. Much different than today’s production of the London Games which we will be able to see most everything in real time.

And you can note the way the rights fees have grown to the point where NBC is paying over $1 billion for the London Olympics.

Up until 1998, the Winter and Summer Olympics were bid separately. Until 1992, the Winter and Summer Olympics were held in the same calendar year and then in 1994, they were separated.

NBC set the tone by bidding for the 2000 and 2002 Olympics, wanting both Summer and Winter Olympiads. The 2002 Salt Lake Olympics were the first Winter Games NBC broadcast dating back to 1972 in Sapporo, Japan. And then NBC made a daring proactive bid for the 2004, 2006 and 2008 Olympics without the International Olympic Committee obtaining envelopes from ESPN/ABC, Fox or CBS.

So you can see the history of the rights as they have increased over the years. In 2011, NBC obtained the Olympics from 2014 through 2020, four sets of Olympiads for a total of $4.38 billion.

Take a look at the rights fees for the Olympics dating back to 1960 and the networks that broadcast them.

U.S. COVERAGE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

There you have it on the breakdown. 2012 marks the seventh consecutive Olympiad that the networks of NBCUniversal are airing dating to 2000. Again, from NBC’s Olympics media guide, a quick breakdown of how NBC obtained the Olympics from 2000 through 2020.

• In August 1995, NBC paid $1.2 billion to acquire the exclusive U.S. broadcasting rights to both the 2000 Games in Sydney ($705 million) and the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City ($545 million).

• In December 1995, NBC and the IOC constructed a record-breaking $2.3 billion agreement granting NBC the exclusive U.S. media rights to the 2004 Summer Olympics ($793 million), the 2006 Winter Games ($613 million) and the 2008 Summer Olympics ($894 million). It marked the first time that the same network has been awarded the rights to five consecutive Olympics.

• In June 2003, NBC paid $2 billion for the exclusive U.S. media rights to the 2010 Winter Games ($820 million) and the 2012 Summer Olympics ($1.181 billion).

• In June 2011, the IOC announced that it awarded the U.S. media rights to the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games to NBCUniversal for $4.38 billion. At the conclusion of the 2020 Summer Olympics, NBC will have broadcast 17 Olympic Games and 11 consecutive.

You can see how NBC has valued the Olympics and managed to keep them in the fold.

2012-13 NBA on TNT Schedule

The NBA’s Network of Record, TNT is back for its 29th season of broadcasting games. It will carry 52 games including the season opening doubleheader on October 30. In addition, TNT will air a whole slew of Thursday night doubleheaders throughout the season.

Part of its contract includes a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day primetime doubleheader and the entire NBA All-Star Weekend which will be held this season in Houston.

And to end its season, TNT will carry the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.

As usual, the critically acclaimed and award-winning Inside the NBA will air immediately following the last game of the evening doubleheaders.

We have the press release and the listing of the games below.

TNT’s 2012-13 NBA Regular Season Schedule to Feature Multiple Appearances by NBA Champion Heat, Thunder, Knicks, Lakers, Clippers, Celtics and Mavericks

NBA Season Tips Off October 30 Exclusively on TNT with Miami Hosting Boston; Dallas at L.A. Lakers

Turner Sports, marking its 29^th year of NBA coverage, today announced that TNT will televise 52 games during the 2012-13 NBA regular season including 10 appearances by the NBA champion Miami Heat, New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder; nine appearances by the Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Clippers; and eight appearances by the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. TNT recorded its highest-rated and most-viewed NBA regular season ever last year and the network has generated five straight seasons of growth among viewers and households.

For the 11^th consecutive year, the NBA season will exclusively open on TNT with a doubleheader Tuesday, Oct. 30, featuring the Heat and Finals MVP LeBron James hosting the Celtics and Kevin Garnett at 8 p.m. ET. TNT’s coverage will include Miami’s championship ring ceremony during the one-hour TNT NBA Tip-Off ’12 pre-game show at 7 p.m. In the second game, the Lakers and offseason acquisition Steve Nash will host the Mavericks, the 2011 NBA champion led by Dirk Nowitzki, at 10:30 p.m.

TNT’s opening week coverage will also include a Thursday doubleheader, Nov. 1, with the home debut of the Brooklyn Nets, led by Deron Williams, against the New York Knicks and Carmelo Anthony at 7 p.m., followed by a Western Conference Finals rematch when the Thunder and Kevin Durant visit the San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan at 9:30 p.m.  TNT will televise 20 Thursday night NBA doubleheaders this season.

Additional schedule highlights (full schedule listed below):

• Dec. 6 – an Eastern Conference rivalry game when the Heat host the Knicks at 8 p.m.
• Dec. 13 – the Lakers and Kobe Bryant meeting the Knicks at Madison Square Garden at 8 p.m.
• Dec. 20 – a 2011 NBA Finals rematch between the Heat and Mavericks at 9:30 p.m.
• Dec. 27 – a showdown of elite NBA point guards when the Celtics and Rajon Rondo visit the Clippers and Chris Paul at 10:30 p.m.
• Jan. 17 – a doubleheader beginning with the Clippers facing the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Love at 8 p.m., a matchup which has recently generated close outcomes and standout individual performances, followed by the Heat visiting the Lakers at 10:30 p.m.
• Jan. 21 – a special Martin Luther King Day doubleheader including the Spurs visiting the Philadelphia 76ers at 7 p.m., followed by the Chicago Bulls hosting the Lakers at 9:30 p.m.
• Feb. 7 – storied franchises meeting in a rivalry game when the Celtics host the Lakers at 8 p.m.
• Feb. 14 – a Valentine’s Day doubleheader beginning with a Finals rematch between the Heat and Thunder at 8 p.m., followed by a Los Angeles showdown between the Lakers and Clippers at 10:30 p.m.
• Feb. 21 – the Chicago Bulls and Luol Deng facing the Heat at 8 p.m.
• March 5 & 7 – consecutive appearances by the Thunder when they host the Lakers on March 5 at 9:30 p.m. then visit the Knicks on March 7 at 8 p.m.
• March 14 – an intra-state clash when the Mavericks visit the Spurs at 8 p.m.
• March 26 – an Eastern Conference rivalry game when the Celtics host the Knicks at 7 p.m.
• April 2 – a marquee doubleheader opening with the Heat hosting the Knicks at 8 p.m., followed by the Mavericks visiting the Lakers at 10:30 p.m.
• April 4 – in TNT’s second doubleheader of the week, the Bulls visiting the Nets at 7 p.m., followed by the Thunder hosting the Spurs at 9:30 p.m.
• April 11 – the Knicks and Bulls, both anticipated playoff contenders, meeting at 8 p.m.

Additionally, TNT will serve as the exclusive home of NBA All-Star 2013 including NBA All-Star Friday (Feb. 15), NBA All-Star Saturday (Feb. 16), and the 2013 NBA All-Star Game (Feb. 17) in Houston. TNT will also exclusively televise the NBA Eastern Conference Finals this season.

The NBA on TNT’s marquee roster of NBA announcers includes five-time NBA champion Steve Kerr, Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and Mike Fratello, one of the most successful head coaches in NBA history, as game analysts; play-by-play commentators Marv Albert, Dick Stockton and Kevin Harlan; and reporters David Aldridge and Craig Sager. TNT’s Sports Emmy Award-winning studio show includes host Ernie Johnson and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal and two-time NBA champion Kenny Smith.

TNT’s 2012-2013 NBA REGULAR-SEASON SCHEDULE(All Times Eastern)
Date	Day	Time (ET)		Game
Oct. 30	Tuesday	7 p.m.		TNT NBA Tip-Off ’12 (including Miami Heat Ring Ceremony)
		8 p.m.		Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat
		10:30 p.m.		Dallas Mavericks @ L.A. Lakers
Nov. 1	Thursday	7 p.m.		New York Knicks @ Brooklyn Nets
		9:30 p.m.		Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs
Nov. 8	Thursday	8 p.m.		Oklahoma City Thunder @ Chicago Bulls
		10:30 p.m.		L.A. Clippers @ Portland Trail Blazers
Nov. 15	Thursday	8 p.m.		Boston Celtics @ Brooklyn Nets
		10:30 p.m.		Miami Heat @ Denver Nuggets
Nov. 29	Thursday	8 p.m.		San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat
		10:30 p.m.		Denver Nuggets @ Golden State Warriors
Dec. 6	Thursday	8 p.m.		New York Knicks @ Miami Heat
		10:30 p.m.		Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns
Dec. 13	Thursday	8 p.m.		L.A. Lakers @ New York Knicks
		10:30 p.m.		San Antonio Spurs @ Portland Trail Blazers
Dec. 20	Thursday	7 p.m.		Oklahoma City Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves
		9:30 p.m.		Miami Heat @ Dallas Mavericks
Dec. 27	Thursday	8 p.m.		Dallas Mavericks @ Oklahoma City Thunder
		10:30 p.m.		Boston Celtics @ L.A. Clippers
Jan. 10	Thursday	8 p.m.		New York Knicks @ Indiana Pacers
		10:30 p.m.		Miami Heat @ Portland Trail Blazers
Jan. 17	Thursday	8 p.m.		L.A. Clippers @ Minnesota Timberwolves
		10:30 p.m.		Miami Heat @ L.A. Lakers
Jan. 21	Monday	7 p.m.		San Antonio Spurs @ Philadelphia 76ers
		9:30 p.m.		L.A. Lakers @ Chicago Bulls
Jan. 24	Thursday	8 p.m.		New York Knicks @ Boston Celtics
		10:30 p.m.		L.A. Clippers @ Phoenix Suns
Jan. 31	Thursday	8 p.m.		Memphis Grizzlies @ Oklahoma City Thunder
		10:30 p.m.		Dallas Mavericks @ Golden State Warriors
Feb. 7	Thursday	8 p.m.		L.A. Lakers @ Boston Celtics
		10:30 p.m.		Chicago Bulls @ Denver Nuggets
Feb. 14	Thursday	8 p.m.		Miami Heat @ Oklahoma City Thunder
		10:30 p.m.		L.A. Clippers @ L.A. Lakers
*********************************NBA ALL-STAR 2013*************************************************
Feb. 15	Friday		NBA Rising Stars
Feb. 16	Saturday		NBA All-Star Saturday
Feb. 17	Sunday		2013 NBA All-Star Game from Houston
*****************************************************************************************************
Feb. 21	Thursday	8 p.m.	Miami Heat @ Chicago Bulls
		10:30 p.m.	San Antonio Spurs @ L.A. Clippers
Feb. 28	Thursday	8 p.m.	Philadelphia 76ers @ Chicago Bulls
		10:30 p.m.	Minnesota Timberwolves @ L.A. Lakers
Mar. 5	Tuesday	7 p.m.	Boston Celtics @ Philadelphia 76ers
		9:30 p.m.	L.A. Lakers @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Mar. 7	Thursday	8 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ New York Knicks
		10:30 p.m.	L.A. Clippers @ Denver Nuggets
Mar. 14	Thursday	8 p.m.	Dallas Mavericks @ San Antonio Spurs
		10:30 p.m.	New York Knicks @ Portland Trail Blazers
Mar. 26	Tuesday	7 p.m.	New York Knicks @ Boston Celtics
		9:30 p.m.	L.A. Clippers @ Dallas Mavericks
Apr. 2	Tuesday	8 p.m.	New York Knicks @ Miami Heat
		10:30 p.m.	Dallas Mavericks @ L.A. Lakers
Apr. 4	Thursday	7 p.m.	Chicago Bulls @ Brooklyn Nets
		9:30 p.m.	San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder
Apr. 11	Thursday	8 p.m.	New York Knicks @ Chicago Bulls
		10:30 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ Golden State Warriors
Apr. 16	Tuesday	8 p.m.	Indiana Pacers @ Boston Celtics
		10:30 p.m.	Portland Trail Blazers @ L.A. Clippers

And we’ll conclude with the NBA TV schedule.

