Fang's Bites

NBCUniversal Hypes “The Crossover”

We have this video from NBCUniversal with Crossover co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs talking about their new show which premieres tonight on NBC Sports Network. Here, Beadle and Briggs discuss what they’ll be talking about on the program, plus how much they’re looking forwards to the upcoming Super Bowl.

It’s a quick clip and you get a clue on what their New York set will look like when they settle into their permanent digs next week.

The Crossover premieres tonight at 6 ET on NBC Sports Network and will repeat at 10:30 p.m.

Some Various Monday Sports Media Thoughts

I haven’t done a thoughts post in ages. It’s fine time you’ve been provided one. Lets do this. As usual, they come in bullet form.

• How much is too much? When will the sports rights fee bubble burst? When will there be major blowback from a major cable or satellite provider against one of the major or regional sports networks? I have feeling that the providers are reaching the end of their proverbial ropes on constantly rising subscriber fees from sports programmers. They are a major reason why your pay TV bills are increasing. While sports fans feel the battles have become par for the course, a majority of the country doesn’t follow sports and wonder why they have to subsidize something they don’t watch.With Fox Sports’ purchases involving YES and Sports Time Ohio and creating two all-new sports networks along with Time Warner’s Los Angeles Lakers channel and potentially a Dodgers network, the price for subscriber is only going to go up. And with rights fees growing exponentially, the sports fan who might be living paycheck to paycheck may find him or herself priced out of watching sports on television.With many consumers cutting the cord on cable or satellite and finding alternate ways to watch TV, one wonders if networks and leagues will cut deals directly with YouTube or other online distributors to reach viewers.
• Looking forward to seeing the debut of “The Crossover” with Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs on NBC Sports Network. While we saw a sneak preview after the Pro Bowl on Sunday night, it certainly looked like an exact clone of her old show, SportsNation. It was only five minutes. We’ll see if it’s any different when it finally airs. Michelle is so funny, that the show will probably work.
• There was a time when network’s only Super Bowl pregame programming came on Super Bowl Sunday. Now with CBS, NBC and soon, Fox developing their cable sports networks, they all need inventory. So CBS Sports Network has 50 hours of programming this week, NBC Sports Network has its share, NFL Network has 140. Because there’s interest in the game, the networks provide the programming. It works because people will watch and it’s the NFL. If the Super Bowl didn’t get the ratings, the networks would not do much, but again, how much is too much? Is there a limit to this too?
• Speaking of Fox, it appears their cable sports strategy is taking shape. Not only will Speed be converted to Fox Sports 1, John Ourand at Sports Business Journal reports that Fuel will be rebranded to Fox Sports 2 with Fox Soccer becoming FX2 and no longer in the sports business. So Fox will have two all-cable sports channels to handle college basketball, college football, MLB, MMA, NASCAR, soccer and other inventory the division will develop. And I would not be surprised to see a lot of Super Bowl programming on both Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 in advance of Super Bowl XLIX in New York/New Jersey next year. And there won’t be any sports on FX once FS1 and 2 come to fruition.
• Quick movie recap: Les Miserables A, Django Unchained A+, Movie 43 C minus and Silver Linings Playbook with A+. SLP was much better than I thought it would be. Very impressed with Jennifer Lawrence’s performance and Bradley Cooper was very good.

That’s all.

Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs Discuss “The Crossover”

Earlier this week, NBC held a conference call with the co-hosts of the upcoming daily studio show, “The Crossover” which will premiere Monday on NBC Sports Network live from New Orleans for Super Bowl Week, then the following week, originate from the Football Night in America studios in New York weeknights at 6 p.m. ET.

Co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs along with NBC Sports Network Executive Producer Sam Flood were all on hand to take questions from various sports media reporters and your humble blogger. Quick aside. When my name was called, Michelle snickered. She’s too funny.

Here are excerpts of the conference call. See if you can guess what was my question to the group.

CONFERENCE CALL HIGHLIGHTS: MICHELLE BEADLE, DAVE BRIGGS AND SAM FLOOD PREVIEW NEW NBC SPORTS NETWORK SHOW “THE CROSSOVER”

“It’s tough to have to work with someone who has to sit in the makeup chair and worry about the hair, but Beadle will get used to the fact that I need those things.” – Briggs
“We got to see our set for the first real time yesterday and it’s beautiful, it’s bright and, I’m a girl, so I just see colors and big screens.” – Beadle
“It’s about personality. It’s about people you want to spend time with. It’s the people you want to be at the bar and hang out with, and these are the two people that you want to do that with.” – Flood
The Crossover Premieres Monday, January 28, at 6 p.m. ET from New Orleans on NBC Sports Network
New 30-Minute Show to Air Every Monday – Friday at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
Post-Super Bowl, Show To Air Daily From Studio 8G at 30 Rock
Co-Hosted by Michelle Beadle, NBC Sports and Access Hollywood Personality, and Dave Briggs, Former Fox News Anchor

New York – January 23, 2013 – Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs, the new hosts of The Crossover on NBC Sports Network, hosted a conference call today, along with Sam Flood, Executive Producer of NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network, to preview their new show which debuts Monday, January 28 at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

BEADLE AND BRIGGS ON WHAT TOPICS THEY WOULD DISCUSS IF THE SHOW STARTED TODAY:

Beadle: “Tim Brown, first and foremost. I feel like what was a non-story has turned into a big, giant story. And I want Callahan to speak.”
Briggs: “And now Tim Brown says (Callahan) was not throwing the Super Bowl. I also like the tennis story. I’m not a tennis fan, not a tennis guy, but when it does ‘Crossover,’ to use the title of the show, you’ve got to talk about it. Sloane Stephens takes out Serena, and Serena throws a classic tantrum for the ages, Harbaugh-like. And then, after the win, Sloane Stephens’ first priority is to run over to her phone, check her tweets and her texts. That, to me, crosses over. Is that how you now celebrate a win? Her (Twitter) followers increased.”
Beadle: “I think Manti Te’o’s not over yet, as much as I wish it was. This story keeps going because cynics, like myself, do not believe this kid for one second. So I think this story needs to continue on.”

BRIGGS ON HOSTING A SPORTS SHOW AFTER HOSTING A POLITICAL SHOW ON FOX NEWS:

Briggs on Politics: “We discussed all things 24-7 and did it in a very partisan manner. But I think the thing that you should take from Fox & Friends is that I can shift gears and do anything from current events, world events, to wars in the Middle East, to politics. Do I have a history of being somewhat political? Sure, but this is not a political show, and I don’t intend to steer it in that direction. I always try to bring balance to an issue, and even if I have a very strong opinion, I always welcome other opinions.”
Beadle: “But we are going to do an hour special on Roe v. Wade anniversaries.”
Briggs: “I don’t shy away from talking about politics if Sam wants us to… I think that my past could allow us different discussions. We have a segment called ‘Head to Head,’ I could see myself saying, ‘Alright, who’s a worse dealmaker the United States Congress or the NHL?’ I think you could take things from my past that changes the discussion topic a little bit and steer it in that direction. ”

ON THE SPORTS-WORLD WACKINESS THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS:

Beadle: “The last 2-3 weeks have been gifts from the sports gods. Every day is kind of one more thing that we can talk about that’s fun. I’m just hoping that they have some more stories left in them come Monday because man, if I can get another dead, fake girlfriend who died of cancer out of this world, I think that we’re all winning.”
Briggs: “It has been very difficult this last week to 10 days to not have the show airing. There’s certainly no shortage of stories that are perfect for us. I wish we had Manti Te’o but there’s another fake girl just around the corner.”
Beadle: “Lots of them out there.”
Briggs: “Washington Redskins players just said that they too have been duped by a couple of fake online girls. There’s always a juicy story right around the next corner.”

ON KICKING OFF THE CROSSOVER FROM NEW ORLEANS:

Beadle: “We’re talking about New Orleans here, one of the great cities in the country. There’s food, there’s people, there’s a vibe. I just think that it’s going to give us an energy – as if we needed more – that we’re just not going to get anywhere else. So, for me, I’m pumped. It’s outside, it’s 70 degrees for goodness sakes, and it’ll be the Super Bowl week, the best week of the sports year.”
Briggs: “I personally have never been to New Orleans, I’ll admit that, so I can’t wait to get there and incorporate as much of that city as we can. We’re going to have the New Orleans-type of guests, people that really encompass the spirit of that town. Also, Beadle and I are going to take a tour of the city with a former Saints great and get a sense of it. We want to bring people there that are tuning in from across the country, and give them a sense of what it feels like and what the spirit is like all week.”
Flood: “We also want to be where the action is, and that’s where it is that week and we’ve got a great set up there with our partners on The Dan Patrick Show. We’ve got a great location. We’ve got the facilities, we’ve got the people, and we’ve got the 24-hour rule, which is a hard and fast rule for Dave; no drinking 24 hours before a show. When we shut down each night in New Orleans, we want to make sure the kids aren’t out on the town.
Briggs: “That was not in my contract.”
Beadle: “24-HOUR rule?! What about a glass of red wine that’s good for the heart?”
Flood: “Okay, 12-hour rule.”

ON DEVELOPING CHEMISTRY FOR A SHOW:

Beadle: “We hang out. We go into rehearsal, we’re about to go into another one in a half hour, that’s just going to be part of it. In the next four days we are going to hang out as much as possible, get ourselves to New Orleans and practice and go to dinners. You just get a feel for working with each other and how the other works, and sometimes it clicks right away and sometimes it takes a little bit longer. I have no idea. I think that is kind of part of the nervous excitement of everything that’s going on over here.”
Briggs: “It’s tough to have to work with someone who has to sit in the makeup chair and worry about the hair, but Beadle will get used to the fact that I need those things.”
Beadle: “He does take a while.”

BEADLE ON THE CROSSOVER NOT HAVING A LIVE AUDIENCE:

“I’m going to let people in on a secret. Ninety-eight percent of our audience (On SportsNation) was the two camera guys screaming most days. I traded in a live audience, but I traded it in for 30 Rock. It’s New York City, to me the greatest city in the world. Live audience, no live audience; our neighbors are Saturday Night Live. That hallway itself is just a treasure trove of crazy people on any given day. We got to see our set for the first real time yesterday and it’s beautiful, it’s bright and, I’m a girl, so I just see colors and big screens.”

ON INCORPORATING SOCIAL MEDIA INTO THE CROSSOVER:

Briggs: “If you know Beadle, you know that social media will be incorporated with this show. I’m surprised every day when I come in and she already knows about the top-15 or 20 trending topics on Twitter in the sports world. So we definitely want to get the pulse of what is happening on Twitter, and what is trending and that will be weaved throughout the show. The same Beadle that’s on Twitter will be on that show.”
Beadle: “Yeah, my pictures won’t be allowed on the show but I’m going to certainly try.”

FLOOD ON BRIGGS:

“Being a Boston guy, I saw Mr. Briggs as he was rising up to the ranks in the Boston media. I’ve known him as someone who would be great to get into the NBC family, and someone who could put up with Beadle. So I think we’ve accomplished both things by putting this tag team together. And I should be careful talking about tag-teaming because the WWE fan that is Michelle Beadle might go on a tangent for the next half hour.”

FLOOD ON DRIVING VIEWERS TO THE CROSSOVER:

“It’s about personality. It’s about people you want to spend time with. It’s the people you want to be at the bar and hang out with, and these are the two people that you want to do that with. And that’s an important part of establishing them, and establishing the time at 6:00 (p.m. ET), Monday through Friday. And we’re going to re-air the show at 10:30 p.m. every night after our hockey coverage, and drive that puck audience over, and expose puckheads to Beadle and Briggs, which will be a fun opportunity to push a new audience and expose them to what will be a fun show.”

BEADLE ON THE CROSSOVER:

“I love the fact that the landscape of sports television has changed so drastically in the last two or three years. There’s not just one place to go anymore, and part of us coming here and doing this show is to bring a fun half hour, not take yourself too seriously. No contrived arguments where it feels forced or not organic. I, personally, don’t watch sports through the eyes of a stats nerd or an anger monger. I truly love stories and characters and the flash and the sexiness of it all. So, for me, I want 22 minutes-a-day of that kind of talk. And we’re not going to be as funny or light-hearted as Costas, but we’re definitely hoping to try to bring that level of our A-game to every day of this. I think it’ll be a little bit different on our lineup, you know, after hunting.”

BEADLE ON GUEST HOSTING BOOMER AND CARTON TODAY:

“Four hours flew by, who knew?”

BRIGGS ON WORKING IN BOSTON:

“The period I was there, ’04-’08, arguably the greatest four or five years any city ever had.”

BRIGGS ON CO-HOSTING THE CROSSOVER:

“When I first talked to Sam about the show, before he even got two sentences out of his mouth, I said, ‘That’s the show I always did think that would be perfect for me.’ And I gave him of an example of a lead-in that I might write on Fox & Friends. Right there we both kind of understood that we had the same thing in mind for The Crossover.”

FLOOD ON A LETTER TO NBC SPORTS ABOUT BEADLE:

“We get a lot of letters and notes from people that come in to NBC and I saved one from two months ago and it was:

‘Petitioners to NBC Sports: We, the enclosed petitioners, are great and diehard fans of the best and our favorite sportscaster, Michelle Beadle. She has it like no one since Howard Cosell.’ The petitioners go on to say, ‘We urge you to be big enough to put Michelle Beadle in the spotlight so that she can be the star she is. Thank you, The Petitioners. P.S. We are also great diehard fans of the King, Elvis Presley,’ who is very much alive so we are putting her in the spotlight with Mr. Briggs in The Crossover, and we thought the petitioners needed to be honored in this way.”

