Fang's Bites

ESPN Moves Aussie Open Men’s Semis & Both Singles Finals to The Mothership

In a move that came out of the blue, ESPN has announced that it has moved the Thursday’s Australian Open men’s semfinals as well as both singles finals from ESPN2 to the Mothership. In the olden days of ESPN, before there was an ESPN2, the Australian Open finals were always on the main channel. Now with ESPN showing the Wimbledon finals as of last year, it seems a natural fit for the Mothership to air the year’s first Grand Slam Final.

The Women’s Semifinals will be aired tonight on ESPN2 as scheduled. The men’s semifinals will air on ESPN on Thursday and Friday at 3:30 a.m. ET.

Then the finals will be seen Saturday and Sunday morning at 3:30 ET.

We have the release from ESPN.

Australian Open:  Men’s Semis, Both Finals Move to ESPN

Top Four Men’s Seeds in Semis
Surprising Sloane Stephens to face Defending Champ Azarenka, Sharapova-Li for Slots in Championship

The men’s semifinals and both the women’s and men’s championship matches of the Australian Open will now be aired live on ESPN.  The encore presentations of those matches will remain on ESPN2.

For the second straight year, the men’s semifinals feature the top four seeds.  In the first semifinal, top-seeded Novak Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive title Down Under, will face No. 4 David Ferrer on ESPN late tonight (Wednesday) at 3:30 a.m. ET (half past midnight PT). In the other semi, No. 2 Roger Federer plays No. 3 Andy Murray 24 hours later, late Thursday night at 3:30 a.m.  Federer – who counts four victories in Melbourne among his all-time best 17 Grand Slam titles – will be aiming for his 25^th career major final. Murray, who broke through with his first major title last year at the US Open, is seeking to win back-to-back Grand Slam events.

Tonight on ESPN2, No. 2 Maria Sharapova plays No. 6 Li Na in a semifinal at 9:30 p.m.  The other women’s semifinal will follow, pairing the defending champion and No. 1 seed Victoria Azarenka against the 19-year old American who ousted Serena Williams Tuesday night in the Quarterfinals – Sloane Stephens. The Florida native is the No. 29 seed and has never advanced this far in a major event.  Should the top two seeds Azarenka and Sharapova advance to the championship, it would be a rematch of last year where Azarenks took home her first Grand Slam trophy.

The two weeks of live late-night, marathon telecasts will climax with the women’s championship Saturday, Jan 26, and the men’s championship Sunday, Jan. 27, both at 3 a.m. Each will reair at 9 a.m. and in prime time. The telecasts are available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.

ESPN’s 29th consecutive Australian Open represents the company’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship.

Late Night Thrills

Since the Australian Open finals became a prime-time event in Melbourne (men in 2005, women in 2009), the live telecasts at 3:30 a.m. ET have provided ESPN2’s biggest five audiences at that time of day in the last 10 years (since January 2003, measured by average number of households tuned to ESPN2 during the program). Last year’s men’s final is tennis’ longest Grand Slam final ever, with Djokovic outlasting Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in five hours, 53 minutes.

Date	Event	Players	Rating	Homes – avg.
Jan 31, 2009	Men’s Final	Nadal-Federer	0.9	860,000
Jan 30, 2010	Men’s Final	Federer-Murray	0.7	671,000
Jan 28, 2012	Men’s Final	Djokovic-Nadal	0.7	662,000
Jan 26, 2008	Men’s Final	Djokovic-Tsonga	0.6	582,000
Jan 29, 2010	Women’s Final	S.Williams-Henin	0.6	589,000
Sept 29, 2012	College Football Final	–	0.6	568,000

2012 Australian Open on Television

This week’s television schedule (For these charts, all times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.  Therefore, the listing Sat., Jan. 26 at 3 a.m. ET is actually very late on Saturday night.):