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.

Ratings For NASCAR on TNT Up From 2011

According to Turner Sports, the ratings for TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series, a total of six races, averaged a 3.1 household rating. That’s up 3% from last year. Viewership averaged 5.1 million people which is even with 2011.

Here’s the press release from our friends at Turner.

Turner Sports’ Coverage of NASCAR Summer Series Averages 3.1 U.S. HH Rating, Up 3% vs. 2011

Turner Sports’ coverage of the NASCAR Summer Series averaged a 3.1 U.S. HH rating over the six-race schedule, an increase of three percent when compared with last year’s 2.9 U.S. HH rating. The corresponding average of 5.1 million total viewers is even with last year. For six consecutive weeks,TNT’s NASCAR coverage delivered the highest-rated and most-viewed program of the day on ad-supported cable.

Additional highlights:

• Wide Open coverage of the Daytona 400, combined with the first-ever simulcast on truTV, generated a 3.8 U.S. HH rating and 6.2 million total viewers to become the highest-rated and most-viewed Daytona 400 since 2008 (3.8 U.S. HH rating and 6.4 million total viewers).
• Turner Sports’ Daytona 400 telecast (Saturday, July 7) delivered the most-viewed program of the day across all television among households, total viewers and key demos including Adults 18-49, Adults 25-54, Men 18-49 and Men 25-54. TNT’s telecast of the race ranked as basic cable’s No. 1 program of the week among viewers and Adults 25-54.

Source: Nielsen Media Research, Star Trak. Based on live + Same Day data, for date of NASCAR on TNT coverage: 6/10/12 – 7/15/12 vs. 6/12/11 – 7/17/11.

That’s it.

Grinding Out Some Tuesday Links For You

Let’s do some links. Couldn’t get to them yesterday. Time to grind some out today.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN won’t be an oasis away from political advertising this fall.

Michael also has the ratings on Wimbledon and NASCAR.

Bill King of Sports Business Journal looks at NBC bringing back boxing to network television.

Sports Business Daily Global notes that the Wimbledon men’s final drew well in both the US and the UK.

SBD says the International Olympic Committee is under fire for renewing sponsorship deals with McDonald’s and Coke in the midst of an increasing obesity crisis.

And Eric Fisher of SBD notes that MLB will allow players to Tweet during tonight’s All-Star Game.

Jason Fry of the ESPN Ombudsman’s Poynter Review Project notes that the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s reporting has changed thanks to Twitter.

Alicia Jessop at Forbes writes that Kansas City expects a big financial windfall from the MLB All-Star Game.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group looks at Fox’s ever-changing production of tonight’s All-Star Game.

Chris Ariens of TVNewser has a clip of Erin Andrews’ interview with Fox News’ Shepard Smith in Kansas City.

Glenn Davis from SportsGrid notes that one cover of ESPN the Magazine’s Body issue will feature a nekkid Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots.

A rare link to Grantland finds a 15,612 word oral history of WFAN written by Alex French and Howie Kahn. It’s really good, but read it at your own pace and not all at once.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable says the Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon drew ESPN’s best tennis ratings ever.

Tim says NBA TV is all over Summer League games in the next two weeks.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes that the combined TNT/truTV effort for last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race brought the highest ratings for the Daytona 400 in four years.

Ann Killion of Adweek says Olympic athletes are trying to get their piece of marketing gold in the midst of companies getting all of the sponsorship money.

Also from Adweek, Anthony Crupi writes that NBC and Turner Sports appear to be fighting for the main cable rights to MLB.

Lifestyle Mirror has a fantastic photo shoot with Fang’s Bites fave Charissa Thompson.

To The Sherman Report where Ed Sherman has Part 1 of a two part series with Fox Sports MLB analyst Tim McCarver. And here’s Part 2.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times is amused that SNY, the home of the Mets, has erected a billboard at the Yankee Stadium subway train stop.

Richard says Jerry Seinfeld, a big baseball fan, will break down the iconic Abbot & Costello comedy skit, “Who’s on First?” on MLB Network.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says a local TV station has hired a new sportscaster.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says WFAN and ESPN Radio NY will split Dial Global Radio’s Olympic coverage later this month.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that new DC NFL Team QB Robert Griffin III was asked on local sports radio if he’s already more popular than the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.

Dan says DC NFL Team radio analyst Sam Huff has worked so long on the game broadcasts that the network feels he can call his own shots now.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Fox Sports’ Tim McCarver.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times writes that a local TV station has signed to air NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football Bucs-Vikings game.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says MLB Network airs a documentary on the life and death of former Astros pitcher Darryl Kile.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says ESPNU will re-air four games involving Sooner State schools in its top college football games of the season.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that despite the U.S. Women’s Open being played locally, there wasn’t much interest either on ESPN2 or on NBC.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Fox Sports Florida sideline reporter Laura McKeeman was crowned Miss Florida over the weekend.

SportsRantz also profiles Ms. McKeeman.

Sports Media Watch says last night’s MLB Home Run Derby had a slight ratings decline from last year.

SMW says Fox’s Baseball Night in America ended its 8 week run on a high note thanks to Yanks-Red Sox.

Turner Sports Scores With TNT/truTV Daytona 400 Simulcast

On Saturday, both TNT and truTV aired the Coke Zero 400 from the Daytona International Speedway. The combined rating scored a 3.8 household U.S. rating and averaged almost 6.2 million viewers making it the most watched Daytona 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race since 2008 which also generated a 3.8 rating, but more viewers. There’s no word on the split between TNT and truTV.

Last year’s race on TNT only saw a 3.4. Here’s Turner Sports’ press release on Saturday’s race.

THIS JUST IN…
…from Turner Sports

TNT’s signature Wide Open coverage of the Coke Zero 400, combined with the first-ever simulcast on truTV, generated a 3.8 U.S. household rating and 6,184,000 total viewers to become the highest-rated and most-viewed Daytona 400 since 2008 (3.8 U.S. HH rating and 6,390,000 total viewers), based on Nielsen Fast Nationals.

Saturday’s prime-time coverage (7:30-10:32 p.m. ET) is up 12 percent compared with last year’s 3.4 U.S. HH rating and three percent over the average of 6,029,000 total viewers in 2011. The race, won by Tony Stewart, generated the highest metered market ratings in Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, S.C. (9.3 rating); Charlotte (9.2); Greensboro, N.C. (9.2); Indianapolis (8.6) and Birmingham, Ala. (7.4).

TNT’s coverage of the NASCAR Summer Series will conclude with the New Hampshire 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 15, at 1 p.m. with Countdown to Green pre-race coverage at noon.

(Source: Nielsen Media Research, based on Live + Same Day data Fast Nationals. 2012 NASCAR Daytona 400 Simulcast on TNT + truTV gross audience compared to 2011 NASCAR Daytona 400 on TNT. Historical comparison for dates of the Daytona 400 on TNT.)

That’s all.

Let’s Do The Friday Megalinks

Time for Friday linkage.

The Weekend Viewing Picks have your sports and entertainment suggestions. Let’s get cracking.

National

Michael Hiestand from USA Today looks at TNT’s plans to go mostly split-screen during breaks for Saturday’s NASCAR race.

Tom Perrotta of the Wall Street Journal reports that the one Wimbledon souvenir the players want is the towel.

Alex Sherman at Bloomberg Businessweek talks with NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus about the Olympics.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk says enhancing the NFL fan experience might bring more people to games.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report is happy to learn that Jeremy Schaap’s ESPN Radio show is now available as a podcast.

Bob Pockrass at The Sporting News says NASCAR hopes that NBC Sports will be a bidder for the sport’s TV rights.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says ESPN Deportes scored with the EURO 2012 Final last Sunday.

Mike says Golf Channel has selected the venue for the next season of “Big Break”.

Christopher Heine of Adweek says MLB’s allowing Twitter votes for the All-Star Game for the first time may have had a hand in deciding which league hosts the World Series.

Jason Del Ray of Advertising Age says the impending Turner Sports purchase of Bleacher Report makes sense.

Wayne Friedman at MediaPost says the NFL easing requirements on local TV blackouts shows the league wants to reach the casual fan.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group says ESPN will be utilizing plenty of microphones at the MLB Home Run Derby.

Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder has a screengrab of a Canadian TV station messing up the Steve Nash trade to the Lakers.

And Matt has found an episode of Judge Sapp. Yes, that’s Warren Sapp.

The Big Lead soaked up the latest Twitter battle between ESPN’s Darren Rovell and Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.

MediaRantz looks at the top 5 ESPN plagiarism scandals.

Nick Bromberg of Yahoo’s From the Marbles blog wonders what is the big deal with the TNT/truTV simulcast of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup race on Saturday.

Joe Favorito likes how MLS has adopted “Food Week” to get fans to explore its markets’ restaurants.

East and Mid-Atlantic

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen says it was time for Erin Andrews to leave the ESPN Mothership.

Jerry Barmsah of Fishbowl NY says CBS Radio’s WFAN could be headed to FM and could take the Yankees with it.

Yes, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, we know you hate ESPN.

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for ESPN tennis analyst Brad Gilbert.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says the MLB Extra Innings pay per view package will be free next week.

Don Laible of the Utica (NY) Observer-Dispatch talks with the NHL on NBC’s Dave Strader about calling Olympic basketball.

Ken says a local minor league baseball team has found a new radio home.

Dave Sottile of the Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News says there are no plans to bring Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic to the local area.

Tim Richardson in Press Box looks at the differences between the Washington Nationals and MASN over the team’s TV rights fee.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Chris Rose.

South

Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial-Appeal says a popular local sports radio host is changing stations.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron writes that the new Comcast SportsNet Houston will air Conference USA football featuring the University of Houston.

Midwest

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says MLB feels it has restored integrity to the All-Star Game. It’s an exhibition game!

Paul M. Banks of the Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders who had the best mock NBA Draft?

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says the new TV voice of the Minnesota Wild will have an exciting team to call this season.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about Erin Andrews making her Fox debut next week.

Dan writes that Blues analyst Darren Pang turned down a full-time offer from TSN and will remain in St. Louis.

West

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this harsh takedown of Erin Andrews.

Here’s Tom’s column which has a little more on the last post.

Tom also links to reaction to his Erin Andrews column.

Matt Rudnitsky of SportsGrid replies point-by-point to Hoffarth.

John Maffei of the North County Times writes about Erin Andrews joining Fox.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star talks with Fox’s Joe Buck on the challenges of calling the MLB All-Star Game.

Jim has his Weekend Viewing Picks.

Matthew T. Hall at the San Diego Union-Tribune wonders where’s the fan outrage in the Fox Sports San Diego-Time Warner Cable dispute leaving Padres games off TV.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News tries to clear up some confusion over the Pac-12 Network.

And that will conclude our links for today.