There you have it.

NBC Sports Group To Air Programming From New Orleans During Super Bowl Week

It may not have the Big Game this year, but that is not stopping the NBC Sports Group from having live programming during Super Bowl Week in New Orleans.

Thanks to the Dan Patrick Show and the launch of its new Michelle Beadle-driven show, “The Crossover,” NBC Sports Network will have a live presence in The Big Easy. In addition to those two shows, NBC Sports Network will have Pro Football Talk live from the Crescent City as well.

NBC Sports Radio will have some programs live from New Orleans including its nightly Erik Kuselias Show airing from Radio Row.

And NBC will have the Pro Bowl live from Honolulu this coming Saturday which will preview the Big Game.

Here’s NBC’s press release.

NBC SPORTS GROUP TO DELIVER ROBUST PROGRAMMING FROM NEW ORLEANS DURING SUPER BOWL XLVII

The Crossover: With Beadle and Briggs to Debut on NBC Sports Network Super Bowl Week from New Orleans
The Dan Patrick Show to Air a Week of Shows from Super Bowl XLVII
Pro Football Talk to Air Live from New Orleans On NBC Sports Network
NFL Pro Bowl Pre-game, Halftime and Post-game Show to Air Live on NBC from New Orleans
Assortment of NBC Sports Radio Programs Originating from New Orleans

NEW YORK — NBC Sports Group will deliver a robust collection of original programming from New Orleans, La., during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVII across NBC, NBC Sports Network and NBC Sports Radio. Programs originating from NBC Sports Group’s production headquarters in New Orleans include, The Dan Patrick Show, The Box Score, Pro Football Talk, and the debut of The Crossover: with Beadle and Briggs, as well as NBC’s NFL Pro Bowl pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage. The more than 24 hours of programming on NBC Sports Network is the most ever in the network’s history from a Super Bowl site.

In addition, NBC Sports Radio and other related NBC Sports Group content will be delivered from the Super Bowl host city. The NBC Sports Group production headquarters will be across the street from the New Orleans Convention Center, site of the NFL Experience, and will be the home to all NBC Sports Group Super Bowl XLVII productions.

“New Orleans is always an exciting setting for the biggest game of the season,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer of NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “Our sets are designed to capture the atmosphere of Super Bowl week and all the unique scenery that New Orleans offers.”

NBC SPORTS NETWORK

NBC Sports Group’s coverage from New Orleans will kick off each morning with The Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) from 9a.m. – Noon ET on NBC Sports Network. Patrick will feature a lineup of special guests from the NFL and world of sports and entertainment. At Noon ET, NBC Sports Network will air The Box Score, The Dan Patrick Show’s daily wrap-up program, featuring ‘The Danettes’ – Dan Patrick’s production team of Paul Pabst, Patrick O’Connor, Andrew Perloff and Todd Fritz.

“Super Bowl week is as good as it gets for this show…beyond the guests,” said Patrick. “In Dallas it was 11 degrees and we recreated the Ice Bowl during the show in the snow. Last year in Indy, we built a barn for Larry Bird and had a mini-Indy 500 go-cart track on set. One thing I know about New Orleans, we will top those.”

The Crossover: with Beadle and Briggs (@Crossover) debuts Monday, January 28 from New Orleans, andwill air each day at 6 p.m. ET from a specially designed set during Super Bowl week. The new 30-minute daily sports, entertainment and pop culture show hosted by Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs, will focus on the biggest and most topical stories of the day. Beginning Monday, February 4, The Crossover will move to its permanent home in Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.

“Launching a brand new sports show and NOT being in New Orleans for Super Bowl week would have been absurd. The food, the people, the action.” said Beadle. “Besides, we can take a week of Bourbon Street mulligans before heading back to 30 Rock.”

Pro Football Talk (@PFT) will air each day at 5 p.m. ET from New Orleans, La. Mike Florio and co-host Erik Kuselias will welcome a roster of NBC Sports Group analysts, including Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, and Peter King of Sports Illustrated. In addition to deep diving on the most topical NFL stories of the day, Pro Football Talk will provide in depth analysis on everything related to Super Bowl XLVII.

In addition to Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network, PFT Live on NBCSports.com will also originate from New Orleans during Super Bowl week. PFT Live will be streamed Monday-Friday at Noon ET on www.ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com.

NFL PRO BOWL ON NBC

The NFL Pro Bowl returns to NBC in primetime at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 27. Pre-game, halftime, and post-game coverage of the Pro Bowl will originate from the NBC Sports set in New Orleans. Host Dan Patrick will be joined by Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Peter< King, and Mike Florio.

Calling the Pro Bowl is six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), who just completed his 27^th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 13-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for Outstanding Event Analyst in each of his three seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who last year in her first season with SNF, won the inaugural Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Reporter. In addition to Tafoya, former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie will report from the sideline.

NBC SPORTS RADIO

A collection of NBC Sports Radio programs will also be originating from New Orleans leading up to the Super Bowl.

The Erik Kuselias Show will air live every evening from 7-10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Radio. Kuselias will welcome special guests and NBC Sports Group analysts, including Harrison, Ward and Flutie. Amani and Eytan, featuring former NFL pro Amani Toomer and co-host Eytan Shander, will air live each evening from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Safety Blitz with Rodney Harrison, the Football Night In America analyst and two-time Super Bowl champion, will air Saturday morning from 7-9 a.m. ET. Speaking of Sports with Rob Simmelkjaer will air the morning of Super Bowl Sunday from 8-9 a.m. ET.

Each show will have a major presence at NFL Super Bowl Radio Row and at Media Day. In addition, Kay Adams, NBC Sports Radio update anchor and contributor, will be making the rounds doing interviews throughout Super Bowl week in New Orleans.

NBC Sports Radio is a partnership between the NBC Sports Group and Dial Global. Dial Global is also the radio rights holder for Super Bowl XLVII. Their broadcast begins on Super Bowl Sunday at 4 p.m., ET.

There you have it.

Our Monday Linkage

Time for some Monday links. Let’s get to them.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with CBS Evening News anchorman Scott Pelley about interviewing President Obama for the network’s Super Bowl coverage and also reviews the performances of the NFL “B” analysts during the weekend.

Michael Smith and John Ourand at Sports Business Journal note that the Atlantic Coast Conference is exploring the potential of a new league-owned network.

Chris Chase of USA Today’s Game On blog reports that tennis superstar Maria Sharapova has joined Twitter.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today talks with ESPN’s Hannah Storm about returning to SportsCenter this week after the holiday season grilling fire that left her singed.

Hiestand also talks with Michelle Beadle about her upcoming show on NBC Sports Network.

UK journalist David Walsh who was the first writer to investigate disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong after his first Tour de France “win”, has an article in the Sunday Times looking back at his long journey.

Ed Sherman in The Sherman Report notes that the Times placed an ad in the Chicago Tribune calling on Oprah Winfrey to ask certain questions to Armstrong when they tape their “interview” this week. Here’s a closeup look at the ad courtesy of Deadspin.

Ed interviews Dana Jacobson of CBS Sports Radio.

Philiana Ng of the Hollywood Reporter says USA Network and the NFL will team up for their second annual special that will air after the Super Bowl.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says the NHL is back.

Christopher Heine of Adweek writes that Lincoln has shot a social media-driven spot that will air during Super Bowl XLVII.

Brian Steinberg from Advertising Age says social media might be spoiling Super Bowl advertisers’ suspense and full impact.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times talks about Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Emrick calling a girls’ 12-and-under game last week.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post wants to know why Lance Armstrong thought he could cheat and get away with it.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says no one is happier about the end of the NHL Lockout than NBC.

In an upset, David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun actually has some praise for CBS’ Dan Dierdorf from Saturday’s Ravens-Broncos game.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that the much-maligned Vinny Cerrato is part of CBS Sports Radio’s weekend lineup.

Dan notes that Fox Sports Radio’s Steve Czaban has quit Twitter cold turkey.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks about ESPN2′s Australian Open coverage which will run late into the night.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times has a review of the weekend in sports TV.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Texans-Patriots drew big numbers in H-Town.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says Time Warner Cable is picking up college basketball games from Sports Time Ohio.

Bob Wolfley with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the NFL playoffs played big in Sudstown.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says Comcast SportsNet is tapping a Milwaukee sports reporter to fill a position.

The Denver Post’s Dusty Saunders writes that Ravens-Broncos got big numbers in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s SoCal sports calendar.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Americans shouldn’t expect to see small market NHL teams on NBC.

Brad Gagnon of Awful Announcing has the grades for the NFL’s top broadcasting teams.

Because I’ve been in and out today, I’m finally getting the links to you after 6 p.m. I have been trying to get these up since before 11 a.m.

Oh My! It’s The Return of The Linkage!

It’s been way too long since you’ve seen linkage on this site. This has been the main mission of Fang’s Bites since the beginning, but too often, I get roped into doing family stuff and it prevents me from getting on here until late.

I hope to rectify that. So without further delay, here’s the linkage.

I’ll begin with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch who looks at tonight’s ESPN production of the BCS National Championship Game and he breaks news that former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine will co-host a daily NBC Sports Radio show.

From The Sherman Report, Ed Sherman talks with ESPN’s Brent Musburger about retirement.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal says thanks to its parent company buying into YES Network, Fox Sports will have the rights to as many as 18 New York Yankees games for its national MLB broadcasts (for now, subscription required).

Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Daily writes that DirecTV is dropping NASCAR Hot Pass due to the high cost and low demand.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell reports that the “Catholic 7″, the breakaway basketball schools from the Big East, is negotiating a megabucks deal with Fox Sports.

Nathan Savin Scott of USA Today lists the best sports commercials of 2012.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says tonight’s BCS Championship Game could set an all-time viewership record for ESPN and cable TV.

The extremely warped Anthony Crupi (he’ll even admit this) of Adweek writes that the NFL’s regular season ratings were down slightly from last year, but it delivers an audience unlike any other programming.

Friend of Fang’s Bites Michael McCarthy at Advertising Age notes that college football is close to passing baseball as the nation’s second most popular sport.

Natalie Zmuda of Ad Age says Pepsi wants to make you, yes you, part of its Super Bowl ad.

Mark J. Miller at BrandChannel notes how a Nike ad campaign helped to nudge the NHL into ending its lockout.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine wonders if the ratings will return for the NHL now that its lockout has been resolved.

SBNation’s Steve Lepore reports that Michelle Beadle’s new show, The Crossover, will replace NBC Sports Talk later this month.

David Rogers over at Awful Announcing scolds NHL Network for not covering one second of the end of the lockout.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Wheat Hotchkiss (I like this name) delves into ESPN’s production of the BCS National Championship Game in South Flordia.

EPL Talk reviews Fox’s first-ever broadcast of an FA Cup game.

Will Leitch at Sports on Earth says NBC Sports Network’s ratings may be low, but at least it’s trying to be the anti-ESPN.

Chad Finn from the Boston Globe writes about Bobby Valentine’s new foray into daily sports radio.

Brian Stelter at the New York Times says rising sports fees are causing cable providers to drop lower performing channels.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post needs to stop watching television.

Newsday’s Neil Best says there’s too much sports television and radio for the average fan to keep track of. Well put, Neil.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Golf Channel has had to adjust its schedule for the weather-delayed Tournament of Champions.

Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says CBS Sports Radio has a home in the Hudson Valley.

Keith Groller with the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with an Eastern Pennsylvania native who’s been covering Notre Dame for the last six years.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun feels CBS did not get the job done covering yesterday’s Colts-Ravens game.

David says yesterday’s Colts-Ravens game received the highest rating in the Charm City since last year’s Super Bowl.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the national media reaction to DC NFL Team head coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to keep quarterback Robert Griffin III on the field despite him seemingly being hurt until an injury that ended his game.

Dan says a local sports radio morning show now gets an opportunity on TV.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times has the winners and losers in the NHL Lockout.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald has some info from ESPN on tonight’s BCS National Championship Game.

Mike Herndon of the Birmingham (AL) News says ESPN could not have asked for a better matchup in the BCS National Championship Game.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News looks into the behind-the-scenes for ESPN’s telecast of Alabama-Notre Dame.

David Barron with the Houston Chronicle says Saturday’s Bengals-Texans local rating matched last year’s Wild Card playoff game number.

David writes that former Houston Astros broadcaster Alan Ashby will return to the team as its TV analyst on Comcast SportsNet.

WDIV-TV in Detroit had the suspended Rob Parker from ESPN’s First Take in his first TV interview since he was taken off the air for his comments on DC NFL Team QB Robert Griffin III (starts at 6:15). h/t to Richard Deitsch for the link.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says a Rocky Mountain region sportscaster has plenty of memories that include the Broncos.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times writes that the NFL’s ratings have slipped a bit from last season, but they still remain king of all television.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the five things he learned from the weekend.

Tom also has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail asks with the NHL Lockout over, what’s in it for the fans?

Sports Media Watch notes that the overnight rating for the Cincinnati-Houston NFL Wild Card Game on NBC was up from last year.

SMW says NBC’s nightcap of Vikings-Packers was down slightly from last year.

SMW tells us that Seattle-Washington had the third highest overnight for an NFL Wild Card game since 1999.