Date	Time (ET)	Event	Network
Wednesday, January 23	9:30 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Women’s Semifinals Sharapova-Li Azarenka-Stephens	ESPN2	LIVE
Thursday, January 24	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1 Djokovic-Ferrer	ESPN	LIVE
	Noon – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	ESPN2	encore
Friday, January 25	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2 Federer-Murray	ESPN	LIVE
	Noon – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	ESPN2	encore
	3 – 5:30 a.m.	Women’s Championship	ESPN	LIVE
Saturday, January 26	9 – 11 a.m.	Women’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
	10 p.m. – MID	Women’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
Sunday, January 27	3 – 6:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN	LIVE
	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN2	encore
	7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	ESPN2	encore

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.

2013 Australian Open on Tennis Channel

Tennis Channel will have daily coverage of the Australian Open starting each night at 7 p.m. beginning on Monday, January 14. The network will carry some 30 hours of live tennis coverage which will be encompassed into 180 hours of tournament coverage.

Bill Macatee will be the lead announcer and he’ll be joined by Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Rennae Stubbs, Justin Gimelstob, Brett Haber, and Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim.

Australian Open Today will be aired as a twice-daily show wrapping up the day’s events at 7 a.m. ET and then returning at 3 p.m. ET to help preview the upcoming coverage.

Here’s the press release from Tennis Channel.

Tennis Channel presents Australian Open

Largest On-Air Team in Network’s Melbourne History Features Navratilova, Macatee, Davenport, Haber, Gimelstob, Wertheim and Stubbs During Tennis’ First Major Event of 2013
New Day-Session/Night-Session Format for Daily Highlight and Encore Show Australian Open Today as Tennis Channel Devotes More Than 180 Hours to Competition

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7, 2013 –Tennis Channel’s sixth year of televising the Australian Open, the first major tournament of the annual tennis season, will begin Monday, Jan. 14, at 7 p.m. ET.  The network plans for more than 30 hours of live match telecasts during the two-week competition again this year, with more than 180 hours of dedicated tournament coverage overall.  In addition to 10 consecutive nights of live prime-time matches running into the middle of the second week (complete schedule follows), Tennis Channel viewers will again be able to tune in throughout the competition for encore match coverage and a sense of where things stand as the tournament progresses.

New for 2013 is a retooled format for daily highlight and encore-match show Australian Open Today.  Previously a single programming block that ran once in the morning and again each afternoon, this year’s version will feature two daily editions, one dedicated to the tournament’s most recent day session and one to the most recent night session.  This nearly doubles the amount of first-run Australian Open Today programming, from 41 hours in 2012 to an estimated 72 hours in 2013.

In 2008, when Tennis Channel began carrying the Australian Open, it became the first U.S. television network to show all five Australian Open finals: mixed doubles and men’s and women’s singles and doubles – a pattern it has repeated each January.  The network’s live schedule begins with first-round play and continues through the singles quarterfinals, wrapping with the men’s and women’s doubles finals and mixed doubles championship.  Same-day men’s and women’s singles finals encores round out the other two finals, and Tennis Channel will air same-day men’s and women’s singles semifinal encores as well.

The tournament is part of Tennis Channel’s ongoing Grand Slam alliance with ESPN, which offers audiences a near round-the-clock tournament experience at tennis’ major events.  ESPN is producing all Australian Open coverage for both networks, which will cross-promote each other, with each channel utilizing its own commentators.

Australian Open On-Air Talent

Tennis Channel’s 2013 Australian Open on-air team is the largest in network history Down Under.  Sportscaster Bill Macatee (@BMacatee) and Hall of Fame former player Martina Navratilova (@Martina) have been the faces of every Grand Slam covered by Tennis Channel since the network’s first French Open in 2007.  They will return to Melbourne in 2013, with Macatee handling play-by-play again and Navratilova on analyst’s detail.  Emmy Award-winning announcer Brett Haber (@BrettHaber) and commentator Justin Gimelstob (@justingimelstob) are also back.  Gimelstob’s thorough understanding of tennis history and the game’s challenges today, along with his close ties with players and the sport’s governing bodies, have made his insight among the most sought after tennis.

Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76), who won the Australian Open singles title in 2000 and reached the doubles final six times, will lend her championship perspective to Tennis Channel’s booth in Australia while one of that country’s own, Rennae Stubbs (@rennaestubbs), will handle specials reports and vignettes.  Stubbs won the tournament’s doubles crown in 2000 and holds more women’s doubles championships overall than any player in Australia’s rich tennis history.  Reporter Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) will also appear on the network in Melbourne this year.  His columns for Sports Illustrated are among the most read in tennis (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/writers/jon_wertheim/archive/).

Digital Coverage

During the Australian Open renowned tennis reporters Steve Flink and Joel Drucker (@joeldrucker) will provide regular columns on Tennis Channel’s Web site, www.tennischannel.com.  In addition to real-time scoring, video highlights, interviews, Australian Open Today clips and an interactive Australian Open draw, the site will offer the exclusive Racquet Bracket tournament prediction game.  This year the game has been upgraded with new features and a more user-friendly interface.  Visitors also have the chance to enter the network’s Australian Open sweepstakes, for the chance to win a trip to next year’s event.

Beyond its own Web site, Tennis Channel engages with viewers and tennis fans on Facebook (www.facebook.com/tennischannel), Twitter (www.twitter.com/tennischannel), YouTube (www.youtube.com/tennischannel) and Viddy (www.viddy.com/tennischannel).

Tennis Channel’s Live Australian Open Match Schedule (all times ET)

Date                                                    Time                           Event                                                 

Monday, Jan. 14                                 7 p.m.-9 p.m.               First Round

Tuesday, Jan. 15                                 7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Second Round

Wednesday, Jan. 16                            7 p.m.-11 p.m.             Second Round

Thursday, Jan. 17                                7 p.m.-11 p.m.             Third Round

Friday, Jan. 18                                    7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Third Round

Saturday, Jan. 19                                7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Round of 16

Sunday, Jan. 20                                   7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Round of 16

Monday, Jan. 21                                 7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals

Tuesday, Jan. 22                                 7 p.m.-9 p.m.               Men’s and Women’s Quarterfinals

Wednesday, Jan. 23                            7 p.m.-9:30 p.m.          TBA

Thursday, Jan. 24                                11 p.m.-3 a.m.             Mixed Doubles Semifinal

and Women’s Doubles Final

Saturday, Jan. 26                                5:30 a.m.-7:30 a.m.     Men’s Doubles Final

Sunday, Jan. 27                                   12:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m.   Mixed Doubles Final

Tennis Channel’s Australian Open Today Schedule (all times ET)

Tennis Channel’s Australian Open Today will air daily the first 10 days of the tournament, from Monday, Jan. 14-Wednesday, Jan. 23.

On Monday, Jan. 14, the day-session edition of the show will air from 7 a.m.-11 a.m., followed by the night-session edition from 3 p.m.-7 p.m.  During the remainder of the first week of play, from Tuesday, Jan. 15-Friday, Jan. 18, the show will air in two back-to-back segments representing the day and night sessions, from 7 a.m.-10:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.  Saturday, Jan. 19, will offer the day-session edition from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., and night-session edition from 1 p.m.-4 p.m., followed by an encore presentation from 4 p.m.-7 p.m.  Sunday, Jan. 20, also will feature a day-session edition from 7 a.m.-10 a.m., with a night-session edition from 3 p.m.-6 p.m.

The second week of Australian Open Today will run from Monday, Jan. 21-Wednesday, Jan. 23, and generally include two back-to-back editions of the day and night sessions, from 6 a.m.-10 a.m. and 10 a.m.-2 p.m.  An exception will occur on Monday, Jan. 21, with an encore presentation capping the afternoon from 2 p.m.-6 p.m.

And that will do it.