The Thursday Linkage

So weird to have the 4th of July in the middle of the week. You get the holiday after two work days and then have two work days afterwards. Some of you have the entire week off which is good, but for me, there’s no such thing as a vacation. In fact, I haven’t had a vacation since August 2001. That’s true. Anyway, you don’t care about that. Let’s get to the links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today lists which sports media personality has donated money to which politician.

Michael says ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little will work her last race for a few months this weekend.

The BBC reports that a single yellow cable that will carry the Olympics from London to Europe was almost cut in Belgium.

Trefis Team at Forbes says ESPN contributes heavily to Disney’s stock price, but that could be reduced over time.

Keach Hagey of the Wall Street Journal looks at the new NBC Sports/Sports Illustrated partnership.

Mike Barnes of the Hollywood Reporter says former mustachioed Oakland Raiders defensive lineman turned pitchman Ben Davidson has died at the age of 72.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that ESPN set a viewership record for the EURO 2012 final.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life reports that NBC is close to selling out its Olympic ad inventory.

The Associated Press says the ACC has signed a 12 year deal with the Orange Bowl.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo about his two decade long partnership with WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing writes that ESPN’s Chris Fowler gave John McEnroe a lesson about Twitter parody accounts at Wimbledon this week.

Joe tells us about reporter-on-reporter Twitter crime between ESPN’s Buster Olney and CBS’ Jon Heyman.

Melissa Jacobs at the Football Girl agrees with Erin Andrews’ assessment that sideline reporters are a necessity when used correctly.

Speaking of Erin, she speaks with Adam Silverstein of the Only Gators blog about moving to Fox.

Dave Nagle in ESPN’s Front Row public relations blog notes the network’s new broadcast position at Wimbledon.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says Barclays’ recent troubles are trickling down to the Brooklyn Nets as they prepare to occupy their new home.

Claire Atkinson of the New York Post reports that The Whistle, a sports media company geared towards kids, will have a programming block on NBC Sports Network starting in September.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that DC NFL Team radio analyst Sam Huff will work a reduced schedule this season.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman says the U.S. Olympic Trials topped the local ratings this past weekend.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that Annika Sorenstam joins the NBC golf team this weekend at the U.S. Women’s Open.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch urges the White Sox to calm down in asking people to do last-minute voting for the All-Star Game.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says the Pac-12 Network will be a success in Utah knowing the failings of the mtn.

Bill Mooney of the Thoroughbred Times says Fox Sports Net will air the West Virginia Derby next month.

Media Rantz notes that the NBC President who was responsible for the “Heidi Game” and forever changed how sports was aired on TV has passed away.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says CTV will bring back a few features for this year’s Olympics that were used in 2010 for Vancouver.

EPL Talk has a partial list of English Premier League games that will be aired in the States on ESPN2 and Fox Soccer.

Sports Media Watch says TNT took a ratings hit for last Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Emmett Jones at Sports Business Digest notes that the US Olympic Committee will pass on bidding for the 2022 Games dashing hopes for a couple of cities. It means the earliest an Olympics will be held in the United States will be 2024.

And those are the links that I could manage to squeeze out of the internet today.

Turner Sports Announces TNT/truTV Simulcast of Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Race

This from our friends at Turner Sports. This Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400 will have its annual “Wide Open” coverage. That means minimal commercials, double boxes showing race coverage in one box and ads in another.

truTV will simulcast TNT’s coverage and HLN’s Morning Express anchor Robin Meade will sing the national anthem prior to the start of the race.

Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET with Countdown to Green. Then the race coverage kicks off an hour later.

Adam Alexander pulls double duty as race host and lap-by-lap announcer. Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty are race analysts. Petty and Larry McReynolds join Adam in the Countdown to Green show.

Here’s the Turner press release.

TNT Gears Up for Wide Open Coverage of Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Prime Time Saturday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m. ET

Special Presentation of Coke Zero 400 Across Turner Platforms Includes First-Ever Simulcast on truTV
HLN’s Robin Meade to Sing National Anthem and Interview Troops from Daytona

TNT’s signature Wide Open television format will return for the sixth consecutive year during the network’s exclusive coverage of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona on Saturday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m. ET. In addition to the TNT telecast, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona – traditionally the network’s highest-rated race from the NASCAR Summer Series – will also be simulcast for the first time ever on truTV. Wide Open coverage debuted during the summer race at Daytona International Speedway in 2007, providing continuous race coverage free of national commercial breaks. It offers more than 20 percent unobstructed race action than the standard telecast by using a letterbox widescreen format to allow for a continuous scroll of race information. National sponsors featured in this year’s telecast include: AndroGel, Coke Zero, Dodge Ram, Geico, Goodyear, Sprint, Toyota, Twitter and Viagra.

HLN’s Robin Meade will be on site to sing the national anthem and to conduct interviews with troops attending the race. HLN’s Morning Express with Robin Meade (weekdays 6 a.m.-noon) features a regular “Salute to Troops” segment on the show, and will incorporate those interviews during the week following the race. In a further commitment to honoring our nation’s service men and women, HLN will televise a Fourth of July special – Stories of Courage Hosted by Robin Meade, inspirational stories and profiles of military heroes, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

“TNT’s Wide Open coverage, truTV’s simulcast and the integration with HLN allows us to increase NASCAR’s presence across the Turner portfolio and pay tribute to troops in a meaningful way,” said Christina Miller, Turner Sports’ senior vice president, strategy, programming and marketing. “There could not be a more fitting time than Daytona, the biggest race of the summer, and the Fourth of July holiday.”

Coverage from Daytona will begin with the Countdown to Green pre-race show – hosted by Adam Alexander with analysts Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty – at 6:30 p.m. Alexander will also provide play-by-play for the race with analysts Petty and Wally Dallenbach and reporters Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Chris Neville. Additionally, McReynolds will make frequent contributions during the race from his customized, unique broadcast unit that will house his own studio, as well as his base location where he’ll provide analysis using a cut-away display car.

Additional Coke Zero 400 highlights:

• NASCAR will celebrate the culmination of ‘NASCAR Unites – An American Salute,’ during the Coke Zero 400. The industry will unite in saluting military members and their families at-track including a pre-race special salute to Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients Michael Fitzmaurice, Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army; Jack Jacobs, Captain, U.S. Army; Robert Patterson, Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army; and James Taylor, Captain, U.S. Army. NASCAR drivers also will be doing their part on-track, with various NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers adorning ‘An American Salute’ paint scheme on their race cars.
• TNT’s Countdown to Green pre-race show will includea musical performance by Train singing their new song“50 Ways to Say Goodbye.”
• TNT’s Countdown to Green will also include a special guest appearance by NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.
• Countdown to Green will continue its weekly feature segment titled “NASCAR Generations” -– with Jimmie Johnson, Ned Jarrett and Bill Elliott, along with TNT analysts Petty and McReynolds – including a discussion about legendary moments at Daytona.

A few comments which will be part of Saturday’s “NASCAR Generations” segment about Daytona:

Bill Elliott on his fondest memory of Daytona: “I still say the most impressive thing that I have ever done – that impressed me – was running 210 [mph] at Daytona in that era [1980s].”

Kyle Petty on racing at Daytona: “When you would go to qualify [at Daytona], you weren’t sure you were gonna come back during that period of time…That was an amazing thing that day, when you busted that [Elliott’s 210 mph].”

Jimmie Johnson on what his mentality is like when he drives at Daytona: “It’s such a weird mind game to win a plate race in today’s era of racing because you can’t do it by yourself. You know the best car doesn’t win. It’s who’s willing to work with each other the most.”

Bill Elliott on Tony Stewart’s comment last year about racing at Daytona: “The most classic line I’ve ever heard was Tony [Stewart] last year. He said, ‘This is a high-speed chess game, and I ain’t even smart enough to play checkers.’”

Ned Jarrett on his fondest memory of Daytona – 1993 when he son Dale won the Daytona 500: “Well, that one probably tops them all. Even anything that I did on the racetrack or any experience that I had, let’s say, in racing…that 1993 Daytona 500 was it. Because it was the first time that anyone knew of that a dad was in the booth broadcasting and his son [was winning] a major event.”

TNT’s RaceBuddy on NASCAR.COM will once again provide live companion coverage from Daytona with eight different camera views and an option of two mosaic screens. Camera angles include four In-Car Driver Cams, two Battle Cams highlighting head-to-head competition between drivers, a Backstretch Cam and a Pit Road Cam.  Fans can view up to four angles at once through each mosaic option. Features also include the DVR Function, an Enhanced LIVE Leaderboard and RaceView’s position tracker. Fans can connect throughout the race on Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger and MySpace for a seamlessly-integrated social media experience.

TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series will conclude with the New Hampshire 301 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 15, at 1 p.m. with Countdown to Green pre-race coverage at noon.

That’s all.

NASCAR on TNT Heads To Sonoma Today

TNT which is in the midst of its six week NASCAR Summer Season is out west today in Sonoma for the Toyota Save Mart 350. Unlike other tracks, Sonoma is more of a road course so three wide racing will not be seen as much as the oval courses.

The race will air at 3 p.m. with the prerace show, Countdown to Green starting an hour earlier. Adam Alexander continues to wear two hats, host and lap-by-lap announcer.

Here’s the TNT preview.

TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series Coverage Continues with Toyota SaveMart 350 from Sonoma, June 24, at 3 p.m.

TNT’s NASCAR Ratings Up 6% Through Two Races
Interview with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., During Countdown to Green Pre-Race Show

TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series will continue Sunday, June 24, with the Toyota SaveMart 350 from the open road course in Sonoma. Coverage will begin with the Countdown to Green pre-race show – hosted by Adam Alexander with analysts Larry McReynolds and Kyle Petty – at 2 p.m. ET. Alexander will also provide play-by-play for the SaveMart 350 with analysts Petty and Wally Dallenbach and reporters Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Chris Neville.  Additionally, McReynolds will make frequent contributions during the race from his customized, unique broadcast unit that will house his own studio, as well as his base location where he’ll provide analysis using a cut-away display car.

Through two races, TNT’s NASCAR Summer Series is averaging a 3.3 U.S. HH rating, up 6% over last year’s comparable 3.1 rating through two races. The corresponding 5,271,000 total viewers are up 4% over last year’s average of 5,055,000 total viewers. Turner Sports is in its 30^th consecutive year of live NASCAR broadcasts.

Highlights for this week’s NASCAR coverage:

• An interview with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., winner of last week’s Quicken Loans 400.
• TNT’s Countdown to Green pre-race show will include a special guest appearance by NASCAR driver Kyle Busch.
• TNT’s Sheheen will trade four wheels for two as he and Carl Edwards go riding Ducati motorcycles.
• Martin Truex, Jr.’s “56” crew will be miked up for TNT’s Inside Trax.
• Countdown to Green will continue its weekly feature segment titled “NASCAR Generations” with Jimmie Johnson, Ned Jarrett and Bill Elliott, along with TNT analysts Petty and McReynolds – including a discussion about the current trend of apologizing within the sport.

A few comments which will be part of Sunday’s “NASCAR Generations” segment:

Kyle Petty on how drivers apologized during the earlier days of NASCAR: “I look at the King [Richard Petty] and Bobby [Allison] and Cale [Yarborough] and Donnie [Allison] and all them racing, I never remember them apologizing for anything. Why should I apologize to you? My job is to beat you. My job is to go out there and win this race. It was just a different deal.”