And for Indy-Baltimore on CBS, the overnight number was very good.

And that’s going to be it for now.

NBC’s Football Night in America Quotage For 2013 Wild Card Saturday

Sometimes, a half-hour is all you need for a pregame show. Before Fox came on the NFL scene in 1994, CBS’ The NFL Today and NBC’s NFL Live were just a half-hour. ESPN’s NFL GameDay (that’s what it was called into the 1990′s) was an hour. Then Fox changed it all with its hour-long Fox NFL Sunday. Eventually, NBC followed suit. ESPN went to 90 minutes, then two hours. CBS’ return to the NFL in 1998 meant that its pregame show had to be an hour.

NFL Network decided to a four hour pregame show. Then ESPN expanded to three hours. And it’s been like this forever.

So Football Night in America which has done a half-hour edition for Wild Card Saturday since NBC returned to the NFL in 2006, had a very nice show and brought in Friend of Fang’s Bites Michelle Beadle for an interview with Houston’s J.J. Watt. And it was well-done like a steak. Why not have Michelle on every week on FNIA?

Here’s the transcript.

“FOOTBALL NIGHT IN AMERICA” – WILD CARD SATURDAY SPECIAL EDITION

Michelle Beadle Interviews Texans DT J.J. Watt
Bob Costas Interviews Vikings RB Adrian Peterson and Packers QB Aaron Rodgers
“When I’m in the off-season, in the gym, and nobody’s watching, you’re working for these moments when you’re on national television and the whole world is watching.” – J.J. Watt
“In my mind, I’m the MVP whether I win it or not.” – Adrian Peterson
“We are kind of tired of hearing about it. We want to see our defense shut him down… He’s fun to watch if he’s playing someone else.” – Aaron Rodgers on Adrian Peterson

Michelle Beadle interviewed Houston Texans DT J.J. Watt for today’s special Wild Card Saturday edition of Football Night. Bob Costas interviewed Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson for an interview that will appearerd at halftime of today’s Bengals-Texans Wild Card game and Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers for an interview that is scheduled to air in between Wild Card games.

INTERVIEWS: Below are excerpts from Beadle’s interview of Watt and Costas’ interviews with Peterson and Rodgers.

J.J. WATT WITH MICHELLE BEADLE

On being considered a ‘freak’ and a ‘physical specimen:’ “It’s pretty cool. It’s an honor. This is what I’ve been working my whole life for. When I’m in the off-season, in the gym, and nobody’s watching, you’re working for these moments when you’re on national television and the whole world is watching.”

On seeing people wearing his No. 99 jersey: “Christmas Day was one of the coolest days ever, because I just got to see pictures of kids opening up these gifts. And you see grandmas and grandpas with No. 99 jerseys. Everybody, all ages, so it’s one of the coolest things ever.”

On Head Coach Gary Kubiak saying he wants the Texans to play with ‘reckless abandon:’ “That’s the favorite thing I could ever hear. Because that’s when I play my best…Off the field, I’m a real nice guy, and I’m like a big teddy bear. But as soon as I step across those white lines, you turn into beast mode. You turn into monster mode. And it’s time to go.”

ADRIAN PETERSON WITH BOB COSTAS

On coming back so quickly from his torn ACL and MCL: “My mind works differently. I already feel like just genetically, from my family, that my body heals quicker than others. And most importantly, just my mindset is a lot different from other people. So I didn’t base my recovery on what everyone else had to say about it.”

On if he should win the NFL MVP: “Why should I win? I don’t really want to just plead a case for myself. In my mind, I’m the MVP whether I win it or not.”

On Packers LB Clay Matthews saying they will do a better job of stopping the run: “That’ll be fine with me. I’m going out trying to win. I’m not trying to break no records. I’m not worried about yardage. I’m worried about getting a ‘W’ when that last second went off the clock in the fourth quarter.”

AARON RODGERS WITH BOB COSTAS

On what changes for him in the post-season: “I really believe that you earn your paycheck during the season, and play at a high level, and get your team to the playoffs. And then the post-season is all about creating your legacy. The great quarterbacks are remembered for their playoff successes and triumphs and Super Bowl championships and Super Bowl MVPs. We’ve got one here and we want to add to that.”

On Adrian Peterson: “As far as we’re concerned, we are kind of tired of hearing about it. We want to see our defense shut him down. We’ve played him twice and he had, I believe, 210 yards in the first game and 199 last week. He’s fun to watch if he’s playing someone else.”

That’s it. Wild Card Sunday previews will be posted tonight.

It’s Official: “The Crossover” with Michelle Beadle and Dave Briggs Premieres on NBC Sports Network on Jan. 28

It was first announced on the Sports Media Weekly Podcast last month by Michelle Beadle herself. She told Keith Thibault and I that “The Crossover” would premiere live from New Orleans on NBC Sports Network as a half-hour daily show. She did not tell us the co-host, but now, Dave Briggs, formerly of the weekend edition of “Fox & Friends” has been announced as her partner on the show.

The Crossover will be a mix of sports and pop culture, airing nightly at 6 p.m. ET from New York. The first week of shows will be aired in front of a live audience in the Big Easy. After that, the shows will originate from the NBC Sports Sunday Night Football studios in New York.

We have more details plus a promo for the show below.

“THE CROSSOVER: WITH BEADLE AND BRIGGS” PREMIERES MONDAY, JANUARY 28, AT 6 P.M. ET ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK

New 30-Minute Show to Air Every Monday – Friday at 6 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
The Crossover to Debut Super Bowl Week from New Orleans
Post-Super Bowl, Show To Air Daily From Studio 8G at 30 Rock
Co-Hosted by Michelle Beadle, NBC Sports and Access Hollywood Personality, and Dave Briggs, Former Fox News Anchor

New York – January 3, 2012 – The Crossover: with Beadle and Briggs, a new 30-minute daily topical sports, entertainment and pop culture show featuring Michelle Beadle (@MichelleDBeadle), one of America’s most popular sports and entertainment broadcasters, and Dave Briggs (@DaveBriggsTV), former Fox News personality, premieres on Monday, January 28, at 6 p.m. ET on the NBC Sports Network.

Designed for viewers who want more than basic sports news and scores, The Crossover will focus on the biggest and most topical stories of the day in the worlds of sports, pop culture and entertainment. As part of the daily show, Beadle and Briggs will welcome guests from sports and entertainment to discuss the news of the day, the sports teams they love, the projects they are working on and more.

The Crossover (@Crossover) debuts Monday, January 28 from New Orleans, the site of Super Bowl XLVII. Original episodes will air each day from a specially designed set during Super Bowl week. Beginning Monday, February 4, The Crossover will move to its permanent home in Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.

In addition to co-hosting The Crossover, Beadle serves as a correspondent for Access Hollywood, and will also continue her role as a host/reporter for NBC Sports Group’s big-event properties.

“We’re merely a show just looking to change the entire landscape of sports television in America,” said Beadle. “Also, someone finally needs to address this Tim Tebow guy.”

Briggs joins NBC Sports Group from Fox News Channel, where he was host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Prior to Fox, he was a reporter for Comcast SportsNet New England and WHDH-TV in Boston.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt NBC was the gold standard in television, and it’s an honor to join the team together with the talented Michelle Beadle,” said Briggs. “Bringing together me, who’s been covering the bitter politics of D.C., with Beadle, who follows glamorous and scandalous Hollywood, can only produce one thing; a unique new show.”

“Michelle is one of the most talented and popular broadcasters in sports, and we wanted to design a show on NBC Sports Network that was uniquely suited for her. She developed an immediate chemistry with Dave Briggs, who has a sharp wit and a solid sports background,” said Sam Flood, executive producer, NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network. “Sports and entertainment intersect on a daily basis, and The Crossover will bring those worlds together on a daily basis on NBC Sports Network.”

The Crossover will fully integrate with social media. The set will feature a 7-foot by 13-foot monitor wall, flanked on either side by 80-inch LED monitors directly connected to live social media feeds. Beadle and Briggs will use the monitor wall to pick and choose the “Starting 5” stories of the day, deliver sports highlights, share viral videos, and highlight twitter topics trending among various athletes and celebrities.

The Crossover Twitter account (@Crossover) is already up and running and will provide updates, exclusive content and will be an integral link between The Crossover and its audience.

Here’s the promo for the show that will run not only on NBC Sports Network, but other NBCUniversal platforms like the NBC mothership and its various cable networks.

That’s it.

The Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2012

Time for the look back at the Year in Sports Media in 2012. Lots of great stuff. The year has been very interesting and we have seen a lot of things.

Just doing a Top Ten is never enough for the Year in Review. It’s always an even dozen with some honorable mentions mixed in.

Let’s go over what were the Sports Media Stories of 2012.

12. Embrace Debate Leads To Rob Parker Suspension

One of the silliest stories in 2012 was ESPN’s commitment to debate programming. Two shows were revamped to accommodate more debate among ESPN personalities, First Take and Numbers Never Lie. Due to outrageous statements made on First Take, mostly by Skip Bayless, the show received lots of attention and increased ratings. But the pressure to stand out may have caught up with Rob Parker who questioned whether DC NFL Team quarterback Robert Griffin III’s authenticity.

It led to Parker’s suspension and allegedly more oversight over the shows. We’ll see if it leads to some more control and fewer outrageous statements.

11. Steve Sabol (1942-2012)

One of the pioneers in sports television passed away in 2012. Steve Sabol’s impact on the National Football League’s popularity through NFL Films cannot be measured. With his father Ed, the Sabols brought fans closer to the game by thinking outside the box. Games weren’t just regular contests, they became movies with Hollywood production values and full orchestrations. Instead of showing games from high in the stadium, NFL Films went to field level and made extreme closeups of the players. In addition, Ed and Steve introduced slow motion photography to sports.

In 2011, Ed Sabol was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It would behoove voters to induct Steve sometime soon to join his dad.

10. Big Media Taps Into New Media

2012 saw Turner Sports purchased the much-criticized and now-improving Bleacher Report, USA Today buying Big Lead Sports and NBC Sports aligned itself with Yahoo! Sports. This is more than getting pageviews and improving comScores, this is about expanding portfolios and attracting younger audiences. According to comScore, Yahoo! has been the most popular sports news site for several years outpacing ESPN.com. Bleacher Report may get criticized for its multiple and questionable slideshows, but its hiring of some respected editors and writers have increased the quality of the site to the point where Turner Sports purchased the site for beaucoup bucks. And I have to make this disclaimer, Fang’s Bites is an independently-owned blog that is affiliated with USA Today Media Group. We will see more purchases in 2013.

9. NASCAR Renews with Fox

Fox Sports was the first of NASCAR’s TV partners to renew its ties with the sport taking the first half of the Sprint Cup season. For an estimated pricetag of over $2.4 billion through 2022, Fox remains with NASCAR in a relationship that dates back to 2002. Fox is expected to put some of its races on its new all-sports channel, but we’ll get to that later. And expect live on-streaming in this new contract. However, NASCAR’s ratings are a question-mark, but bidding for the second half in 2013 is expected to bring even more money. It’s all going to be quite an interesting year for NASCAR.

8. NBC Steals English Premier League and Formula One From Fox

October turned out to be a good month for NBC Sports Group as far as acquisitions were concerned. It first obtained the rights to Formula 1 as Fox gave just a nominal bid. Then a couple of weeks later, it emerged as the frontrunner to the English Premier League and then won out over a concerted combined bid from ESPN/Fox. While NBC Sports Network won’t be known as a college sports destination or for MLB, perhaps it can become an international sports channel with the EPL, Formula 1 and Olympic Sports. NBC Sports Network will have some sports to watch year-round with the English Premier League, Formula 1, MLS and the NHL (when it finally returns).

7. NFL Network Picks Up Its Last Two Holdouts

Since 2010, NFL Network has been gaining momentum in picking up carriage agreements with the major cable providers. It finally was able to sign deals in 2012 with its last two remaining holdouts, first Cablevision in August and then the very last one, Time Warner Cable in September. Thanks to the increased audience, NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football package had record ratings for its new 13 game schedule. It was a struggle for NFL Network to get all eight major cable and satellite providers on board, but after eight years, it finally got it done.

6. MLB New TV Contracts For A Lot of $$$

It started in August when ESPN renewed rights for its three nights of baseball games, a return to postseason and an increased amount of games for a total of $5.6 billion over eight years. Then in October, MLB announced deals with Fox and Turner for a combined $6.8 billion through 2021, providing them with TV Everywhere rights, postseason deals and a package of regular season games. For Fox, it allows the network to put games on its anticipated all-sports cable channel, but again, more on that later.

5. CBS & NBC Announce New Sports Radio Networks

2012 brought two new national networks to the sports talk radio scene. Within two days of each other, NBC Sports Radio and CBS Sports Radio were announced by both companies and with respective partners Dial Global and Cumulus Radio. NBC Sports Radio has been airing limited weekend programming since September, however, CBS Sports Radio chose to wait until this month to begin full operation with a 24/7 lineup. Both have a long way to go to match the firepower and the reputation of ESPN Radio that has been on the scene since the early 1990′s, however, CBS has hired familiar names like Jim Rome, Doug Gottlieb, John Feinstein, Scott Ferrall and Dana Jacobson. NBC will wait until the NCAA Final Four to finalize its weekday lineup. No matter the case, ESPN Radio finds itself with some formidable competition to join Yahoo! Sports Radio and Fox Sports Radio for listeners.