2013 Australian Open on ESPN2

Tennis’ first major tournament of the year starts tonight in Melbourne in Australia. On the men’s side, defending champion Novak Djokovic hopes to repeat once again. One hurdle in Rafael Nadal won’t be in Australia this year as he’s recovering from an injury.

On the women’s side, Victoria Azarenka returns to defend her championship.

ESPN2 will have more than 100 hours of coverage including the women’s and men’s semifinals and both finals.

The usual ESPN tennis crew including Chris Fowler, Chris McKendry, Chris Evert, Darren Cahill, Patrick McEnroe and others will be live in Melbourne for the two weeks Down Under.

Here’s ESPN’s press release.

Australian Open Starts Sunday on ESPN2

100+ Hours on ESPN2 HD, 600 on ESPN3; Finals Live January 26, 27

The 2013 tennis season begins with the Australian Open presented by Franklin Templeton Investments with more than 100 live hours on ESPN2 HD and 600+ on ESPN3.  Each year, the marathon live action seen overnight in the U.S. from Melbourne has led to some of the most dramatic action in the sport in recent years.  The action gets underway Sunday, Jan. 13, at 6:30 p.m. ET with a 12.5-hour telecast.

ESPN’s 29th consecutive Australian Open represents the company’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship.  Daily action continues each night with afternoon reairs totaling more than 50 additional hours through the women’s championship Saturday, Jan 26, and the men’s championship Sunday, Jan. 27, both at 3 a.m. with reairs later each day at 9 a.m. and in prime time.  The telecasts are also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app.

Expanded digital coverage includes 600 hours on ESPN3, all live, with users choosing between ESPN2 or action on up to other seven courts with all matches available on-demand after completion.  ESPN3’s coverage starts at 7 p.m. over the first 11 days of the tournament with the first ball each day of all TV court matches.  Additionally, ESPN3 will offer live matches not airing on ESPN2, including the men’s, women’s and mixed doubles championships and the finals of the boys and girls divisions.

The tournament is part of ESPN’s ongoing Grand Slam alliance with Tennis Channel, which offers audiences a near round-the-clock tournament experience at tennis’ major events.  ESPN is producing all Australian Open coverage for both networks, which will cross-promote each other with each channel utilizing its own commentators.

Setting the Stage

Victoria Azarenka won her first major event a year ago in Melbourne and finished the 2012 campaign as the top-ranked women’s player.  Close on her heels is Maria Sharapova, who completed a career Grand Slam at last year’s French Open, and Serena Williams, who has an Open Era record five Australian Open victories among her 15 major titles, is looking to continue her winning ways of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012.

Novak Djokovic will seek his third straight Australian Open championship – which would be an Open Era first among men – and enters the new season ranked No. 1 among the men.  At No. 2 is Roger Federer and his 17 major titles, including four Down Under.  Andy Murray at No. 3 will be attempting to win a second consecutive Grand Slam event after breaking through with his first at the US Open.  With injury and illness keeping Rafael Nadal – who has been off the court since last summer’s Wimbledon – from competing, the door is open for the likes of David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the semis, or beyond.

The Australian Open has a history of starting the tennis season off in a big way, with matches of historic lengths in the summer heat Down Under.  Just in the last two years on ESPN2:

• In the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open, Francesca Schiavone defeats Svetlana Kuznetsova in the longest women’s match ever at a Grand Slam event – 6-4, 1-6, 16-14.  The match lasted 4:44.
• In tennis’ longest Grand Slam final ever, No. 1 Novak Djokovic outlasts No. 2 Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in 5 hours and 53 minutes at the 2012 Australian Open on ESPN2.  It was Djokovic’s fourth title in the last five Majors.

TV:  IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD

The best tennis team in television returns for 2013, led by Cliff Drysdale – who has been with ESPN since its first tennis telecast in 1979.  Darren Cahill, Chris Evert, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver return with hosts Chris Fowler, who also calls matches including the finals, and Chris McKendry.  Tom Rinaldi will contribute features, news and interviews during event coverage and on SportsCenter.