Jimmie Johnson on today’s protocol for apologizing: “My era, I believe, spends more time apologizing and doing that kind of thing. There are times when you make mistakes and I’ll say I’m sorry. But if you’re going to go up there and take something from the guy [knock him out of a race], you should be man enough to go up and talk to him about it afterwards, whatever it is.”

Petty on his grandfather Lee Petty: “He could stand there and chew you out one minute and walk off, but it was over with. For him – no grudges at all – it was over with. And he moved on to the next thing.”

2012 TNT NASCAR Summer Series Schedule:
(All Times Eastern)

SUNDAY, JUNE 24
2 – 3 p.m. ET	Countdown to Green
3 – 6:30 p.m.	Toyota SaveMart 350 (Sonoma)
SATURDAY, JUNE 30
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.	Countdown to Green
7:30 – 11 p.m.	Sprint Cup Racing (Kentucky Speedway)
SATURDAY, JULY 7
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.	Countdown to Green
7:30 – 11 p.m.	Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Daytona International Speedway)
SUNDAY, JULY 15
Noon – 1 p.m.	Countdown to Green
1 – 4:30 p.m.	New Hampshire 301 (New Hampshire Motor Speedway)

That’s it.

A Few Sports Media Bullet Points

Ok, as we’re all in denial over the Miami Heat winning the NBA Championship, it’s time for a few sports media thoughts. Too many things to go over, but I’ll do my best to cover as many things as I can.

As always, we do them in bullet form. And to drown out the thoughts of LeBron James celebrating, I’m listening to Korn on my iPad at the highest volume.

• Over 24 hours since first learning about Darren Rovell’s decision to leave CNBC for ESPN and I’m still baffled. Now, over all the sports media free agents I’ve mentioned or heard about for 2012, Darren’s name never came up. Darren who started his career at ESPN and left for CNBC in 2006 seemed to be happy with the NBCUniversal, having his own show on NBC Sports Network, his own CNBC site, and occasional appearances on NBC Sports events.

  But when the Worldwide Leader comes a’calling, you have to listen. Deadspin reported Thursday that Disney will pay Rovell $500,000 to file reports for both ABC News and ESPN.

  I don’t know if he’ll have his own show as he did with NBC Sports Network, I tend to doubt it. But the timing is rather interesting. Just after getting the sports business show that he had been clamoring, Darren leaves.

  ESPN has made a few recent sports business hires including Kristi Dosh and Michelle Steele. I wonder if ESPN is making a concerted effort to cover sports business again.

  And as we know, Darren is a prolific tweeter. Will his penchant for Twitter be controlled under ESPN’s social media policy? I’m sure this will all be addressed down the line.

• CBS Radio’s announcement that it was launching a sports radio network came as a surprise. The timing came just ten days after NBC announced it was launching a radio network of its own.

  This makes an already crowded radio scene even more so. Considering you have ESPN which has been firmly established since the 1990′s, Fox Sports Radio, Yahoo and even the Sports USA Radio Network, one wonders if there’s enough room for one more national radio net let alone two.

  Personally, I love to see more networks because competition can only lead to better programming, however, economic realities tell you that one of these fledgling entities may not make it.

  The eyeball test from the outset shows that CBS has the best infrastructure having already established sports stations in several major markets that will be part of CBS Sports Radio. Plus teaming with Cumulus Media’s 67 stations cross the country helps the reach.

  As for NBC, it’s just getting back into the radio business after General Electric had sold the Radio Network to Westwood One and its entire radio station group to various owners. It will partner with the former Westwood One now known as Dial Global.

  The question is whether this will lead to a bidding war for sports properties. ESPN Radio has the BCS, MLB and the NBA while Dial Global has the NFL, NCAA Championships and The Masters.

  Suddenly radio is red hot once again and I like it. And as SportsbyBrooks pointed out, it could lead to more poaching of ESPN talent by CBS and NBC to fill programming slots.

• I was disappointed to learn that Radio Wimbledon will not be handling the worldwide audio play-by-play of the Championships Wimbledon starting next week.

  Last October, Wimbledon’s parent, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club accepted a bid from IMG to take over the radio rights to call the matches. The new entity called Live@Wimbledon will be using some, but not all of Radio Wimbledon’s team. Over the years, Radio Wimbledon had been the only link to live tennis when NBC was pulling its tape delay shenanigans. Unfortunately, despite Radio Wimby attracting 2.7 million listeners in 2011, the AELTC decided to take IMG’s money and ruin a very good service for the fortnight.

  Radio Wimbledon will be missed.

• As Sports Business Journal reported this week, Fox Sports has begun talks with NASCAR in hopes of extending its current contract. It expires in 2014.

  As Fox has been successful in obtaining rights to the FIFA World Cup, Big 12 and Pac-12, the thinking behind many of these acquisitions has been to play keep away from NBC Sports Group. You know that with NASCAR rights in play, NBC Sports would love nothing more than to add inventory to NBCSN.

  If Fox is successful, it leaves only TNT’s mid-season Sprint Cup races and ESPN’s Chase for the Cup races being up for grabs. And both Turner and ESPN want to prevent NBC from grabbing their packages.

  With MLB, NASCAR, the Big East and the NBA negotiations all unsettled thus far, NBC still has a chance to lure one if not all to its war chest.

• Lastly, the aforementioned SportsbyBrooks tweeted that Chris Berman will call the late game for Monday Night Football’s season opening doubleheader on September 10. And in addition, he’ll call one preseason game as practice. If you thought the venom towards Berman is bad when he calls the U.S. Open or the All-Star Home Run Derby, just wait until he does the NFL. It’s probably best that ESPN public relations stay off social media on the nights Berman calls the NFL.

And that will conclude the thoughts. Enjoy your Friday.

Some Thursday Links

After an outage that ruined things from Sunday through Tuesday and being busy yesterday, my goal to have links every day this week has gone out the window. However, I can get a few links out to you today.

Let’s get to them.

Starting with Ed Sherman from the Sherman Report who talks with ESPN resident Prince of Darkness Vince Doria who not only hates Twitter, but is concerned that the social media site could bring “diminished standards.” No, hiring Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith brings “diminished standards.”

Ed feels ESPN’s hiring of Darren Rovell away from CNBC is a good move for all sides.

Christopher Botta and John Ourand from Sports Business Journal write that despite having ratings downturns for the NHL Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final, NBC and its sponsors are happy with the results.

Christopher notes that a budding Northwest US MLS rivalry is bringing excellent sponsor activation in the region.

At the Bleacher Report, Dan Levy asks ESPN to respond to the heavy viewer criticism brought forth to the network every time Chris Berman does the U.S. Open.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says the ESPN Family is doing well with EURO 2012.

Peter Kafka at All Things Digital writes that the on-again/off-again Turner purchase of the Bleacher Report seems to be on again. I promise my friends over at Bleacher Report that I won’t publish the Tsunami screengrab like Deadspin does.

Speaking of Deadspin, John Koblin tells us that CNBC’s Darren Rovell, will be getting $500,000 from Disney to work at ESPN and ABC News.

The Big Lead notes that Jalen Rose will be heading to the basketball version of ESPN’s College Gameday.

Simon Dumenico of Advertising Age notes the high amount of Tweets devoted to Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Media Life Magazine notes NBC’s ratings for last weekend’s US Open.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com says while Roger Clemens was acquitted by a jury of his peers, he still has to get by the Hall of Fame jury known as the Baseball Writers of America.

Lance Venta at Radio Insight reports that with CBS Radio starting a new sports network, ESPN Radio will lose two affiliates in Florida.

To espnW where Amanda Rykoff went to an event which honored women in sports business including Kim Williams, the Chief Operating Officer of NFL Network.

Matt Rudnitsky at SportsGrid says today is D-Day for many Sports Illustrated employees. Godspeed to them.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group looks at how TNT tries to expand the fan experience during its six NASCAR Sprint Cup productions.

Jerry Barmash of FishbowlNY talks with MSG Network’s Walt “Clyde” Frazier about his popularity among Knicks fans.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says SNY’s Gary Cohen will be taking two rare days off this week.

Ken says WFAN will be airing Team USA Olympic basketball games.

And Ken talks about the launch of CBS Sports Radio.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says the Philadelphia Phillies’ troubles have become fodder for the local talk shows.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle notes that the city is about to get its 5th sports radio station thanks to the new CBS Sports Radio.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says Game 4 of the NBA Finals set another local ratings record.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes that the Reds’ ratings are up and they’re being noticed by Fox Sports.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Brewers analyst Bill Schroeder will work Saturday’s game against the White Sox for a different audience.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper guest tweeted on the White Sox official account this week.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily has begun a list of the top sports media voices of the landmark Title IX that gave women the opportunity to play sports. His first honoree is sports broadcasting pioneer Donna de Varona. Next is Mary Carillo. She’s followed by Ann Ligouri. Pam Ward is next. Basketball Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale follows. Read about Jeannine Edwards. Then look at the bio of Christine Brennan. Then there’s Michele Tafoya. Then Jamie Little. Next is Suzy Kolber. And she’s followed by Sally Jenkins. Great stuff by Tom.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail reports that the NHL doesn’t want Maple Leafs rightsholders Rogers and Bell to form a consortium to bid for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada and they’ve been told to provide separate bids.

Michael Hill from Dolce Vita magazine profiles CTV Olympic host Brian Williams (not to be confused with NBC’s Brian Williams) about the many Games he has hosted over the years for either CBC or CTV.

Sports Media Watch speculates that NBC could be moving its NHL Game of the Week to Saturday afternoons for the 2012-13 season.

Tony Manfred at the Business Insider Sports Page has a slideshow on ESPN’s Erin Andrews who remains a free agent at this time.

Joe Favorito looks at the NBA possibly shutting the door on its players participating in the Olympics.

And that will do it for us today for the links.

TNT Takes The Green Flag For Its NASCAR Summer Series

Fox Sports completed its victory lap for NASCAR last week in Dover. Now it’s TNT’s turn to take the wheel and spin us around the track six times this summer.

TNT will air six races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starting this Sunday at Pocono and will conclude on July 15 in New Hampshire. TNT will air the annual week of July 4th holiday race at Daytona and that will feature mostly commercial-free coverage with animated sponsor messages and double boxes to show continuous live action.

Adam Alexander who calls the lap-by-lap action will also host pre-race coverage taking over for the popular Lindsay Czarniak who is now at ESPN. Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach will join Alexander in the booth high above trackside. Joining Adam in the pre-race shows will be Petty and Larry McReynolds.

We have the TNT schedule for you.

Turner Sports Revs Up For 30^th Year of NASCAR Coverage;
TNT’s Six-Race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule Begins June 10 at Pocono

Expanded Role for Adam Alexander
Production Enhancements Include Weekly “NASCAR Generations” Segment;
New Touch Screen Application; Broader Twitter Integration
TNT RaceBuddy Returns on NASCAR.COM with 10 Cameras and Mosaic Options;
Inside Trax and Wide Open Coverage Also Returns

Turner Sports is geared up for its 30^th year of NASCAR coverage with TNT’s six-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series set to begin Sunday, June 10, at noon ET from Pocono Raceway. TNT’s NASCAR coverage will once again feature analysis by Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach with play-by-play commentator Adam Alexander expanding his role this season. Alexander will add pre-race hosting responsibilities this year, joined by analysts Petty and Larry McReynolds. TNT’s reporters will include: Ralph Sheheen, Marty Snider, Matt Yocum and Chris Neville.