4. ESPN Free Agency

We had some big names leave the ESPN nest, Erin Andrews, Steve Berthiaume, Michelle Beadle, Cindy Brunson, Doug Gottlieb, Dana Jacobson, Michael Yam to name a few, but many stayed including Scott Van Pelt. This seemed to be quite the year for free agency for ESPN. In some cases, the network chose not to renew and wave goodbye to those departing, others decided not to return for other opportunities while in others, ESPN went out of its way to make sure its desired talent stayed. For the first time, ESPN was transparent in making statements about its free agency signings or departures. In the past, it had issued terse statements when media inquiries were made.

3. Fox Spending Spree

As the year-end was approaching, Fox Sports through its parent, News Corp., went on a spending spree unlike any other in sports media. It not only set up an all-sports cable channel for operation in 2013 (again, more on this later), but it bought into the YES Network which will eventually lead into a majority share of the New York Yankees regional sports network and fully purchased Sports Time Ohio for the Cleveland MLB Team. In addition, Fox is reportedly close to signing a long-term deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for its media rights. News Corp. had money to spend with the company splitting off its publishing holdings into a separate company and of course, the proverbial fiscal cliff where tax credits were about to change. Will we see more of Fox’s financial muscle in 2013? I think that’s a safe bet.

2. The Emergence of Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2

While NBC Sports Network was attempting to bid for major sports properties, Fox Sports was quietly forming its cable sports strategy for 2013 and beyond. We began hearing rumblings about Fox rebranding Speed into an all-sports channel that would be named “Fox Sports 1″ then at the end of the year, the company’s Fuel channel would also be rebranded as “Fox Sports 2″.

In its new contracts with MLB, NASCAR, the Pac-12, UFC and other sports properties it signed in 2012, Fox had a provision to put games and events on Fox Sports 1. As part of its new contract with Major League Baseball, Fox Sports can place 40 regular season games on cable as well as several postseason games. We should expect a number of NASCAR Sprint Cup races on FS1 and most likely see some UFC events as well.

The strategy is in place. Let’s see how it’s enacted in 2013 and beyond.

1. NBC’s Olympics Both Fail and Succeed

Up until the London Olympics begin in late July, NBCUniversal had been downplaying both ratings and financial expectations stating that it expected to lose money and the ratings for a tape delayed event would not be as good as in 2008 when events were carried live from Communist China. Somewhere along the way, something happened. NBC broke even financially on the Olympics and they became the most watched event in US television history. That was the successful part.

The failure was the tape delayed aspect when many viewers wanted to watch events live. The #NBCFAIL hashtag on Twitter quickly spread like wildfire during the first weekend of the Olympics. In addition, online streaming was sluggish and haggard. But even with the delays and streaming problems, Americans still watched in droves. When the games were said and done, NBCUniversal could pat itself on the back.

Honorable Mentions:

Struggles of new regional sports networks to gain carriage agreements.
NHL Does Well; But Shoots Itself in the Foot with the Lockout
Tim Tebow Overload
ESPN Continues Dominance in College Sports

Sports Media Weekly No. 129 — Michelle Beadle, NBC/Access Hollywood & Ed Sherman, The Sherman Report

Time for another edition of Sports Media Weekly. We’ve reached edition no. 129 and just like in edition no. 103, it’s a Michelle Beadle/Ed Sherman doubleheader.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I had Ed of The Sherman Report join us for our News of the Week segment. We started with a look at how CBS made a turnaround and properly covered tragedy in the NFL during The NFL Today as compared to the week before. We all felt CBS made the right decision in devoting its entire first segment to Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Josh Brent’s DUI incident that led to the death of teammate Jerry Brown.

We also opined on the possibility of the NFL expanding its playoffs and how it would affect the league’s TV partners.

In addition, we discussed the Death of the Big East conference. Ed told us that the news has hardly made a ripple in his native Chicago.

Then, we went to the end of The Sporting News’ print edition as it will be go entirely digital by January.

Our other topics included ESPN dialing back its Tim Tebow obsession and Larry Merchant who will call his last fight for HBO this Saturday.

Our guest is the always lovely Michelle Beadle from NBC and Access Hollywood. We started by asking Michelle about covering the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden in New York this week.

Keith and I asked her about the first-time experience of hosting the Olympics in London this past summer.

Then we went to asking her about her new NBC Sports Network show and Michelle told us “The Crossover” will debut Super Bowl week.

Overall, a very good podcast. You can listen

Going For Some Tuesday Links

Let’s bring you some linkage. Two days in a row! This is something!

Shameless plug department: I wrote Some Long Overdue Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts earlier this morning and make sure you give it a gander. Many thanks.

Sam Gustin of Time writes that News Corp.’s purchase of a minority stake in YES could help Fox challenge ESPN down the road.

Alicia Jessop at Forbes notes how the NFL successfully marketed to women to the point where they are now 44% of the league’s fan base.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News reports on the potential megadeal between Fox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In part two of his interview with SiriusXM’s Dino Costa, Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report goes into the relationship the Mad Dog radio host has with his boss, Chris Russo.

Salvej Schou of Entertainment Weekly says a Hollywood movie executive is angry at NFL Network for censoring at the last minute, a Rich Eisen interview with actor Bradley Cooper.

John Koblin of Deadspin speaks with some media professionals on the plagiarism issues plaguing ESPN.com and writer Lynne Hoppes.

Media Rantz looks at the impending launch of Fox Sports 1.

Les Carpenter of Yahoo! has a profile on former New Orleans Saints quarterback turned popular sports radio talk show host, Bobby Hebert.

Carl Marcucci of Radio & Television Business Report writes about CBS Sports Radio’s new morning show.

Newscast Studio looks at CBS Sports Network’s new college football studio.

Fox Soccer may have lost the English Premier League rights in the US, but Fox Sports in Australia has retained the rights to all of the EPL’s games Down Under.

The New York Post’s Kirsten Fleming talks with NBC’s Michelle Beadle.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says NBC Sports Network has added a college hockey game to its schedule.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that there’s no change to the NFL schedules in the next few weeks.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says CBS Sports Network will be re-airing a host of Army-Navy football games next week.

Dave Hughes in Press Box notes that Baltimore’s CBS-owned sports radio station will drop all ESPN Radio programming in favor of CBS Sports Radio in January.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says TNT is once again comparing the Wizards to the hapless Harlem Globetrotters whipping team, the Washington Generals.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle looks at the local weekend ratings for Thanksgiving weekend.

Scott Wright at The Oklahoman says Fox Sports will air three high school championship games on its Oklahoma Plus channel.

The Detroit Free Press summarizes an ESPN The Magazine interview with controversial Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh.

Sports Media Watch notes that Fox Sports drew close to the rear in the college football ratings for Week 13.

SMW says an Iron Bowl blowout did not help the SEC on CBS’ ratings.

And SMW looks at college football TV ratings on ESPN, ABC and NBC.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing delves into the Fox/Dodgers deal.

Joe Favorito likes how the Green Bay Packers have embraced Movember.

Brian Clapp at Sports TV Jobs says the future is very bright for sports broadcasting.

That is going to wrap up our links for today.

Some Thursday Linkage

Let me try to squeeze some linkage into the site today. It’s been crazy the last few days here.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has your 2012-13 college basketball viewing guide.

Michael Hiestand from USA Today talks with former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl who will work for the ESPN family this season.

Sports Business Daily recaps one of the sessions at its Sports Media & Technology Conference in New York. This included ESPN Junta Chief John Skipper.

From the ESPN Ombudsman, the lovely Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute explores how ESPN handles rumors and how it reports them.

At The Sherman Report, Ed Sherman notes TNT’s Charles Barkley’s comments on sideline reporters.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL is marketing a $60 USB computer plug-in.

Media Life Magazine has CBS crowing about being close to selling out Super Bowl XLVII.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin goes over why NBA League Pass is a massive ripoff.

Dylan Murphy of SportsGrid notes that Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio has for all intents and purposes, lost the women’s vote. Good job, Mike.

Dylan has a frightening story on the man stalking Michelle Beadle.

Speaking of Pro Football Talk, Josh Alper from PFT has the sensitive Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers unhappy about his puff 60 Minutes profile.

ESPN’s Darren Rovell says the Los Angeles Dodgers are finding plenty of suitors for their TV rights.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY talks with Marv Albert about Brooklyn’s return to professional sports.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes an area native getting a promotion at ESPN.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says the NFL won’t flex in Week 12.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks with a local radio personality who used to pick high school football games.

Erik Spanberg from the Charlotte Business Journal has former NFL GM Bill Polian smiling about his ESPN NFL gig.

Michael Casagrande at the Orlando Sentinel talks with ESPN’s Samantha Steele.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle says the viewing for the late ESPN on NBA Radio voice Jim Durham is this Sunday.

The Oklahoman’s Mel Bracht talks with TNT’s Reggie Miller.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Time Warner Cable will air Marquette basketball games this season.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune tells us that we’re paying more and more to watch sports on television.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the entries for this year’s All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival.

Sports Media Watch has some on-air personnel news.

Snap, Crackle Pop has some edgy MSG Network New York Knicks ads that had to be taken down.

Cork Gaines at the Business Insider’s Sports Page has screengrabs of some funny ESPN mustaches.

We have this week’s column from Dave Kohl at The Broadcast Booth.

Stephen Douglas at The Big Lead notes that ESPN has transformed NFL insider John Clayton into a cartoon metalhead.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing has video of former San Francisco Giants whiner Jeff Kent angry at everything after being booted from Survivor.

And that’s it for now.

Various Monday Links

Let’s do some linkage on this Monday.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with TNT’s Charles Barkley about the next phase of his career.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today notes that Saturday nights are becoming a sports TV bastion.

Chris Chase at USA Today’s Game On blog has video of an NFL referee cursing which surprised CBS’ Kevin Harlan.

Liana B. Baker and Lisa Richwine of Reuters says US cable sports networks are in a scrum for ad dollars.

Kimberly Nordyke of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Time Warner SportsNet has signed Cox, but Comcast, DirecTV and Dish still remain holdouts.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable says Travel Channel has signed a deal with the NFL to produce a show on the Cleveland Browns traveling to road games.

E.J. Schultz of Advertising Age says despite the NHL lockout, hockey marketers are finding ways to find their target audience.

Media Life Magazine says CBS scored with Alabama-LSU in primetime on Saturday.

Chuck Ross at TV Week explains why baseball remains the greatest game despite its ratings.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report talks with CBS/TNT’s Marv Albert about calling games at the age of 71.

Ed wonders where Michelle Beadle will fit in NBC Sports Network’s plans.

CBS Sports reports that Dallas Mavericks announcer Mark Followill got into a bike accident over the weekend.

Radio Ink notes that former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy has joined NBC Sports Radio as an analyst.

Digital TV Europe reports that Al Jazeera’s beIN Sport in France has obtained the rights to air NBA games along with the NFL it previously signed.

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe writes that NBC is going all in with soccer.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post says Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Road Runners should have admitted fault in attempting to run the NYC Marathon this past weekend.

Sarah Kogod of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that a Wizards beer ad featured an underaged 19 year old Bradley Beal.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner looks at the NBC deal to air English Premier League games starting in 2013.

Jodie Wagner of the Palm Beach Post talks with a local sports radio personality about working in the local market.

Richard Durrett of ESPN Dallas says the Texas Rangers have announced their broadcast teams for next season.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle reports on the local sports radio ratings.

Jeff Balke of the Houston Press provides fans with ways to watch the Rockets for those who don’t have access to Comcast SportsNet Houston.

Neal Rubin at the Detroit News says a group hopes to land ESPN’s X Games for Motown.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Fox’s crew found a lot to praise about the Green Bay Packers.

Danny Ecker at Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the Big Ten Network continues to air the so-called non-revenue sports.

Paul M. Banks at the Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders why the Illinois Sports Facility Authority would hire a former TV reporter to run the agency.

John Vomhof, Jr. of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal provides a look at Fox Sports North’s new studios.

The Denver Post’s Dusty Saunders feels some sports broadcasters make predictions that can’t possibly come true.

Dusty says MLB is trying to spin the World Series ratings.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News writes about the last two holdouts for Time Warner SportsNet.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Tom has the five things he learned over the weekend.

Sports Media Watch notes that while Alabama-LSU’s overnights were way down from last year, it still had impressive numbers for CBS.

That’s going to do it for now. Squeezed as many links as I could today.

On The Next Costas Tonight, Which is Tonight!

Coming on the next Costas Tonight, Bob talks with Bobby. Bobby Valentine, that is. The former Boston Red Sox manager. It will mark Valentine’s first sit-down interview since he was let go by the Red Sox last week.

Michelle Beadle will be on to talk about one of Costas’ favorite subjects, social media trends. And NBC Sports Network NHL analyst Jeremy Roenick will discuss the extended lockout.

Here’s the synopsis from NBC Sports Network.

Bob Costas Goes One-On-One With Former Boston Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine, Tuesday, October 23 on NBC Sports Network

Valentine’s First Sit-Down Interview Since Being Fired by Red Sox Following the 2012 Baseball Season
Costas Tonight Includes Michelle Beadle on Social Media and Viral Videos, and NBC Sports Group NHL Analyst Jeremy Roenick Discussing the Current Lockout
Costas TonightOriginates from Studio 8G at 30 Rock and Airs Tomorrow, October 23 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network

NEW YORK – October 22, 2012 – Former Major League Baseball manager Bobby Valentine, who was fired after his first season leading the Boston Red Sox, is scheduled to join Bob Costas, a 23-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and one of America’s preeminent interviewers, on the latest edition of Costas Tonight, a 60-minute program, to air on Tuesday, October 23 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

This will be Valentine’s first sit-down interview since being fired by the Red Sox the day after the 2012 baseball season ended after his Red Sox finished in last place in the American League East for the first time in 20 years. It was Valentine’s only season as manager of the Boston Red Sox.

In addition to Costas’ sit-down interview with Valentine, NBC Sports’ and Access Hollywood’s Michelle Beadle will make her debut on Costas Tonight, joining Costas to discuss top trending social media topics; and former NHL star and current NBC Sports Group analyst Jeremy Roenick will discuss the NHL lockout, and his experience going through a similar thing in 2005 when he lost an estimated $8 million in salary.

Costas Tonightbuilds on Costas’ long and storied career as an interviewer from Later with Bob Costas and Costas Coast-to-Coast to his acclaimed HBO programs, On the Record and CostasNOW. Costas Tonight originates from Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

That’s all.

Some Wednesday Evening Linkage

I’ll provide a few links on this Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at CBS pushing its Sunday primetime lineup to 7:30 p.m. ET to accommodate the NFL.

Michael Kruse of Grantland has a very good story catching up with former ESPN Radio host Nanci Donnellan aka “The Fabulous Sports Babe”.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report has some thoughts on Notre Dame joining the ACC except for football and hockey.

Ed notes that Michelle Beadle might be headed to mornings on NBC Sports Network.

ESPN’s Kristi Dosh writes that despite losing Notre Dame, the Big East can still get a big TV rights eal.

Darren Rovell of ESPN says Notre Dame won’t becoming a full-time member of the ACC simply due to the fact that it likes its deal with NBC for football.

Georg Szalai from the Hollywood Reporter has CBS Head Honcho Leslie Moonves boasting about Super Bowl ads being sold for more than $4 million per 30 second spot.

Todd Spangler of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Google Fiber has added ESPN and several other Disney networks.

Tim Baysinger of B&C says Fox Sports has partnered with Oklahoma University to provide exclusive content on its Fox Sports Net channels.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek tells us NBC’s Sunday Night Football set another ratings record.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age says ESPN is launching an ad campaign for its pay Insider service.

Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life writes that thanks to the Olympics, NBC cruised to a summer ratings victory.

John Koblin of Deadspin has the great video of WFAN’s Mike Francesa falling asleep during his NFL Now show that was simulcast on YES last Sunday.

John also looks at the NFL going further into Sunday primetime.

Matt Yoder from Awful Announcing looks at Tim Brando’s Twitter war with Ohio State fans that stemmed from an interview during his radio show today.

Bill Carter of the New York Times discusses CBS adjusting its Sunday primetime schedule for the NFL.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY says the New York Giants season opener on NBC topped the ratings in the Big Apple.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call is one of the few who likes Bob Costas’ Sunday Night Football halftime commentaries.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has the local ratings for the DC Football Team’s season opener and RGIII’s pro debut.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle looks at the new Fox Sports-Oklahoma University rights deal.

David has a few notes in his blog including one on retiring Astros voice Milo Hamilton.

Mel Bracht at The Oklahoman says the NFL topped the local weekend ratings.

Berry Tremel of The Oklahoman looks at the new Fox Sports-OU relationship.

Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World has details of the Fox Sports-Oklahoma agreement.

Guerin Emig of the World has a Q&A about the new Sooner Sports TV programming arrangement.

Paul M. Banks from the Chicago Sports Media Watch says the White Sox set a 3 year ratings high for Comcast SportsNet on Tuesday.

Scott D. Pierce of the Salt Lake Tribune anticipates the 50,000th edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the next inductee to the Broadcasters Wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame could be going in as both a player and a broadcaster.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says a documentary on soccer match fixing is a reason why Canada needs the CBC.

Sports Media Watch says Monday Night Football got off to a slow start.

SMW notes that the U.S. Open men’s final on Monday afternoon didn’t do as well as it could have.

Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth noticed an error in one of Fox Sports’  MLB promos.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says NBC Sports Network is increasing its college hockey schedule in case of an NHL lockout.

That’s going to do it for now.

NBC’s Sure-Fire Ratings Hit, The NFL Returns on Wednesday

NBC can certainly crow about its ratings over the Olympics, but they happened during the dead month of August when network fare is as original as a Jason Blair article. It took me ten minutes to think of that. Anyway, the top-rated primetime series of 2011-12, Sunday Night Football returns to NBC this week and it all begins on Wednesday with the NFL Kickoff game between the defending Super Bowl Champions the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys live from MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

It begins with NFL Kickoff 2012 at 7:30 p.m. ET live from 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York with Michelle Beadle hosting the concert portion of the program. Musical acts include Mariah Carey and No Doubt.

Then on Sunday, it’s the season premiere of Sunday Night Football with the Denver Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers live from the Mile High City.

Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya will be at both games. Bob Costas will recite inane commentary from high above the field at MetLife Stadium and at the new Mile High.

The Football Night in America crew of Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison will be live at MetLife, then return to its normal digs at 30 Rock on Sunday.

NBC also announces the return of NFL Turning Point and the premiere of Pro Football Talk to be co-hosted by Mr. Know It All, Erik Kuselias and ultimate multi-tasker Mike Florio.

Here’s the NBC press release.

NBC SPORTS GETS “BACK TO FOOTBALL”

New York Giants Host Dallas Cowboys on Wednesday, September 5. Coverage of NFL Kickoff 2012 Begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC
Denver Broncos Host Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, September 9. Coverage Begins at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBC
Michele Tafoya to Provide Live Video Tweets During Each SNF Game
Sunday Night Football Extra to Live Stream NBC NFL Games for Fifth Consecutive Year on NBCSports.com
NFL Turning Point Season Premiere on Wednesday, September 12 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network
Pro Football Talk with Mike Florio Airs Weeknights at 5 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network

NEW YORK – September 4, 2012 – The NFL will open the regular season tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 5, with NFL Kickoff 2012 on NBC. The defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants will host their division rival Dallas Cowboys from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. A pre-game concert will feature performances by Grammy Award-winning artists Mariah Carey and No Doubt, from a specially constructed stage in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Coverage begins on NBC at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Sunday Night Football, the No. 1 primetime show on television, kicks off on Sunday, Sept. 9, with Peyton Manning making his first regular-season appearance as the quarterback for the Denver Broncos as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers from Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo. Coverage begins with Football Night in America at 7 p.m. ET

Calling both games is six-time Emmy Award-winner Al Michaels (play-by-play), in his 27^th season as the voice of the NFL’s premier primetime package; 13-time Emmy Award-winner Cris Collinsworth, who has won the Emmy for outstanding event analyst in each of his three seasons in the Sunday Night Football booth; and sideline reporter Michele Tafoya, who, last year in her first season with SNF, won the inaugural Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Reporter.

Football Night in America is hosted by 23-time Emmy Award-winner Bob Costas, who will report from MetLife Stadium on Wednesday and Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Sunday. Costas is joined on site by Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, and two-time Super Bowl winner Hines Ward.

Dan Patrick co-hosts Football Night from MetLife Stadium on Wednesday night, and from NBC’s Studio 8G at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Sunday night. Patrick is joined by Super Bowl-winning head coach Tony Dungy, two-time Super Bowl winner Rodney Harrison, Peter King of Sports Illustrated, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network and NBCSports.com.

Michelle Beadle will host the concert portion of NFL Kickoff 2012 on NBC, featuring performances by Mariah Carey and No Doubt, from a specially constructed stage in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

In addition to the weekly Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America broadcasts, NBC Sports Group’s NFL coverage also includes digital content and social media extensions that are available online, as well as NFL-related shoulder programming available on NBC Sports Network.

PREVIEW VIDEO: Michaels and Collinsworth on Cowboys vs. Giants.
http://www.tinyb.it/503CF0128C287

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXTRA

SNF EXTRA: For the fifth consecutive season, the entire Sunday Night Football schedule will be streamed live on NBCSports.com. The video stream will come directly from NBC’s broadcast of SNF, and will include additional camera angles and interactive features.

Sunday Night Football Extra employs a full HD-quality player, which includes a draggable picture-in-picture feature for any of the online-only cameras, plus full DVR functionality allowing the user to pause, scroll back-and-forth, and review plays in slo-motion.

SNF Extra includes expert analysis, including fantasy tips from Rotoworld fantasy experts as well as in-game chats and analysis from Mike Florio. Additionally SNF Extra employs online-only in-game analysis from the Sunday Night Football and Football Night in America teams.

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL EXPANDS DIGITAL COVERAGE

SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ALL-ACCESS. ALL SEASON LONG: For the third straight season, NBCSports.com is providing a destination for fans dedicated to behind-the-scenes content of Sunday Night Football. SNF All-Access includes exclusive photos of the Sunday Night Football production, look-ins on SNF production meetings, Michele Tafoya interviews with key NFL players and a weekly notebook and conversations with SNF talent.

Visit SNF All-Access at: http://snfallaccess.nbcsports.com/

“THE SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL”: This season NBC Sports will introduce “The Sunday Night Football”, a custom made football from Wilson, which will travel with the SNF crew all season long. Fans of SNF on Facebook and Twitter will be able to keep up with “The Sunday Night Football” on the SNF Facebook page, follow its path through each city and recommend where it should visit while in town. At the end of each SNF game, “The Sunday Night Football” will be signed by the player of the game. Photos, video and stories around “The Sunday Night Football” and its travels will live on Facebook, Twitter and SNFAllAccess.com all season long.

SNF ON FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/SNFonNBC – The Sunday Night Football Facebook page provides links, photos and videos exclusive to behind-the-scenes at SNF every week. The page aggregates all SNF-related content found within the NBC Sports digital network, including NBCSports.com, SNF Extra, ProFootballTalk.com, and Rotoworld.com.

SNF ON TWITTER: twitter.com/SNFonNBC – For the first time ever, Michele Tafoya will be doing live video tweets from @SNFonNBC on the sideline exclusively for the SNF social media platforms, providing fans extended real-time content from Michele’s unique sideline perspective. Using tweets, twitpics and twitvids @SNFonNBC provides unique content with SNF talent, production crew and NFL players.

Each week @SNFonNBC will promote a guest player who will live tweet during the Sunday Night Football broadcast. On Wednesday, September 5, Super Bowl winner and retired New York Giant David Tyree will be the guest player. On Sunday, September 9, Super Bowl winner and retired Pittsburgh Steeler Willie Parker will be the guest player. The tweets from the guest player will automatically be pulled into the SNF Extra Player.

SNF ON INSTAGRAM: Going into its second season, Sunday Night Football gives the SNF fan a look at photos through the filters of Instagram. Fans get a look inside the production trucks, the locker rooms, on the field and around the city. Fans also have the opportunity to submit photos through Instagram using #SNF that will automatically be curated into a special Instagram tab on the Sunday Night Football Facebook page..

SNF ON GETGLUE: For the second season in a row, fans can check into each SNF game on GetGlue. Fans watching Sunday Night Football at home have the opportunity to win weekly SNF themed stickers and chances at real-world prizes by checking into SNF on GetGlue every Sunday night.

NFL TURNING POINT SEASON PREMIERE WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 12, 10 p.m. ET on NBC SPORTS NETWORK

The second season of Emmy-nominated NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network’s weekly show co-produced by NFL Films, will premiere Wednesday, Sept. 12^th at 10 p.m. ET and will be hosted by Football Night in America’s Dan Patrick. The hour-long program will air throughout the NFL regular season and will focus on the crucial ‘turning point’ moment in several games for football fans each week by utilizing NFL Films’ unmatched cinematography and sideline and on-field audio.

Click here for more details on this week’s show: http://www.nbcuniversal.presscentre.com

PRO FOOTBALL TALK ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK WEEKNIGHTS, 5 p.m. ET

Mike Florio, who created the innovative, NFL-focused web destination ProFootballTalk.com, hosts the new NBC Sports Network television program Pro Football Talk. The one-hour show airs at 5 p.m. ET every Monday through Friday. Pro Football Talk will be co-hosted by Erik Kuselias.

Pro Football Talk features concentrated NFL insight from Florio and other experts from around the league. Florio and Kuselias will regularly welcome a roster of NBC Sports football commentators, including Rodney Harrison, Hines Ward, Doug Flutie, Ross Tucker, Amani Toomer, and Peter King, among others. In addition to deep diving on the most topical NFL stories of the day, Pro Football Talk will also touch on injuries, fantasy football and officiating.

There you go. Good night.

Some Really Quick Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts

Due to that stupid office move that prevented me from updating the site regularly over the last two two weeks, I wasn’t able to provide some regular features here. I’m slowly getting back on track. Thanks for your patience and continued readership during this period. I’ll make it up to you somehow.

I’ll do some very quick sports media thoughts. They’ll be in bullet form as always. Just quick hits this time, just one or two sentences in this post. I’ll expound the next time around.