TNT’s coverage also will include several production enhancements this year including a weekly “NASCAR Generations” segment during the Countdown to Green pre-race show, a new on-set touch screen application, and broader social media integration. Additionally, McReynolds will roll out a customized, unique broadcast unit that will house his very own studio, as well as his base location to provide analysis using a cut-away display car.

TNT’s “NASCAR Generations” is a segment which will air during the one-hour Countdown to Green each week featuring a panel discussion hosted by Alexander with five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, legendary NASCAR champions Ned Jarrett and Bill Elliott, as well as TNT NASCAR analysts McReynolds and Petty. The conversation will touch on broad-ranging topics and storylines within the sport.

A new on-set touch screen application will provide the ability to track drivers throughout the race, telestrate the action, offer real-time weather updates and engage with audiences via Twitter. Fans can participate in the social media discussion by using the hashtag #NASCAR leading up to and throughout the races. Throughout the broadcast, TNT’s production also will include selectively-displayed race content obtained through Twitter.

“We’re fortunate to have the longest history of any broadcast partner covering Sprint Cup races and we strive for innovation and advancements which continue to make NASCAR the best viewing experience possible for fans,” said Jeff Behnke, Turner Sports senior vice president and executive producer. “Our announce team of Adam, Kyle and Wally provides consistency, our pit reporters continue to give the most unique perspectives in all of racing and we’re excited for our coverage to begin.”

Additional production elements include McReynolds utilizing TNT’s Off-Track Robotic Car (TORC) to analyze pit crew strategies. Inside Trax also will return with select crew chiefs and teams miked up to offer fans unique access to the sounds and strategy of NASCAR.

2012 TNT NASCAR Summer Series Schedule:
(All Times Eastern)

SUNDAY, JUNE 10
Noon – 1 p.m. ET	Countdown to Green
1 – 4:30 p.m.	Pocono 400 (Pocono Raceway)
SUNDAY, JUNE 17
Noon – 1 p.m.	Countdown to Green
1 – 4:30 p.m.	Michigan 400 (Michigan International Speedway)
SUNDAY, JUNE 24
2 – 3 p.m.	Countdown to Green
3 – 6:30 p.m.	Toyota SaveMart 350 (Sonoma)
SATURDAY, JUNE 30
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.	Countdown to Green
7:30 – 11 p.m.	Sprint Cup Racing (Kentucky Speedway)
SATURDAY, JULY 7
6:30 – 7:30 p.m.	Countdown to Green
7:30 – 11 p.m.	Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Daytona International Speedway)
SUNDAY, JULY 15
Noon – 1 p.m.	Countdown to Green
1 – 4:30 p.m.	New Hampshire 301 (New Hampshire Motor Speedway)

TNT’s RaceBuddy on NASCAR.COM

TNT RaceBuddy on NASCAR.COM will once again provide live companion coverage from eight different camera views and an option of two mosaic screens. Camera angles will include four In-Car Driver Cams, two Battle Cams highlighting head-to-head competition between drivers, a Backstretch Cam and a Pit Road Cam. Fans can view up to four angles at once through each mosaic option. Returning features to the site also include the DVR Function, an Enhanced LIVE Leaderboard and RaceView’s position tracker. Fans can connect throughout the race on Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger and MySpace for a seamlessly-integrated social media experience.

NASCAR.COM will also offer a post-race show featuring TNT announcers with highlights, news and information, and interviews with drivers and crew members.

Wide Open Coverage

TNT’s prime time race in Daytona, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, will feature the return of Wide Open Coverage in which the network provides continuous race coverage free of national commercial breaks. Wide Open features more unobstructed race action than that of a standard telecast by using a letterbox widescreen format. In place of the national ads, the telecast features a variety of animated sponsor messages, unique branded content and distinct on-screen graphic elements.

There you have it.

Some Back To Work Tuesday Linkage

Back to work for many of you after the Memorial Day holiday. Because of my crazy schedule, I didn’t get to enjoy it, but you don’t care about that. Let’s do links.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that Cox Communications has dropped the New Orleans Hornets allowing Fox Sports to swoop up the rights.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News takes a look at the US TV coverage of the French Open.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter writes that UK’s Channel 4 plans extensive coverage of the 2012 London Paralympics which will be held two weeks after the Summer Olympics.

Tim Nudd of Adweek reviews the latest WatchESPN spot.

Alex Weprin of TVNewser reports that HBO’s Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel will co-host Live with Kelly next week.

Evan Weiner at Examiner.com explains how NBC’s huge rights fee effectively ended Qatar’s bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Ed Sherman from The Sherman Report interviews legendary sportswriter Frank Deford.

Ed writes that USA Today’s Sports section is changing its reporting strategy.

Media Rantz remembers the Marv Albert arrest 15 years later. Disclosure: I’m quoted in this very well-researched article.

Will Brinson at CBSSports.com writes that Showtime/NFL Films has quietly dumped Warren Sapp from “Inside the NFL”, however, he remains on NFL Network.

Evan Sporer of SportsGrid has the great video of a soldier home from Afghanistan surprising his daughters at Sunday’s Minnesota Twins game. It has nothing to do with sports media. I’m just a huge sucker for reunion videos.

Chadd Scott at ChuckOliver.net explores how TV money has led to the “Wal-Martization” of college football.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing notes that former ESPN college football crackpot Craig James is running below “Undecided” in the Texas U.S. Senate Republican primary. Always a good place to be when trying to run a successful campaign.

Bob’s Blitz says former Miami sports radio talker Sid Rosenberg has a new gig.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick actually heaps praise this morning. And he does it to Hall of Fame hockey voice Mike Emrick.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says Time Warner Cable will air some local high school lacrosse playoff games.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the NBA Draft Lottery will air from New York’s Times Square for the first time ever.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that apparently NFL Network will no longer air CFL games.

Ken adds that there’s no New York City radio home of the 2012 Olympics as of yet.

Ken provides the Compass Media college football schedule for the 2012 season.

And Ken has the Sports USA college football schedule as well.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times looks back at the weekend that was in sports television.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes that embattled South Florida sports radio talk show Sid Rosenberg is about to start a new gig.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a local sports radio station is about to acquire a rival FM station.

Jerry Garcia from the San Antonio Express-News says TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal spent some time talking to a local TV station and defending his co-hort Charles Barkley.

Roy Bragg of the Express-News says the Chuckster was glad to meet the peeps in San Antonio on Monday.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch has some linkage of his own to provide.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune talks with Utah Jazz TV voice Craig Bolerjack.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post looks at the mtn.: The Final Days.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News notes that a hockey primer from 1993 still holds true today.

Steve Ladurantaye from the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Rogers and TSN are smelling blood and plan to bid for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada package.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail says Rogers Sportsnet has snatched IndyCar rights away from TSN.

The Canadian Sports Media blog looks at the silly PR hockey wars being conducted by Rogers Sportsnet and TSN.

Sports Media Watch gives us the overnight ratings for the Indianapolis 500 on ABC.

Steve Lepore at SB Nation’s Puck The Media predicts the ratings for this year’s Stanley Cup Final.

Joe Favorito says things are looking good at NBC Sports.

Jordan Golson at MacRumors talks with ESPN’s NASCAR pit reporter Dave Burns about using an iPad for his reports.

That’s going to do it for now.

TNT Has Exclusive Coverage of NBA’s Western Conference Finals

Starting tonight, TNT will air the entire NBA Western Conference Finals between Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Tonight’s and next Saturday’s Game 4 will begin at 8:30 p.m. ET. Weeknight coverage will air at 9 p.m.

Before each game, TNT will have NBA Tip-Off starting at 8 p.m. each night. Of course, Ernie Johnson, Jr., Charles Barkley, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Shaquille O’Neal will be on the case for TNT. And after each game, the gang return for Inside the NBA. The guys will shuffle between OKC and the Alamo City for the entire series.

Marv Albert, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller will be courtside for each game. Craig Sager and his loud wardrobe will cover the sidelines.

We have the TNT press release.

TNT’s Exclusive Coverage of the Western Conference Finals Tips Off Sunday, May 27

TNT will provide exclusive coverage of the 2012 NBA Western Conference Finals featuring the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder beginning Sunday, May 27, at 8 p.m. ET. TNT’s Marv Albert will call the Western Conference Finals with analysts Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller and reporter Craig Sager. The first two games of the best-of-seven series between the Spurs and Thunder -– the two teams with the best records in the Western Conference during the regular season -– will be televised live from AT&T Center in San Antonio. The Spurs have swept its first and second round playoff opponents and haven’t lost a game since April 11.

NBA Tip-Off with host Ernie Johnson and analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, will be on site to preview each Western Conference Finals game. Johnson, Barkley, O’Neal and Smith will return following each game for the Sports Emmy® Award-winning Inside the NBA. Additionally, TNT’s Cheryl Miller will provide reports from the Eastern Conference Finals.

TNT OverTime on NBA.com will provide multiple camera angle coverage including an “Action Cam” and a “Backboard Cam” throughout the Western Conference Finals. Fans will have the ability to vote for the player they would like the “Home Player Cam” and “Away Player Cam” to follow each quarter. Fans can also watch each camera individually, with picture-in-picture or the mosaic view. They can also participate in “Ask The Expert” Cover It Live chats where they can direct questions to NBA insiders questions during the games.

2012 WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS ON TNT (All Times ET)

TIME/DATE	GAME
Sunday, May 27
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)
8:30 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs (Game 1) Marv Albert (play-by-play), Steve Kerr (analyst), Reggie Miller (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
Tuesday, May 29
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
9 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs (Game 2) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
Thursday, May 31
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
9 p.m.	San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 3) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
Saturday, June 2
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
8:30 p.m.	San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 4) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
Monday, June 4
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
9 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs (Game 5*) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
9 p.m.	San Antonio Spurs @ Oklahoma City Thunder (Game 6*) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
Friday, June 8
8 p.m.	NBA Tip-Off Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
9 p.m.	Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs (Game 7*) Albert (play-by-play), Kerr (analyst), Miller (analyst) and Sager (reporter)
Postgame	Inside the NBA Johnson (host), Barkley (analyst), O’Neal (analyst) and Smith (analyst)
	*If necessary

That’s all.

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.

Some Wednesday Night Linkage

I’ll do some more linkage for you this evening. You’re owed it. Why not?

Thomas O’Toole from USA Today reports that Laurie Fine, the wife of ex-Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, is suing ESPN for libel saying a report ruined her reputation.

Barry Petchesky of Deadspin goes inside the lawsuit and notes that Fine is accusing ESPN of circling the wagons against her.

John Koblin from Deadspin says Fang’s Bites fave Charissa Thompson will replace the outgoing Michelle Beadle on ESPN2′s SportsNation.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with ESPN’s Prince of Darkness John Skipper who fires some shots at NBC Sports Network.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today has NBC’s response to Skipper.

Tom Weir of USA Today says ESPN’s Adam Schefter threw a G*d D*mned reference at Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio and ESPN2. That’s a lot of ESPN references in one sentence.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Pat O’Brien is back on the Olympic stage.

Mike Ozanian from Forbes says while sports TV advertising spending is up, the return of investment is not necessarily that good.

Andy Fixmer and Edmund Lee of Bloomberg Businessweek report that the networks are putting more sports programming in primetime to avoid DVR timeshifting.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable looks at NBCUniversal announcing Olympic coverage plans for three cable networks.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that NBC Sports Network will air a cable TV record amount of Olympic coverage this summer.

Mike notes that ESPN is hoping to double its subscriber numbers for its WatchESPN app.

Meanwhile, Josh Lowensohn of CNET says hold the WatchESPN to Apple TV talk.

Billy Steele of Engadget reviews the new ESPN Radio iPad app.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that Fox Sports West had an interesting “Key to the Game”.

Jim Williams of the Bleacher Report talks with Fox Soccer analysts on this Saturday’s Champions League Final.

Clare Atkinson from the New York Post reports that the networks are jacking up ad rates for the NFL including CBS for Super Bowl XLVII.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that NBC Sports Network will cover the Indy 500 Time Trials this weekend.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at the amount of Olympic coverage on three NBCUniversal cable networks.

Pete says NBC Sports golf reporter Dottie Pepper has co-authored a series of books bringing golf to kids.

Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says a local cable TV sports reporter is fast becoming a regular on the high school scene.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says a sports radio producer put Icy Hot on his manjunk.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald writes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is not a fan of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch can’t believe Mike Francesa’s anti-Twitter stance.

Kent Youngblood at the Minneapolis Star Tribune says the new TV voice of the Minnesota Wild comes with some controversy.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News says the national media is beginning to take notice of the Kings’ playoff run.

Bud Withers of the Seattle Times writes that ESPN has moved the coaching debut of Mike Leach with Washington State to a Thursday night primetime game.

Jeff Morrow of the Tri-City (WA) Herald notes that ESPN Radio has returned to the local area.

Annie Fowler of the Herald says NHL Network will air the Memorial Cup in its entirety.

Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing is still buzzing over Mike Francesa’s anti-Twitter rant from this week.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC could be moved on Saturday if Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final goes into triple overtime.

Steve says the ratings Game 2 of the NHL Western Conference Final were down from last year.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth looks at various local radio ratings for baseball.

And that will be do it for tonight.

ABC/ESPN & TNT’s NBA Playoffs Announcing Assignments Through Sunday, May 20

Let’s provide the announcing assignments for both TNT and ESPN/ABC from Wednesday through Sunday. We’ll do this in order. I could go out of sequence as TNT put all of their assignments in one release as did ESPN/ABC, but I’ll try to break them up and give them to in sequence.

First TNT for Wednesday.

Now, we go to ESPN/ABC’s schedule for Thursday, Friday and Saturday

Now to TNT for late night Saturday:

Now for Sunday afternoon on ABC.

And we go to TNT to round out the NBA action on Sunday night.

And that does it. All in sequence and all listed for you.

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.

NBA on TNT Announcing Assignments For Tonight and Tomorrow

Let’s provide the NBA on TNT announcing assignments for tonight and tomorrow night. TNT has a double-double for tonight and tomorrow with the Conference Semifinals.

That’s it.

Finally Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do some Friday megalinks. You’ve been owed some and I haven’t been able to do links for most of the week.

Of course, you have the Weekend Viewing Picks which provide plenty of college sports, soccer, baseball and the NBA and NHL postseason action.

Now let’s do your links.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today explores Jason La Canfora’s decision to leave NFL Network and bolt to CBS.

Media Rantz looks into the potential departure of Michelle Beadle from ESPN to NBC.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch says E! will produce a special on New York Jets QB Tim Tebow.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report hears from a Fox Soccer executive on why the Fox Sports Media Group chose to air so many English Premier League games on the final day of the season.

Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk writes that despite reports to the contrary, it appears that the New York Jets won’t make another appearance on HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer.

Eriq Gardner at the Hollywood Reporter says a group of fans have filed a class action lawsuit against MLB and its TV partners on the antiquated and silly blackout policy.

Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel says while the Minnesota Vikings will finally get their long-awaited stadium, one state legislator attempted to sneak a bill ending all local NFL blackouts. I think that was a great idea.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News/Broadcasting & Cable writes the long-anticipated Time Warner Cable Los Angeles Lakers-centric regional sports network will launch in October.

At Adweek, Anthony Crupi writes that Fox has sold out its ad inventory for the UEFA Champions League Final.

Thomas Pardee of Advertising Age says social media is changing the way we watch sports.

In the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says there are times when the N-word should to be published in full.

Eric Goldschein at SportsGrid says CBC Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean stretched his analogy too far in comparing the 9/11 First Responders to NHL players this week.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group looks at NBC/Golf Channel’s joint production of this week’s Players Championship.

Brandon Costa of SVG explores ESPN’s expanded multiplatform rights for NCAA Championships.

And SVG tells us about the Big East Conference’s in-house production of the league’s Baseball Tournament.

Kristi Dosh at ESPN.com looks into the dollars and cents of the major college sports TV rights contracts.

Patrick Rishe at Forbes says while the ACC signed a rich contract with ESPN, it still doesn’t compare to the Pac-12′s huge megadeal.

My Twitter Trophy Wife, Amanda Rykoff chronicles her day spent at the MLB Fan Cave for espnW.

Paulsen at Sports Media Watch crunches the numbers behind the ratings rise for the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and the lower for the NBA Playoffs.

Joe Lucia of Awful Announcing also looks into the ratings for the NBA and NHL Postseasons.

Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead notes the disturbing arrest of the PA Announcer for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth looks at some of the sports media stories that are irking him this week.

East and Mid-Atlantic

I haven’t been able to address the death of Carl Beane, the Red Sox public address announcer. Carl was a radio reporter in Western Massachusetts and also free-lanced for ESPN Radio, CBS Radio, Fox Sports Radio to report on various NFL and college games. He died this week when he suffered a heart attack and crashed his car. He was 59. It seemed everyone in New England had some connection to Beane. I’ll give you some of the stories that have been written about him this week.

David Scott at ESPN’s Front Row PR blog gets reaction from people at the network who knew him.

Gordon Edes at ESPN Boston says Beane felt he was born to be the Fenway Park public address announcer.

WEEI’s Mike Petraglia writes about his personal connection to Beane.

Julian Benbow of the Boston Globe says the Red Sox paid tribute to Beane at last night’s game by not having anyone do the PA.

Amanda Bruno of the Springfield Republican writes that Beane was a role model and mentor to her.

To other stories now, heading back to the Globe, Chad Finn says the ACC got its huge deal and it will affect member school Boston College in many ways.

Chad says former Red Sox voice Jerry Trupiano is getting some familial help in trying to get the Houston Astros radio gig.

Desmond Connor of the Hartford Courant says the Big East’s interim commissioner is hopeful his conference can cash in on the recent big spending by ESPN and other networks.

The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir talks with the legendary Vin Scully.

Richard profiles the person behind a fake Walt Frazier Twitter account.

Jack Bell of the Times interviews Fox Sports President Eric Shanks about Sunday’s unprecedented English Premier League coverage.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Times rails over player unions defending their membership for the wrong reasons.

The Post’s Justin Terranova talks with NBC’s Pierre McGuire.

Justin has five questions for TNT’s Kenny Smith.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says a former local sports reporter is returning to her roots with Time Warner Cable’s Southern California network.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says technical difficulties plagued a local radio broadcast of the Yankees.

Pete says many of NBC/Golf Channel’s cameras will be focused squarely on one hole at the Players Championship this week.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record explores the new SNY deal to air UConn women’s basketball games.

At the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner asks if high school football is doomed.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call watched the train wreck of former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens appearing on Dr. Phil this week and being confronted by his multiple baby mommas.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post says MLB Network compared the swings of the late Mickey Mantle and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says a new local sports radio morning host comes with some baggage from his old job.

David says Comcast and ESPN cut a deal this week for subscribers to watch the network online.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that Fox Sports Oklahoma will air specials next week on the state’s two major college football programs.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that the Reds TV and Radio ratings are up this season.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch explores the Cubs’ Kerry Wood blowing up at the local media this week.

Paul Christian at the Rochester (MN) Post Bulletin looks at NBC’s coverage of The Players Championship.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that a local sports anchor gets to talk news on the radio.

West

John Maffei of the North County Times says the local media plans to cover Junior Seau’s public memorial today.

Jim Carlisle at the Ventura County Star notes that outgoing flagship TV station KCAL gave another farewell to the Los Angeles Lakers this week.

Jim looks at the 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass which will get plenty of attention on NBC/Golf Channel at the Players Championship.

Jim provides his weekend viewing picks.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at Time Warner Cable’s new sports channels.

Tom tries to give Kings fans missing their local TV voices a silver lining.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News goes over the latest developments at the Pac-12 Networks.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC’s Ron MacLean had to clarify his 9/11 remarks before Game 6 of the New York Rangers-Washington Capitals series.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the announcing assignments for both CBC and TSN in the NHL Conference Final round.

And we are done. Enjoy your sports weekend.

TNT Airs an NBA Triple Double Over The Next Three Days

The NBA Playoffs continue this week and TNT airs three doubleheaders starting tonight through Wednesday.

We have the details for you.

NBA Playoffs on TNT Continue with Multiple Doubleheaders beginning on May 7

TNT’s coverage of the NBA Playoffs will continue on Monday, May 7 with a doubleheader. Monday’s action will tip off with the San Antonio Spurs visiting the Utah Jazz (Game 4) at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the Los Angeles Clippers hosting the Memphis Grizzlies (Game 4) at 10:30 p.m. ET. The Emmy^® award-winning studio show Inside the NBA with Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith will recap the night’s action.

The network’s playoff coverage continues on Tuesday, May 8 with the Atlanta Hawks hosting the Boston Celtics (Game 5) at 8 p.m. ET, preceded by the Denver Nuggets visiting the Los Angeles Lakers (Game 5) at 10:30 p.m. ET. Inside the NBA with Johnson, Barkley, O’Neal and Smith will once again recap the night’s action.

TNT’s NBA Playoff coverage on Wednesday, May 9 will feature the New York Knicks @ Miami Heat (Game 5) at 7 p.m. ET followed by Grizzlies hosting the Clippers at 9:30 p.m. ET. Following the doubleheader, Johnson, Barkley, O’Neal and Smith will recap the night’s action on Inside the NBA.

NBA ON TNT NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE:

DAY/DATE
TIME (ET)	EVENT
Monday, May 7
8 p.m.	TNT NBA Tip-Off
	San Antonio Spurs @ Utah Jazz (Game 4)
	Matt Devlin (play-by-play) and Mike Fratello (analyst) with Lewis Johnson (reporter)
10:30 p.m.	Memphis Grizzlies @ Los Angeles Clippers (Game 4)
	Dick Stockton (play-by-play) and Chris Webber (analyst) with Jaime Maggio (reporter)
Post-game	Inside the NBA
	Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)
Tuesday, May 8
8 p.m.	TNT NBA Tip-Off
	Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)
	Boston Celtics @ Atlanta Hawks (Game 5)
	Kevin Harlan (play-by-play) and Reggie Miller (analyst) with Tracy Wolfson (reporter)
10:30 p.m.	Denver Nuggets @ Los Angeles Lakers (Game 5)
	Marv Albert (play-by-play) and Steve Kerr (analyst) with Craig Sager (reporter)
Post-game	Inside the NBA
	Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)
Wednesday, May 9
7 p.m.	TNT NBA Tip-Off
	Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)
	New York Knicks @ Miami Heat (Game 5)
9:30 p.m.	Los Angeles Clippers @ Memphis Grizzlies (Game 5)
Post-game	Inside the NBA
	Ernie Johnson (host), Charles Barkley (analyst), Shaquille O’Neal (analyst) and Kenny Smith (analyst)

That will do it.