• A few new shows have premiered over the last month. Both in the morning daypart which had been untapped by the sports networks until the last few years. Some thoughts on two new shows
  • NFL AM debuted in late July on NFL Network right as the Olympics were getting underway. Based on the searches landing on Fang’s Bites since the premiere, co-host Nicole Zaloumis has become popular with viewers. I like what I have seen thus far in the only morning show totally devoted to the NFL.
  • NBC Sports Network’s no-frills answer to ESPN’s SportsCenter, The ‘Lights premiered earlier this month with a disembodied voice hosting the show and narrating the highlights in twenty minute blocks. It’s a good concept that has been executed well by NBCSN.
• Earlier in August, it was discovered that Comcast SportsNet affiliates in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC had stopped carrying Fox Sports Net programming as of July 30 and that included the daily simulcast of the Dan Patrick Show. While an agreement could easily be forged between Fox and NBC, I have a feeling that this could be part of a bigger play by NBC for Dan not only as a radio show simulcast on NBC Sports Network, but also as an attempt to lure him to the NBC Sports Radio Network. Keep that in mind as Dan’s contract with DirecTV, the company that owns his radio show and markets his TV show to Fox Sports Net is up soon.
• Friday Night Football on ESPN/ESPN2 won’t be the same without Joe Tessitore.
• We need Michelle Beadle back on sports TV soon.
• It’s time to ignore Skip Bayless and stop writing and tweeting the outrageous things he says. Attention is exactly what he and ESPN want.
• The Big East got a very good Commissioner in former CBS Sports Vice President Mike Aresco. No pressure on Mike now, he only has to keep the conference from being poached and get a big TV contract on par with the ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
• DirecTV is no longer providing its free sports “Experience” programming to Standard Definition subscribers. NASCAR Hot Pass, PGA Championship and now the U.S. Open Experience, extra channels that allowed fans to see additional coverage beyond the network coverage are no longer available in SD. And there was no announcement either. That was sneaky, DirecTV. Makes me wonder if NFL Sunday Ticket is next. All are still available in HD.
• If you have a chance, listen to two Friends of Fang’s Bites tonight on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. Jen Royle will do a guest spot on the Damon Amendolara show tonight at 9. The station does stream so you can listen right here.
• Best of luck to another Friend of Fang’s Bites, Courtney Fallon. Monday was her last day as weekend sports anchor at WLNE in Providence. Here’s hoping she lands in a major market really soon.

That’s going to do it for the thoughts.

Fang’s Bites Medals For 2012 London Olympics Coverage, Part I — Studio Hosts & Analysts

Time to hand out the medals for NBC’s coverage for the Games of the XXX Summer Olympiad in London. This was a largely successful Olympics for NBC as it outdid its own expectations for ratings, profits and viewership. I’ll do the same as I did back in 2008 for Beijing and 2010 in Vancouver. For those not getting on the medal stand, they will get a horrid Bowl of Haggis. I guess some people in the UK like Haggis, but looking at that recipe, I don’t think I could eat it and I would challenge those who fail to medal here to eat it.

I will do hosts in this segment. I will follow up with play-by-play and analysts in the next installment.

So let’s do the medals for 2012. You may agree, you may not agree. Comment below.

HOSTS

Gold Medal

Bob Costas, NBC Primetime – I know, it’s easy to put him in this category, but even if there’s slippage, which there wasn’t, you can’t put him in any other place. Unlike in Beijing where he had live events to handle, London’s primetime was all taped including Costas’ own transitions in and out of events. His interviews mostly went well except when he tried a 1975 World Series Carlton Fisk home run reference on 19 year old gymnast Aly Raisman who had no idea what he was talking about. This year, Bob was more sarcastic and caustic in his comments. Maybe it was the hour he was taping, but overall, Costas was back in his element as host.

Michelle Beadle, NBC Sports Network Daytime — Michelle was an Olympic rookie, but she did a great job on the anchor desk. Quite often, she opened NBC Sports Network’s coverage and sent us right to live events. In addition, her interviews on the set gave us food for thought, especially when women’s 100 meter medalists Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells made news with Beadle criticizing Lolo Jones. Michelle showed her humor during the Olympics and it came across very nicely on the anchor desk. Here’s hoping we’ll see her in Sochi in 2014.

Dan Patrick, NBC Daytime – After appearing for just four days in Vancouver, Dan stayed for the entire duration of the London Games and did a spectacular job. As I previously wrote, Dan could step in for Bob if Costas ever chose to leave the primetime desk. Dan was very good on interviews, had very good chemistry with Al Michaels on the transitions and was very good as a nuts and bolts host. Patrick has firmly established himself as an upper echelon studio host with the 2012 Olympics.

Liam McHugh, NBC Sports Network Late Afternoon – Here’s a guy who has had a busy four month stretch for NBC Sports and he’s going to be busy again in September as he transitions to college football. Once part of The Daily Line on Versus, one of the few people to continue to NBC Sports Network under the Comcast transition, Liam has become one of the best young studio hosts on sports television. He’s gone from the NHL Postseason to hosting the Stanley Cup Final to the Tour de France and then the Olympics. In each case, he made hosting look easy when having to transition from sport-to-sport is hardly that way. Well done, Liam.

Silver Medal

Mary Carillo, NBC Late Night – The late night show is perfect for Mary. It’s a mix of events, humor and interviews and Mary was up to the task. Unlike the daytime and primetime shows, Late Night was able to stretch its wings. Plus John McEnroe made a few appearances and it made for some funny moments. Mary gets a well deserved silver.

Al Michaels, NBC Daytime – A much better showing from Vancouver. Al was more relaxed on the set this year as compared to Vancouver where he looked uncomfortable. Perhaps it was having his new BFF Dan Patrick around to loosen thing up, but Al was quite good. He mixed anecdotes, Olympic factoids and one liners where he could. Overall, a good job by Al and he’s on the podium in London.

Willie Geist, NBC Sports Network Midday — I wanted to dislike Willie as his shaky performances in Vancouver didn’t give me much hope for hosting duties, but I have to admit, he showed some humor and some strong interviewing skills in London. He and Michelle Beadle had some funny transitions on the set and they showed some decent chemistry. Willie gets a surprising silver.

Bronze Medal

Kelly Tilghman, MSNBC Daytime – After a strong start, Kelly faltered a bit like in the second week where she made up countries. I’d like to see Kelly in Sochi and Rio. She’s on the podium. As she was in New York, she was able to speak with several NBC analysts who didn’t make the trip to London. Interviews went well for the most part.

Rob Simmelkjaer, MSNBC Daytime – He’s on the podium.

BOWL OF HAGGIS

Pat O’Brien, Bravo Tennis – There was a time when having Pat O’Brien at your event meant a heavy hitter who could write, quip and conduct interviews. While Pat has been back in sports on Fox Sports Radio after his long stint covering entertainment news, he was amazingly unprepared to host Olympic tennis on Bravo. He made numerous mistakes, conducted awkward interviews and despite being on every day for the first week, he did not improve. Here’s a guy who brought us Rock ‘n Roll Highlights and irreverence to Olympic Late Night in the 1990′s, but instead, gave us nothing in 2012. Sad to see.

Fred Roggin, CNBC Boxing – Fred was based in New York after being a venue host in 2008 and 2010. Fred has not been a fave since his stint hosting boxing in Beijing and curling in Vancouver. He received an #NBCFAIL in 2010 and a bronze in Beijing. NBC gave Fred a studio complete with analysts BJ Flores and Laila Ali. It appeared both Flores and Ali wanted to hit Fred at various points. The studio transitions between Fred in New York and the boxing crew of Bob Papa and Teddy Atlas were awkward at times. Fred gets a Bowl of Haggis. Down it with some warm British beer while you’re at it.

ANALYSTS

Gold Medal

Bela Karolyi, Gymnastics – Was Bela hard to understand at times? Yes. But is he enthusiastic about his sport and does it come across on TV? Yes and yes. Once again, the Bela and Bob Show was entertaining television. His analysis was very biased, but Bela is not a journalist and we know this from the outset. The night his wife came on set to talk with Bob was quite funny as Bob tried to determine if both were going to be in Rio in 2016. And an interview on late night between Mary Carillo, Bela and Nastia Liukin turned out to be The Bela Show. We need more Bela in Rio.

Doc Rivers, Basketball – The Boston Celtics coach was once an analyst for TNT and ESPN and he stepped into the studio on NBC Sports Network/NBC and was fantastic. Doc explained replays and strategy concisely and he even stepped in during the transition between the women’s soccer semifinal and men’s basketball game last week. Liam McHugh asked him as a coach how he would handle the USA and Canada soccer squads after their emotional game and Doc gave great answers. And as the speculation grew for Doc as 2016 Olympic basketball coach, he answered the questions as best as he could. In addition, it was nice to see an NBA on ABC reunion between Doc and former partner, Al Michaels.

Silver Medal

Laila Ali, Boxing – Laila did an adept job in analyzing women’s boxing with Fred Roggin (see above). Like her dad, Laila is charismatic and if she ever decided to become an analyst, I’d watch.

Bronze Medal

BJ Flores, Boxing – The analyst for NBC Sports Network’s boxing coverage was ok. I couldn’t understand him at times, but maybe that was me.

REPORTERS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Gold Medal

John McEnroe, NBC Primetime and Late Night – John wanted to go outside his traditional tennis role and stretch his wings. I thought John did great. He filled two roles, one with NBC and another with BBC. McEnroe showed a general interest in the sports he attended whether it was track & field or swimming. I noticed that John’s feature on Usain Bolt ran on both networks over the weekend. And on Saturday, a feature on the proper way to behave was right up his alley.

Jimmy Roberts, NBC Daytime – Jimmy is a masterful writer and can find stories where others cannot. I would have liked to have seen him in primetime, bu we got to see Ryan Seacrest instead (more on him later).

BOWL OF HAGGIS

Ryan Seacrest, All-Around Hack – I know why NBC had him at the Olympics, he was there to draw viewers who don’t normally watch the Olympics. He had primetime segments where he talked with Michael and Debbie Phelps or discussed social media trends. On the Today Show, he interviewed athletes. Throughout, Seacrest showed a general lack of knowledge in sports and sometimes in the people he was interviewing. Then again, Seacrest is not a sportscaster nor does he pretend to be. I’m not a fan of Seacrest and I thought his primetime segments brought the proceedings to a halt. However, during the Closing Ceremony, he kept his talking to a minimum, introducing the musical acts and letting the pictures do the talking. For Sochi and Rio, let’s keep his Olympic appearances to the Today Show and off primetime where he can do the least damage.

Coming tonight, the medals for the play-by-play commentators, analysts and venue reporters.

Looking at the Next Generation of Olympic Announcers

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

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

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

HOSTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANNOUNCERS

Let’s do this by sport.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Quick Monday Sports Media Thoughts

Time for some quick sports media thoughts. As always, they come in bullet form.

• The free agent frenzy at ESPN is over. Overall, ESPN lost two out of three major free agents, Erin Andrews and Michelle Beadle while keeping Scott Van Pelt. Beadle and Van Pelt were not surprises, but Andrews’ departure can be classified as a mild one. The fact that Erin decided to leave and part ways after ESPN aggressively tried to keep her shows me that the network still valued her, however, Fox stepped up wupith a role she felt comfortable with.

  As Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported on Sunday, one of Erin’s goals was to work on the NFL, an opportunity that she was passed over at ESPN. She’ll now have that chance at Fox plus some postseason MLB work as well.

  ESPN tome co-author James Andrew Miller tweeted that one could consider that both Erin and Micelle came out winners.

• Nice to see that NBC pulled tape delayed shenanigans for the U.S. Olympic Trials. The West Coast had to wait three hours to watch the gymnastics, swimming, and track & field trials over the last week. NBC will argue that the trials were available live across the country online, but that’s not good enough in this age.
• Great job by ESPN’s soccer unit on EURO 2012. Great coverage. World Cup 2014 in Rio is next.
• Starting today and going through Wednesday, ESPN and ESPN2 will have simultaneous coverage of Wimbledon with the Mothership focusing on Centre Court and the Deuce airing outer court action. It will be a tennis smorgasbord.
• Is there a more overblown event than The ESPY’s? Who votes on the awards? Does anyone think they make any sense?
• A couple of non-sports media thoughts: Ann Curry got screwed by NBC over the Today show and I like “The Newsroom” on HBO.
• Lastly, can we get Bonnie Bernstein a role on the Olympics? Or at least have her host a major network NFL studio show? Please?

Enjoy your Monday or least try to enjoy it.

Providing Your Thursday Linkage

Looks like I’m going to be busy today so I’m going to do the linkage a bit early for me at least.

David Bauder of the Associated Press writes that even though he’s no longer NBC Sports Emperor, Dick Ebersol’s presence will still be felt at the London Olympics.

Michael Hiestand at USA Today says NBC will utilize Late Night’s Jimmy Fallon and Shaun White as guest commentators during the Olympics.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that ESPN the Magazine has released the roster for its annual “Body” issue.

Alex Sherman of Bloomberg says NBC Sports Network is the key to Comcast turning a profit when NBC’s new Olympic deal begins in 2014.

Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter says NBC is hoping the Olympics will give its struggling Today show a ratings boost.

Scott Roxborough in the Reporter writes that the EURO 2012 semifinal between Spain and Portugal set a ratings record in Europe.

Neil Reynolds of Sky Sports in the UK has New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft lobbying for an NFL franchise in London and increasing the amount of regular season games in the UK from one to two.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable reports NBC expects to lose money on the London Olympics.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says NBCUniversal is pushing people to authenticate in order to watch the Olympics online.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek looks at NBC’s nearly $1 billion take from Olympic ad sales.

Rocco Pendola of The Street wonders if NBC can make a run at ESPN.

Ed Sherman at the Sherman Report notes how polarizing Chris Berman can be.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid doesn’t quite understand the vitriol thrown Berman’s way.

Natan Edelsburg at Lost Remote says NBC is making the London Olympics a truly social media experience. That will make Bob Costas so happy to read Twitter and Facebook promos.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says NBC’s going all in online at the Olympics.

Jack Bell at the Times looks at ESPN’s EURO 2012 ratings.

Jerry Barmash of Fishbowl NY notes that the NBA Finals beat Mets-Yankees in New York.

Jerry talks with the first voice ever to be heard on WFAN when it launched 25 years ago.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette says Buffalo Sabres TV voice Rick Jeanneret will do the entire team’s schedule.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says even with a new playoff system, there will still be debates in college football.

In the Washington Examiner, Jim Williams talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas about tonight’s NBA Draft.

Ron Green, Jr. of the Charlotte Observer also talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas about the Bobcats’ choices at the Draft.

David Barron in the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets have changed flagship radio stations.

W. Scott Bailey of the San Antonio Business Journal says local native Michelle Beadle has come a long way from covering Professional Bull Riding.

Ryan Sharp at The Oklahoman has proof that the Big 12 pursued Notre Dame to increase its TV value.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman reviews the weekend’s TV ratings.

Paul M. Banks in Chicago Sports Media Watch wonders what will happen to the BCS brand now that a college football playoff is firmly in place.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says Fox Sports San Diego will air November’s Syracuse-San Diego State college basketball game on board the USS Midway.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says the West Coast is getting screwed again with NBC’s coverage of the Olympic Trials.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the viewership for the NHL Draft and NHL Awards Show was down.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing have some random sports that ESPN should televise and I totally agree with the number one choice.

And that’s going to do it for the linkage today.

2012 NBC Olympics Hosts and Commentators

Ok, NBC’s press release on its 2012 Olympics hosts and announcers has yet to arrive. Thanks to an alert reader, I was tipped off to NBC Sports Group’s press release website which has the talent bios of its announcers for London. I’m not sure if NBC wants to make that site public, so I won’t link to it for now. But through this website, I’ll be able to piece together the announcing teams for you.

We already know the hosts for NBC and the hosts for Bravo (tennis), CNBC (boxing) and MSNBC. And this week, we learned the hosts for NBC Sports Network.

Ok, let’s list everything I’m able to compile. This is not complete as some sports are missing analysts and one is missing a play-by-play person, but it’s based on what I’ve been able to piece together from NBC’s PR site. I’ll provide reactions to the announcers later.

Randy Moss and Steve Schlanger will call multiple events during the Olympics. There are a couple of analysts who will provide color on multiple sports.

And when NBC finally sends its official press release with the complete announcing teams, I’ll publish that in a separate post.

Here we go.

STUDIO HOSTS

NBC
Today at the Olympics: Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera, Ann Curry, Al Roker
Weekdays/Weekend: Al Michaels, Dan Patrick
Primetime: Bob Costas
Late Night: Mary Carillo

Correspondents: Mary Carillo (primetime), Jimmy Fallon (primetime), Bela Karolyi (primetime) John McEnroe (primetime), Jimmy Roberts (daytime), Ryan Seacrest (primetime),  Shaun White (primetime)

MSNBC
Kelly Tilghman

NBC Sports Network
Morning: Michelle Beadle
Midday: Willie Geist
Afternoon: Liam McHugh

Olympic Sports Desk Reporters
Tamron Hall
Marshall Harris
Lester Holt
Carolyn Manno
Pierre McGuire
Carolyn Peck
Dr. Nancy Snyderman
Michele Tafoya

VENUE COMMENTATORS

Badminton
Jim Kozimor (play-by-play)
Steve Kearney (analyst)

Basketball (men’s & women’s)
Chris Carrino (play-by-play)
Bob Fitzgerald (play-by-play)
Dave Strader (play-by-play)
Doug Collins (analyst)
Lisa Leslie (analyst)
Ann Meyers (analyst)
Craig Sager (reporter)

Beach Volleyball
Chris Marlowe (play-by-play)
Kevin Wong (analyst)
Heather Cox (reporter)

Boxing (CNBC)
Fred Roggin (venue host)
Bob Papa (blow-by-blow)
Teddy Atlas (analyst)
Russ Thaler (reporter)

Canoe
Randy Moss (play-by-play)

Cycling
Todd Harris (play-by-play)
Steve Schlanger (play-by-play)

Diving
Ted Robinson (play-by-play)
Cynthia Potter (analyst)
Alex Flanagan (reporter)

Equestrian
Tim Ryan (play-by-play)
Melanie Smith Taylor (analyst)

Field Hockey
Mike Corey (play-by-play)
Missy Meharg (analyst)

Gymnastics
Al Trautwig (play-by-play)
Tim Dagget (analyst)
Elfi Schlegel (analyst)
Andrea Joyce (reporter)

Handball
Mike Gorman (play-by-play)
Dawn Allinger Lewis (analyst)

Judo
Leo White, Jr. (analyst)

Open Water
Steve Schlanger (play-by-play)
Rowdy Gaines (analyst)

Race Walk
Randy Moss (play-by-play)
Chris Maddocks (analyst)

Rowing
Terry Gannon (play-by-play)
Yasmin Farooq (analyst)

Shooting
Shari Legate (analyst)

Soccer
Steve Cangialosi (play-by-play)
Glenn Davis (play-by-play)
JP Dellacamera (play-by-play)
Arlo White (play-by-play)
Marcelo Balboa (analyst)
Brandi Chastain (analyst)
Allen Hopkins (analyst)
Cobi Jones (analyst)
Kyle Martino (analyst)
Shep Messing (analyst)

Swimming
Dan Hicks (play-by-play)
Rowdy Gaines (analyst)
Andrea Kremer (reporter)

Synchronized Swimming
Randy Moss (play-by-play)
Heather Olson (analyst)

Table Tennis
Ari Wolfe (play-by-play)
Sean O’Neill (analyst)

Tennis (Bravo)
Pat O’Brien (venue host)
Andrew Catalon (play-by-play)
Brett Haber (play-by-play)
Ted Robinson (play-by-play)
Justin Gimelstob (analyst)
Rennae Stubbs (analyst)
Jon Wertheim (reporter)

Track & Field
Tom Hammond (play-by-play)
Ato Boldon (analyst)
Craig Masback (analyst)
Dwight Stones (analyst)
Tim Hutchings (analyst -Marathon)
Lewis Johnson (reporter)

Trampoline
Al Trautwig (play-by-play)
Tim Dagget (analyst)

Triathlon
Steve Schlanger (play-by-play)
Julie Swail (analyst)

Volleyball
Paul Sunderland (play-by-play)
Kevin Barnett (analyst)

Water Polo
Mike Emrick (play-by-play)
Julie Swail (analyst)
Wolf Wigo (analyst)

Weightlifting
Jim Watson (play-by-play)

White Water
Randy Moss (play-by-play)

Wrestling
Jason Knapp (play-by-play)

That is your list for now. As stated above, when NBC provides the press release with the complete teams, I’ll put that on the site.

UPDATE, 1:35 a.m.: Through a check of Twitter and hearing from sources, I’ve added NBC MLS voice Arlo White to soccer, and through Drea Avent’s account and in particular, her tweet to me directly, she’ll be a reporter during the Games, in what capacity, we have not been able to confirm just yet. More to follow when it becomes available.

Michelle Beadle To Host Olympics on NBC Sports Network; ESPN Makes Personnel Moves on College Football

Wednesday’s sports media column from USA Today’s Michael Hiestand is chock full of information.

Like the sports media thoughts, we’ll handle them in bullet form.

• First, NBC will announce its Olympic talent roster along with its programming schedule. And Wednesday’s announcement will mark a month until the Opening Ceremony in London. That will be fun to watch. In Hiestand’s column, we find that Michelle Beadle will be the morning host for NBC Sports Network’s Olympic program which will begin at 4 a.m. ET. Other hosts on NBCSN will be Willie Geist (why?) of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Liam McHugh. NBCSN’s coverage will last until the NBC Mothership hits the air in primetime.

  NBC will unveil other plans during a media conference call to be held Wednesday in New York. I already know of a couple of announcing assignments, but I’ll wait until the press release is published.

• Hiestand also reports that ESPN has made a couple of changes in its Thursday Night College Football crew. We already knew that failed Texas U.S. Senate candidate Craig James would not return to the booth. ESPN had already declared that the Butcher of Texas would not be coming back. So David Pollack who has mostly been on ESPNU and the first hour of College GameDay with Erin Andrews, will be the second analyst in the booth joining incumbents Rece Davis and Jesse Palmer. ESPN is also expected to announce that Samantha Steele of the Longhorn Network will be the Thursday night sideline reporter replacing Jenn Brown. Samantha had a few assignments on ESPN’s Friday night games last season.

I expect an NBC press release on Olympic plans later today and I’ll be posting that when it finally arrives in the Fang’s Bites inbox.

A Few Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts

Time for some sports media thoughts. These have been percolating in my head all day Monday. It’s fine time to pour them out and have you peruse through them. As always, they’re in bullet form.

• Monday’s announcement from NFL Network regarding its new morning show could be a game changer for sports television. If “NFL AM” is successful, it could lead other sports networks to follow NFL Network’s lead. But if the show fails to catch on, then it will be back to the status quo with repeats of the previous night’s highlights program. With “NFL AM” set to launch on July 30 from 6-10 a.m. ET, one wonders if there will be enough content to fill the time, but as a director once told me when I was working at a Providence TV station, “Have no fear. We’ll find a way to fill the show. I’ve never had a half-hour of black,” meaning he never had to show a blank screen. That will have to be the philosophy of NFL Network for “NFL AM”. Plus with people going to work and school, not everyone will see the entire four hours.

  If the show works, I can see other league-owned channels attempting similar ventures. MLB Network’s Quick Pitch airs on a loop on most days from 1 a.m. – noon ET. That’s too long. An MLB Network morning show could work as would a morning NBA program.

  But before we get to the point of multiple live morning sports programs, “NFL AM” has to get off the ground successfully. By this time next year, we’ll have an idea whether NFL Network’s “NFL AM” is a success or a failure.

• When I began this site five years ago, Erin Andrews was the darling of the sports blogosphere. Any picture or even a slight mention of her would increase a site’s traffic. There was a reason why she was nicknamed “Erin Pageviews”. Before she re-signed with ESPN in 2010, Erin seemed to be in demand. Her star never shone brighter and it appeared that she could have the pick of any job.

  Now cut to 2012 and it appears Erin is no longer the darling of sports bloggers. Others like Michelle Beadle, Jenn Brown, Charissa Thompson and Molly Qerim et.al. have become favorites as well. This isn’t to say that the Internet is ignoring her, TMZ still pays attention even speculating that she had a boob job. And she was referenced twice in the premiere of the new HBO series, “The Newsroom”.

  Deadspin which once championed her (and was the first to link to the infamous hotel room video in 2009) came out with an article this month pointing out that Ms. Andrews seemingly has no place to go other than ESPN.

  Deadspin reported that Erin is no longer working for Good Morning America and she’s removed the reference to GMA from her Twitter bio.

  Does this necessarily mean that Erin has no other place to go than ESPN? If you believe the speculation from Deadspin and The Big Lead, the answer is yes. But does it mean that she hasn’t had any other offers or couldn’t get work if she decided to walk away from Bristol, CT?

  She can still attract viewers and page views. The NHL thought Erin had enough star power to invite her to its annual awards show last week and present two trophies. Could a league-owned channel like NHL Network find room for Erin? I’m sure it could if the opportunity was presented. But we have not heard of any offers asides from her present employer.

  Overall, I still think Erin can move the meter on the Internet and she’ll continue to so for a while. Just for how long she’ll be at ESPN is anyone’s guess.

• Without any EURO 2012 action until Wednesday’s semifinal game between Spain and Portugal, I went into soccer withdrawals. International soccer is a sport that ESPN continues to excel. Understated coverage with Bob Ley heading the studio and Ian Darke the main play-by-play man, I can easily say this is a Golden Age for soccer on American television. Couple this with having Martin Tyler calling English Premier League games on Fox Soccer and fans have been hearing some of the best announcing of the sport.

  Granted, we get hiccups like Fox’s silly dumbing down of the Champions League Final last year, but overall, the coverage on ESPN, Fox Soccer and Gol TV has been good.

  With ESPN having just the FIFA World Cup in Brazil left to broadcast, it is setting the bar very high. Fox will have a long ways to go to match ESPN’s coverage and while this year’s Champions League Final was an improvement over 2010, the network will have a big hill to climb to equal or surpass the Alleged Worldwide Leader on soccer.

• Count me as one who loved the premiere of “The Newsroom” on Sunday. I enjoyed Jeff Daniels as the erascible anchor Will McAvoy and Emily Mortimer as his idealistic Executive Producer MacKenzie McHale. Yes, in typical Aaron Sorkin fashion, some of the dialogue was overwritten, but I enjoyed the show and I hope it has a long life on HBO. As long as Sorkin doesn’t go overboard on preaching, I think the show will do just fine.

I went longer than I expected on the thoughts. That’s to your benefit.

Michelle Beadle To Make Her NBC Sports Debut on Friday

After saying goodbye to SportsNation last month and then making a splash while on vacation in the Virgin Islands, Michelle Beadle makes her NBC Sports debut this weekend during the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. According to Michael Hiestand of USA Today, Michelle will be seen hosting features and filing reports during the action that will be aired both on NBC and NBC Sports Network.