A Few Monday Links

I’m going to be away from a computer for most of the day so I’ll provide a few links for you now. If I can, I’ll provide more later when I’m back.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes that Floyd Mayweather vs. Larry Merchant II did not materialize after Saturday’s Mayweather-Cotto fight on pay per view.

Mike says TNT is denying that Charles Barkley used a gay slur during its NBA pregame show on Sunday.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report notes that Phil Mushnick’s Sunday column was not A) posted on the New York Post’s main sports webpage, and B) did not reference the brouhaha over his Friday piece.

Sophie A. Schillaci of the Hollywood Reporter talks about Hollywood’s love affair with hockey.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable says CBS is receiving increased ad revenues for its SEC college football package due to a price increase.

R. Thomas Umstead writes that a Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquaio pay per view fight could reap millions of dollars for both fighters when it finally becomes reality.

Noreen O’Leary of Adweek says a new Olympic ad is causing a firestorm in the UK for renewing old wounds from the 1982 Falklands War between the UK and Argentina.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing notes that ESPN’s Karl Ravech got his DC monuments mixed up during last night’s edition of Baseball Tonight.

Do you want to see ESPN Erin Andrews in her Kentucky Derby hat from Saturday? I think you do. It’s at The Big Lead.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post still doesn’t address his controversial Friday column today, but has time to criticize SNY for one of its graphics.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY says Mushie is still feeling the heat today.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times pays tribute to former CBS and ABC wordsmith Jack Whitaker who received a Lifetime Achievement Sports Emmy Award last week.

To David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun who reports that WJZ-TV actually cut away from yesterday’s marathon Red Sox-Orioles game in favor of 60 Minutes and a feature on local Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

John-John Williams IV of the Sun says O’s fans took to Twitter to express their anger at the move. The game was also shown on MASN in the local area, however, there are still parts of Baltimore that are still not wired for cable so you can imagine the anger.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times enjoyed NBC’s coverage of the Kentucky Derby.

However, Sports Media Watch says the overnight ratings for the Derby dropped 7% from last year and hit a six year low.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch can’t believe White Sox TV voice Hawk Harrelson remained silent for over a minute apparently despondent over a loss on Friday.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post feels ESPN’s Doris Burke gets the job done on NBA games.

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

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC’s Bob Cole remains a polarizing figure among hockey fans.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star writes that the sale of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment to Canadian media giants Rogers and Bell is a home run.

And that’s it for now. I’ll try to do more when I return.

Making Time For The Wednesday Linkage

I haven’t been able to links for a couple of days. I have a few leftover stuff since Monday, but nothing totally clogging up my browser, but I do want to give you a full set of stories today.

I’ve done my best to summarize the whole bizarre Sarah Phillips/ESPN.com/Scamming people story and that’s over here. If there any updates today, I’ll try to bring them to you, but it appears that there’s a new development every hour or so.

Let’s try to get what I have to you now.

Tom Weir of USA Today also looks into the Sarah Phillips saga.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today says Tiger Woods is being criticized for doing an end run around the news media and answering questions from fans via social media.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deistch critiques ESPN’s and NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Draft.

Kurt Soller of Esquire catches up with TNT’s Craig Sager and discusses his loud wardrobe.

Multichannel News reports on ESPN’s ratings for its first weekday English Premier League game.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes the NFL Draft was the second most watched in history.

Former ESPN’er Dana Jacobsen has started her own blog and says she’ll keep us up to date on where she lands next.

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo’s Puck Daddy notes that HBO has renewed 24/7 for another NHL season and will get more input from the league’s media arm.

Greg talks with NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins about the league’s Stanley Cup Playoff ratings and other matters.

Jeff John Roberts at paidContent wonders if Bleacher Report can make its writers into viable media stars.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Review Project looks at one man who oversees the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s interviewing technique.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report warns how not to use Twitter like the Chicago Sun-Times’ columnist Joe Cowley.

Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes that Harris Corp. which done a lot in developing broadcast equipment and had a hand in sports will now get out of the business.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the audio of Gus Johnson calling MLS action over the weekend. That’s right, MLS.

John Koblin at Deadspin says pariah Sarah Phillips and her partner-in-crime, Nilesh Prasad have been career scammers.

Deadspin’s Erik Malinowski has a parody Tweeter breaking character and giving his side of the story in the Sarah Phillips saga.

To Ben Koo of Awful Announcing who notes that the Tuesday late night edition of SportsCenter ended in silence.

Erin Gloria Ryan at Jezebel says the Crossing Broad blog posted an upskirt pic that was shown on TV and the site’s editor doesn’t get why the uproar.

Neil Best of Newsday talks with New York Knicks TV voice and ESPN NBA play caller Mike Breen.

Congrats to Neil as he celebrates 5 years of his WatchDog blog. Neil and I share a milestone today.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes that MLB Network will air seven Minor League Baseball games this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says CBS has made one announcement for its SEC football schedule for the fall.

Jonathan Tannenwald of Philly.com talks with Gus Johnson about him calling soccer games.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog is amused at boring and extremely verbose ESPN.com columnist Gregg Easterbrook’s fears about DC NFL Team QB Robert Grifffin III’s play in the rain. I used to love Easterbrook’s TMQ columns, but they now grate on me. Can’t read them anymore.

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some South Florida sports radio moves.

Jerry Garcia at the San Antonio Express-News goes over the Sports Emmy winners.

Mel Bracht from The Oklahoman says the Thunder continue to set local ratings records.

Mel says TNT’s Charles Barkley is squarely in the Thunder’s camp.

Robert Feder at Time Out Chicago says the Chicago Sun-Times have put sexist columnist Joe Cowley on what’s called “Final Notice.”

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch did not like how one female TV host kept hitting on St. Louis Cardinals World Series hero David Freese during a morning show segment.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune has TNT’s Kenny “The Jet” Smith discussing the Utah Jazz’s future.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail isn’t too thrilled about having the Maple Leafs on the next season of HBO’s 24/7.

Sports Media Watch says the Manchester Derby scored for ESPN on Monday.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says CNBC is doing well with the NHL Stanley Cup Conference Semifinals.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth has a look at the sports radio scene across the country.

Normally I don’t link to Bleacher Report slideshows and it’s one of the things I’ve disliked about the site for a long time, but I will link to the 20 Hottest Redheads slideshow only for the fact that they used a pic that I posted of Jen Royle from last year’s Five Women Who Make Me Stop Flipping The Remote post. Actually that pic came from Jen herself so they should really credit her and not me.

And that’s going to do it.

Winners of the 33rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards

Throughout the day, I will be posting various press releases from the networks touting their Sports Emmy Awards. Last night, I posted the winners as they were handed out. Now, we have the official press release from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences which holds the annual ceremonies.

These include the names who were involved in each category. Congratulations to all of the winners this year.

THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE 33^rd ANNUAL SPORTS EMMY® AWARDS

Jack Whitaker Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

New York, NY – April 30, 2012 – The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) announced the winners of the 33^rd Annual Sports Emmy® Awards at a special ceremony tonight at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.  Winners in 33 categories including Outstanding Live Sports Special, Live Series, Sports Documentary, Studio Show, Promotional Announcements, Play-by-Play Personality and Studio Analyst were honored.

The awards were presented by a distinguished group of sports figures and television personalities including Cris Collinsworth (sports analyst for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”); Harold Reynolds (MLB Network studio analyst); Michele Tafoya (sideline reporter, NBC’s “Sunday Night Football”); Al Leiter (studio analyst, MLB Network); Mike Mayock (game analyst, NFL Network); Melissa Stark (reporter, NFL Network); Shaquille O’Neal (studio analyst, “Inside the NBA on TNT”); Joe Buck (sportscaster, FOX Sports); Curt Menefee (sportscaster and host, “FOX NFL Sunday”); Tracy Wolfson (sportscaster, CBS Sports); Gary Danielson (commentator, CBS Sports); Mary Carillo (correspondent, HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”); Sage Steele (anchor, ESPN’s “SportsCenter”); Bob Papa (HBO Sports Broadcaster); Ernie Johnson (host of “Inside the NBA on TNT”); Chris McKendry (co-anchor, ESPN’s “SportsCenter”); and Steve Levy (journalist, ESPN’s “SportsCenter”).

One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Jack Whitaker, sports commentator and essayist, by  Jim Nantz, play-by-play announcer of “The NFL on CBS,” NCAA college basketball and golf on CBS.

“We are honored to be presenting Jack Whitaker with our Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Malachy Wienges, Chairman, NATAS. “I had the pleasure of working with Jack for eighteen years at CBS, and Jack is a sports icon and a class act.”

In addition, NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell was honored with the Chairman’s Award representing the networks and their patriotic coverage of the historic 10 year anniversary of September 11^th last year.

The Sports Emmy® Award recipients were chosen by a Blue Ribbon Panel of industry peers.  The awards recognize outstanding achievement by individuals and programs broadcast throughout the 2011 calendar year.

A detailed listing of all awards is below as compiled by the independent accountancy firm of Lutz and Carr, LLP. A list of winners for the 33^rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards is also available on the National Television Academy’s website at www.emmyonline.tv.

Awards by Network Group

NBC Sports Group (NBC, Versus, Golf Channel, nbcsports.com)	9
ESPN (ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC, ESPN 3D, espn.com)	6
Turner Sports (TNT, TBS, NBA TV, NBA.com, truTV)	5
FOX Sports Media Group (FOX, SPEED)	5
CBS (CBS, Showtime, CBSSports.com)	4
HBO Sports	3
MLB Network	3
NFL Network	2
PGA.com	1

Nominations by Network

NBC	8
FOX	4
TNT	4
ESPN	3
HBO Sports	3
MLB NETWORK	3
SHOWTIME	3
ESPN2	2
NFL NETWORK	2
CBSSPORTS.COM	1
ESPN 3D	1
NBA TV	1
PGA.COM	1
SPEED	1
VERSUS	1

And the list of award winners are after the jump.

(continue reading…)

2012 Sports Emmy Awards Live Blog

The Sports Emmy Awards are being handed out in New York tonight. Through various sources at the event, I’ll be able to update this post as awards are being doled to the various winners. And no, I’m not there, but I can provide the winners as soon as they become available.

For the full list of nominees, go here.

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW — WEEKLY
Inside The NBA — TNT

OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT SOUND
MLB on Fox — Fox

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
America’s Cup Highlight Show — Versus

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN
Sunday Night Football — NBC

OUTSTANDING SHORT FEATURE
(tie)
“Together”-E:60 — ESPN
“Time Out of Mind”-Outside The Lines — ESPN

OUTSTANDING EDITING
24/7 Pacquaio/Marquez — HBO

OUTSTANDING PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — EPISODIC
(tie)
2011 Stanley Cup Final — NBC
A Game of Honor — Showtime

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY — SPORTS REPORTER
Michele Tafoya — NBC

OUTSTANDING GRAPHIC DESIGN
Sport Science — ESPN

OUTSTANDING SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
A Game of Honor — Showtime

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM STUDIO
MLB Tonight — MLB Network

OUTSTANDING PLAYOFF COVERAGE
NFL Wild Card Saturday — NBC

OUSTANDING CAMERA WORK
2011 Ironman Triathlon — NBC

OUTSTANDING EDITED SPORTS SPECIAL
Joplin: City of Hope — ESPN2

OUTSTANDING MUSIC COMPOSITION DIRECTION/LYRICS
Men of Mettle-Ed Sabol’s Last Football Movie — NFL Network/NFL Films

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PROMOTIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT — INSTITUTIONAL
NBA on TNT: Shaq Get Ready — TNT

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY — STUDIO HOST
Bob Costas — NBC/MLB Network (of course)

OUTSTANDING NEW APPROACHES SPORTS EVENT COVERAGE
PGA Championship LIVE on PGA.com — PGA.com

OUTSTANDING OPEN/TEASE
NBA on TNT: Live Forever — TNT

OUTSTANDING POST PRODUCED AUDIO/SOUND
Sound FX: All Access — NFL Network

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY — SPORT EVENT ANALYST
Cris Collinsworth — NBC

THE DICK SCHAAP WRITING AWARD
24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the Winter Classic — HBO

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY — STUDIO ANALYST
Charles Barkley — TNT

OUTSTANDING NEW APPROACHES SPORTS PROGRAMMING
A Game of Honor — Showtime

OUTSTANDING EDITED SPORTS SERIES/ANTHOLOGY
The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants — Showtime/MLB Productions

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR SPORTS
Jack Whitaker — CBS/ABC Sports

OUTSTANDING STUDIO SHOW — DAILY
MLB Tonight — MLB Network

OUTSTANDING LONG FEATURE
Outside The Lines: The Man in the Red Bandana — ESPN

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL TEAM REMOTE
(tie)
MLB on Fox — Fox
Winter X Games 15 — ESPN 3D

OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS SERIES
Sunday Night Football — NBC

OUTSTANDING SPORTS JOURNALISM
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel: The College Bowl Game Money Trail — HBO

OUTSTANDING LIVE EVENT TURNAROUND
Inside The Headsets — Speed

OUTSTANDING LIVE SPORTS SPECIAL
The World Series — Fox

OUTSTANDING SPORTS PERSONALITY — PLAY-BY-PLAY
Joe Buck — Fox

That concludes the Awards for tonight.

TNT To Air All Four Parts of HBO’s 24/7 Mayweather/Cotto

Starting Tuesday, TNT will air all four parts of HBO’s boxing series, “24/7 Mayweather/Cotto” on consecutive nights. Recently, HBO has been using Time Warner corporate partner CNN to re-air the 24/7 series. Now it will use another Time Warner sister cable channel, TNT.

This will lead right into the HBO Pay Per View fight between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and Miguel Cotto on Saturday, May 5.

The first installment of 24/7 Mayweather/Cotto airs Tuesday immediately following Inside the NBA and will do so on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The final episode airs Friday night at 11:45 ET/PT.

We have the details from TNT on the airing of 24/7 Mayweather/Cotto.

TNT Set to Broadcast HBO^® Reality Series 24/7 Mayweather/Cotto
Four-Part Series Replays Over Four Consecutive Nights on TNT, beginning May 1

HBO’s Emmy-Award^®-winning reality series ‘24/7’ is coming to TNT, which will air replays of the all-new four-part series 24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO on four consecutive nights, beginning Tuesday, May 1.

In the lead-up to the blockbuster HBO Pay-Per-View^® telecast on May 5 in Las Vegas when Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto battle for Cotto’s world super welterweight title, TNT will replay a different episode of 24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO from Tuesday, May 1, through Friday, May 4. Episodes one through three are set to air immediately following the post-game edition of the Emmy Award^®-winning studio program INSIDE THE NBA, which wraps up the evening’s NBA Playoff action.

24/7 MAYWEATHER/COTTO is the all-access, behind-the-scenes pass that allows viewers to step into the lives of the fighters before they step into the ring. Mayweather lives and trains in Las Vegas, while Puerto Rico’s Cotto is training in Orlando.

35-year-old Floyd Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) is a celebrated superstar making his sixth appearance on the 24/7 series. Cotto, 31, (37-2, 30 KOs) has reinvigorated his career by capturing the super welterweight title and successfully defending it twice in 2011. This is Cotto’s third appearance on 24/7.

Episode one of 24/7 will air on TNT on Tuesday, May 1, immediately after INSIDE THE NBA. Episodes two and three will air on subsequent nights on TNT following INSIDE THE NBA. The finale of 24/7 will air on TNT Friday, May 4, at 11:45 p.m. (ET/PT) less than 24 hours before the mega-fight in Las Vegas.

In the past four years, HBO’s 24/7 franchise has earned 14 Sports Emmys^® for production excellence. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, the fast-moving, documentary-style production focuses on the training, commitment and sacrifices that prizefighters make in order to realize their dreams. The turnaround time is among the quickest in television as the series follows the fighters and their teams, both at camp and at home, while excitement and anxiety builds for the big fight.

That is all.

TNT Registers Its Most-Watched and Highest-Rated NBA Regular Season

For the 5th straight year, the NBA on TNT registered a viewership increase. And even with the lockout which angered fans, they came back to watch the NBA in droves.

According to TNT, its Thursday Night doubleheaders registered an average 1.7 household rating. That’s up from last year’s 1.6 average. And the average viewership saw 1.9 million viewers which again is up from the previous year.

TNT also had two of the most-watched NBA games on cable this season as well as the Top 6 viewed games on cable in the completed 2011-12 regular campaign.

And in key demographics, TNT scored as well. So all around, the NBA is quite healthy on cable television.

TNT Nets Highest-Rated and Most-Viewed NBA Regular Season

Network Garners Fifth Consecutive Season of Viewership Growth

The 2011-12 NBA regular season on TNT is the highest-rated and most-viewed in the network’s 28-year history with the league. The NBA on TNT averaged a 1.7 U.S. HH rating, up six percent vs. last year’s 1.6 rating; 1,907,000 household impressions, also an increase of six percent over an average of 1,797,000 last season; and 2,498,000 viewers, up four percent over an average of 2,397,000 last year. TNT generated its fifth straight year of growth among viewers and households.

TNT also televised the top six NBA regular-season games on cable this season and two of the top five most-watched NBA regular-season games in cable television history. TNT’s top five NBA regular-season telecasts:

• Boston at New York, Dec. 25 – 3.4 U.S. HH rating; 5,860,000 viewers
• New York at Miami, Feb. 23 – 3.2 U.S. HH rating; 5,092,000 viewers
• Boston at Miami, Dec. 27 – 2.9 U.S. HH rating; 4,548,000 viewers
• L.A. Lakers at Miami, Jan. 19 – 2.7 U.S. HH rating; 4,396,000 viewers
• Miami at Chicago, April 12 – 2.4 U.S. HH rating; 3,671,000 viewers

Additionally, the NBA on TNT generated double-digit increases among the core Men 18-34 (up 16 percent; 632,000 vs. 545,000) and Adult 18-34 demos (up 13 percent; 873,000 vs. 771,000).

TNT’s NBA Playoff coverage begins Saturday, April 28, with the Chicago Bulls hosting the Philadelphia 76ers at 1 p.m. ET. TNT, the home of the Western Conference Finals this season, will televise more than 40 NBA Playoff games.

That’s all.

Some Leftover Linkage

I need to clear my brower of links I was hoping to get to sometime over the last few days. Since I couldn’t do the Friday megalinks or any Saturday morning linkage, I’ll do some Sunday evening leftover links.

Consider this the Sunday entrée to the beginning of the workweek. I honestly don’t know what that means.

Here’s some linkage for you to chew on.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports is not a fan of Shaquille O’Neal on TNT.

Mike Farrell of Multichannel News writes that Time Warner Cable is hoping to obtain more sports properties for its new Southern California regional sports network.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel says the first round of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs was the most watched on record.

Andrea Morabito of Broadcasting & Cable reports that no talent hack Ryan Seacrest will be haunting NBC Sports as well as NBC News in an all-new, all-encompassing contract with NBCUniversal.

Tim Baysinger at B&C says ESPN’s ratings for the First Round of the NFL Draft were up double digits from the year before.

Sam Laird at Mashable writes that social media is influencing sports in many ways.

To Sean Newell of Deadspin who looks at the strange Twitter meltdown of Chicago Sun-Times reporter Joe Cowley who went all-sexist on female pilots and one of his co-workers.

Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report writes that former CBS and ABC Sports essayist Jack Whitaker is receiving a long overdue honor from the Sports Emmys on Monday.

Ryan Yoder from Awful Announcing reviews the good and the bad of ESPN’s First Round coverage of the NFL Draft.

Joe Lucia of AA does the same for NFL Network.

Back to Matt from AA, apparently Tim McCarver fancies himself an expert on climate change

From the Tampa Bay Times, Eric Deggans reviews ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group has ESPN optimistic that its Los Angeles studios will put itself in a unique position to cover the Lakers and Clippers in the NBA Playoffs.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell wonders if Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck can ever match Peyton Manning’s marketability.

Providence’s WJAR-TV and Cox Communications announce a new partnership that will simulcast the NBC affiliate’s local newscasts and also put Cox Sports RI’s programming on a new cable channel.

Amy Chozick and Nick Wingfield of the New York Times explore the growing world of TV mobile and tablet apps which include the soon-to-be released NBC Olympics iPad app.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times profiles actor Peter Scolari who plays three important roles in the Magic/Bird Broadway play.

Breaking a ban of linking to Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News who has an interesting story regarding Yankees voices John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman and whether they’ll be leaving if the team changes flagship radio stations after this season.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick has no hope for our society. Lighten up, Phil. Time to travel to Moldova or Johannesburg. Somewhere you don’t have to watch sports anymore.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY says MSG Network’s ratings for Game 7 of the Ottawa Senators-New York Rangers series were the best since the 1994 Stanley Cup-clinching game on the network.

Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that the 76ers are leaving long-time home WIP and switching to ESPN Radio Philadelphia.

Crossing Broad says the Sixers’ move came as a surprise.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner talks with Jim Rome and his new CBS home.

Laura Newberry of the Orlando Sentinel says Golf Channel has become a Central Florida mainstay.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes that the Rockets are not only moving to a new TV home next season, but are currently looking for a new radio flagship station as well.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman transcribes Mike Tirico’s call of Kevin Durant’s winning shot for the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer says one local cable provider will pick up NFL Network, but it’s not Time Warner.

Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch says the Sun-Times’ Joe Cowley may be headed towards a suspension.

Danny Ecker at Crain’s Chicago Business says the Bulls generated their highest regular season TV ratings since the Michael Jordan years.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says scheduling of playoff games never has the fans in mind.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune says ESPN gave the Utah Jazz the benefit of the doubt in its series opener.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC got the job done in choosing its NHL Playoff series for the Conference Semifinal round.

Peter Adler from the Edmonton Journal says the Oilers’ documentary series Oil Change which runs on NHL Network should return for a third season

Howard M. Alperin of Midwest Sports Fans asks why CBSSports.com doesn’t include soccer coverage?

Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy has TSN’s top hockey bloopers of the 2011-12 season.

That’s a lot of leftover linkage. Glad I was able to clear this out before Monday.