The Track & Field Trials will be aired in primetime throughout the weekend so NBC will not only be showcasing the athletes but also its newest talent as well.

This week, Michelle will also make her Access Hollywood debut if she hasn’t already. I don’t watch Access Hollywood so forgive me if I missed Michelle’s appearance.

We expect a press release on this shortly and as soon as it’s received, it’ll be posted here.

Guest Column: Announcer Moves and League-owned College Networks

We continue with the guest columns. This one comes from reader Corneilus Green. Three columns in one for you.

Sports Broadcasting Talent Moves

The summer is definitely heating up with the speculation of who is staying or who is going to new networks.

Michelle Beadle is the most high profile talent to leave ESPN (which was mostly expected) and she gets to do more at NBC. It was definitely a shocker that Michelle Bonner left ESPN and the same for Dana Jacobson.

Scott Van Pelt whom I would have preferred leave for NBC/Comcast, remained at ESPN which is good for him, however, his radio partner, Ryen Russillo is near the end of this contract and who knows where he might go.

Doug Gottlieb, whose contract is up in September, could have a contract offer from CBS Sports according to SportsbyBrooks. Whatever CBS offers to Gottlieb has to be astronomical for him to leave the Worldwide Leader, though I think he should go if the opportunity was presented.

I feel Erin Andrews will stay at ESPN. Her stock has fallen since a few years ago and thus does not have value to another network should she still want to cover sports.

The lowest profile re-signing was John Buccigross. Buccigross stayed at ESPN mainly because he would the #1 voice for NCAA Frozen Four replacing Gary Thorne. Buccigross is one of the few at ESPN along with Linda Cohn and Steve Levy who trumpet hockey, which is amazing because as we know, it gives little to no coverage to the sport.

Had Buccigross not stayed with ESPN, it was expected that NHL Network would have offered him the chance to be its main anchor and be the face of the network. It will be interesting to see where all the sports talent lands.

NBA TV and MLB Network should utilize field reporters who can report from the various team’s headquarters instead relying on the insiders and the writers on the dot-com side.

I will be watching to see who the Pac-12 Network hires in addition to Summer Sanders, Ronnie Lott, and Rick Neuheisel. I would like for the Pac-12 Network to hire Tom Ramsey. I miss hearing him call college football. I fully expect Fox to elevate Craig Bolerjack, Joel Klatt, and Petros Papadakis as the main team for college football on FX, also make Gus Johnson its main voice for the Pac-12 on Fox and move Steve Physioc to part-time on Pac-12 football and become the main voice for college basketball for the Big Ten Network.

Fox should replace Kevin Frazier with Fran Charles on as college football studio host and also add another analyst to Marcus Allen.

Never has there been more interest in sports media and who’s staying or who’s going. This year has unofficially been the year of the media rights deals and sports talent moves. Do not expect that to change during the summer.

SEC Network

An SEC Network could become reality in 2014. The SEC has called this Project X. It’s one of a number of things that has come up during the renegotiation the conference’s media rights deals with CBS and ESPN. With the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, it opened the league to an increase of its media rights fees.

An SEC Network was close to starting in 2009 but ESPN threw a boatload of money at the conference not to start one. It appears that the SEC added two schools just for the sake of addition. The conference was already recruiting Texas and Missouri which wanted more money though they should have gone to the Big Ten had an offer been extended to both, but they were wishy-washy while Nebraska was jumping to the Big Ten without any hesitation. Texas A&M kicked and screamed its way to the SEC, but I’ll save that for another day.

The SEC is close to agreeing to an increase its TV rights fees, but the holdup has been CBS. The Tiffany Network has balked at paying more because its game inventory will not change. CBS is justified in balking. Mizzou and Texas A&M do not have the same attraction as Nebraska.

ESPN, which has been trying to establish a monopoly on televised college athletics, will most likely try to buy CBS’ slate of SEC games if CBS does not change its stance. CBS should hold out to the very end and get more doubleheaders and more night games to justify paying more for SEC games.

It’s being speculated that ESPN will partner with the SEC to establish an SEC Network. This would be likely picked up within a year on all the cable, digital cable, and satellite companies in the conference’s footprint because of the league’s popularity. The SEC has a bigger footprint than all of the conferences and the most rabid fan bases.

An SEC Network would most likely be modeled after the Big Ten Network. Many observers thought the SEC should have started its own network instead of allowing ESPN to talk them out of it by dangling more money. This makes Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany look a lot smarter than SEC head honcho Mike Slive in that perspective.

If the conference agrees to establish a TV network, this would put more cash in the SEC membership’s coffers, surpassing the Big Ten in revenue. The conference has enjoyed six consecutive years of a school wining the BCS National Championship Game.

It’s high time the SEC gets its own network. In my opinion, NBC/Comcast would be a better equity partner for the league in establishing an SEC Network than ESPN.

 

Pac-12 Network

The Pac-12 Network was the crown jewel when it came to the historic media rights deal between the conference and ESPN/Fox. Even more historic was the creation of seven networks, the main Pac-12 Network and seven regional channels.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has proved himself to be a power broker in college athletics and he has grown the conference into a financial power. In addition, his experience in negotiating TV contracts brought four digital cable companies as partners to carry the networks when he announced their formation.

While this all sounds good in theory, the hard part will be trying to convince all of the cable and satellite companies to carry all seven networks. Most likely all will carry the main Pac-12 network, but not the other six. Thus, the challenge of starting a sports channel and ensuring most of the country can watch it.

The Mtn. went dark on May 31 because it could not get distribution beyond DirecTV and various smaller cable providers in the West. Longhorn Network is having difficulty gaining carriage in Texas.

Time Warner Cable will have a tough time convincing cable and satellite companies to pick up its two new regional networks it is starting with the Los Angeles Lakers. As reported by John Ourand from the Sports Business Journal, Time Warner is charging companies $3.95/subscriber fee. That’s insane.

DirecTV President and CEO Mike White said that the satellite provider will not carry the Longhorn Network. Another statement could potentially spell bad news for the Pac-12 Network. White said DirecTV will most likely not carry all seven Pac-12 Networks. If you’re Larry Scott, you should be concerned. It appears DirecTV will only carry the main network and not the regional channels. Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse are probably thinking the same thing.

While Larry Scott’s thinking was out of the box, it could be a bad move for now. The Big Ten Network has been largely successful, but it was just one network. The Pac-12 Networks will have major challenges in gaining carriage. As a U-verse customer, I would like to be able to watch all of the networks from their inception. The question is: Can the Pac-12 convince every digital and satellite company to carry all seven networks? Good luck, Larry Scott.

Corneilus Green resides in Orangeburg, South Carolina. Currently unemployed, but Corneilus is a sports enthusiast who once had a dream of being a sports broadcaster and commentator. He still might do it.

Thanks to Corneilus for the column. More guest columns will published throughout the week.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/jul/30/sports/sp-tvcol30

ESPN2′s SportsNation Bids Farewell To Michelle Beadle; Welcomes Charissa Thompson

In a span of just four days, it’ll be out with the old and in with the new at SportsNation. Michelle Beadle will say goodbye on her last official show which will air on Friday. From what the press blurb says, Michelle will go out with a bang. I heard it will involve a cannon. I’m not joking.

And on Monday, Charissa Thompson, the host of ESPN2′s Numbers Never Lie will take Michelle’s place as official co-host of SportsNation taking the side of ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd.

It’s all here in black and white for you.

SportsNation Bids a Fond Farewell to Michelle Beadle on June 1, Welcomes Charissa Thompson as the New Co-Host on June 4

SportsNation’s new co-host Charissa Thompson will make her debut on Monday, June 4, opposite co-host Colin Cowherd. The pair will continue the off-beat SportsNation tradition of discussing the day’s hottest and weirdest sports topics weekdays at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. ESPYS host Rob Riggle recently attempted to congratulate Thompson on her new gig, though there was clearly some confusion on his part: http://bit.ly/CharissaT

Thompson, a familiar face to the SportsNation audience thanks to her guest appearances, joined ESPN in September of 2011 and has served as host of ESPN2’s Numbers Never* Lie. Prior to joining ESPN, Thompson appeared on multiple sports networks including The Big Ten Network, Versus (now NBC Sports), NFL Network, Speed Network and Yahoo! Sports. Thompson was also a co-host of Fox Sports Network’s The Best Damn Sports Show Period.

On Friday, June 1, SportsNation will bid a fond farewell to Michelle Beadle with a “Beadle Bash” celebrating her last appearance on the show. The episode will highlight unforgettable Beadle moments and memories, and will feature a special surprise goodbye to send Beadle off with a “bang.”

Fans can follow the show on Twitter at @SportsNation and Charissa Thompson at @CharissaT.

There you have it.

Sports Media Weekly No. 103 — Ed Sherman, The Sherman Report & Michelle Beadle, NBCUniversal

This was quite the action-packed podcast. Very newsworthy as Michelle Beadle, soon-to-be departing ESPN and soon-to-be joining NBCUniversal is one of our guests. The other is Ed Sherman, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and still writing for Crain’s Chicago Business, but now is the editor and lead writer for the Sherman Report. Ed is still based in Chicago and bases the Sherman Report from the Windy City.

Ed joined Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal and I for our news segment.

We began talking about Michelle Beadle and her impending departure from ESPN2′s SportsNation for NBCUniversal and what her role will be with the Peacocks.

That transitioned to Erik Kuselias becoming primary host of NBC SportsTalk on NBC Sports Network.

Then we discusssed Pam Ward being taken off ESPN’s college football coverage.

That led to a discussion of ESPN extending its contract with the ACC and subsequently sublicensing ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 games to CBS plus the upheaval in the conferences for money and where it could lead.

Keith, Ed and I moved to baseball and TBS picking up the new Wild Card playoff games while giving two League Division Series games to MLB Network. And we wondered if MLB Network’s penetration would leave fans in local markets out in the cold without access to the games when the postseason rolls around.

Then focused on NBC’s extensive coverage of the Olympics and then talked about Chicago as a market to cover.

Our second guest, Michelle Beadle came on to talk about signing her deal with NBCUniversal where she will work both in sports and entertainment.

We asked Michelle about why she decided to leave ESPN and what opportunities NBC provided to lure her away from the Alleged Worldwide Leader. And Michelle reviewed the speculation on her decision from blogs and newspapers.

Then Michelle told us about what she’ll be doing at NBC Sports and Access Hollywood plus being based in New York for NBCUniversal.

This was a quite fun podcast and once again Beadle gave us a lot of laughs. You can find it on iTunes under “Sports Media Journal” or you can

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.

A Tuesday Sports Media Thoughts Trifecta

Let’s provide you with three thoughts on this Tuesday. You know the drill.

• After learning that her contract was expiring, leading to speculation that she was about to leave, seemingly leaving, then indeed she was leaving, we finally got the official wordfrom NBCUniversal that Michelle Beadle was joining the company.It’s a good move for her. She’ll still have a hand in sports with a show on NBC Sports Network and appear on big events like the Olympics, NFL Kickoff, the Triple Crown and down the road, the Super Bowl. In addition, Michelle will be the New York-based correspondent for Access Hollywood. If you read the NBC press release, you’ll notice that there was plenty of mentions of her past entertainment work as well as her sports resumé.I know I said sports wasn’t in Beadle’s future and I was partly right in my thoughts. It will be interesting to see if her NBC Sports Network show will be weekly or monthly. I think the show won’t be a daily series, but you never know. Michelle will be a guest on an upcoming edition of Sports Media Weekly with Keith Thibault and I and we’ll be asking her what her role at NBC Sports will be. And I’m sure she’ll continue to be a Friend of Fang’s Bites.
• Before NBC’s Beadle announcement, the big news on Monday was the surprising development that ESPN had removed Pam Wardfrom its college football coverage. Since 2000, Ward had a weekly assignment starting with noon ET Big Ten games on ESPN2. While there’s no arguing that she was a trailblazer, becoming the first woman to regularly call football on a major television network, there was certainly no argument that she was polarizing among viewers.The original Awful Announcing site under original editor, Brian Powell named its Worst College Football Announcing Awards, The Pammies, after Ward. While some media writers like Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star were squarely in her corner, your humble blogger found Ward’s play calling to be sorely lacking. For four years running, she was the “winner” of Worst Play-by-Play in my annual College Football TV Awards and had it named after her last year. Even with her not calling college football this year, the award will still be named in her dishonor.

  Beth Mowins is the lone female on ESPN still calling college football and I think she’s much better than Ward.

• And another Monday development, CBS announced that it was sublicensinga package of ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 basketball games from ESPN. It’s something CBS had to do to continue airing marquee conference matchups during the regular season. While CBS dominates the college basketball postseason, it’s ESPN that carries the load of the regular with new contracts in tow with the three aforementioned conferences. It’s kind of like doing business with the Devil, but knowing you have to do it in order to survive. While that analogy is certainly a stretch, it’s not too far off as ESPN is the 800 lb. gorilla that has most, if not all the bananas in its possession.Let’s not cry for CBS here, it has contracts of its own with the Big East, Big Ten and SEC, but it needed a sublicense agreement with the Alleged Worldwide Leader to continue to air a diversified college basketball portfolio. I wonder if we’ll see similar arrangements for other sports with ESPN down the line.

We’re done for now.