ESPN Interactive TV, seen on DIRECTV and ESPN3, will again present the Australian Open in a six-screen “mix channel” format.  For eight hours each evening during the first eight days of the tournament, viewers will be able to watch the ESPN2 feed or select from five other courts, all with commentary and customized graphics.   Interactive data features include the tournament draw, up-to-date scores, daily order of play, and social media interaction.  SportsCenter’s Steve Weissman will anchor the coverage, providing studio updates and news from around the tournament. Joining the announce team are former players Chanda Rubin, Jeff Tarango, Leif Shiras, Elise Burgin, Doug Adler, Nick Lester, and Christen Bartelt, along with play by play announcers Mark Donaldson and Brian Webber.

ESPN International will deliver to the pan-regional ESPN networks in Latin America (including the HD networks) over 100 hours of coverage, showcasing the biggest names in tennis and players of local relevance. ESPN+ will air over 30 hours of live complementary coverage in primetime throughout the early rounds.

DIGITAL MEDIA, AT HOME AND ABROAD

WatchESPN will deliver ESPN2’s live coverage of the Australian Open online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members.  Additionally, ESPN3 will once again provide coverage of no fewer than eight live feeds from various courts – including the women’s and men’s semifinals and finals – nearly 600 hours.  For the first 11 days (Sun., Jan. 13 – Wed., Jan. 23), coverage will commence at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in Melbourne, when play begins) and continue for at least seven hours.  The courts to be included are the “TV courts,” the ones most likely to have top matches:  Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Margaret Court Arena, plus Courts 2, 3, 6 and 8.  For the remainder of the tournament, ESPN3 will continue with select live coverage from ESPN2, including the women’s (Jan. 26) and men’s (Jan. 27) finals, plus exclusive coverage of select men’s, women’s and mixed doubles play and the boys’ and girls’ finals.  Fans can also access ESPN3 feeds from AustralianOpen.com.  Each window will be available for on-demand replay following completion.  With ESPN3’s dynamic interface, fans will be able to fast-forward, rewind and pause action – during on-demand replay and live action.

ESPN Mobile TV, a 24/7 channel for wireless, will provide 113 hours of live and simulcast coverage with ESPN2′s programming schedule.

ESPN On Demand (TV & Mobile) Will offer highlights from past years tournaments as well as a highlight from this year’s men’s and women’s matches.

ESPN.com will once again feature Courtcast, a cutting-edge application presented by IBM, featuring official IBM tournament and real-time statistics, Hawk-Eye technology, a rolling Twitter feed, Cover It Live analysis and interactive poll questions. Slam Central, an aggregation of all the day’s top news, analysis, blogs and video, as well as a daily Digital Serve and At This Minute video segments with commentators in Melbourne discussing the results, will be a daily staple.  News and analysis from contributors Bonnie D. Ford and Tennis.com writers will add to the depth of coverage.  During the second week of play, the staff will interact with fans via live blogging.

ESPNtenis.com will have the following content:  A daily webisode called “ESPiaNdo el Australian Open”; an “applet” featuring real-time, point-by-point scoring of all matches; live scores, results and brackets; columns, chats and blogs by TV commentators and other writers; polls; the “Ask ESPN” feature, prompting users to send their comments/questions via the website; video clips with highlights of daily action and analysis; TV scheduling information, and photo galleries.

ESPN International’s ESPN Play (Watch ESPN  in Brazil) broadband service in Latin America will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the year’s first Grand Slam, airing over 500 hours of live tennis from every available televised court, including the men’s & women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, all live. This streaming action will be available in over two million homes in 15 countries throughout Latin America/Caribbean (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Panama, Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, Trinidad/Tobago).

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2013 on ESPN2 HD

(For these charts, all times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET.
Therefore, the listing Sun., Jan. 19 at 3:30 a.m. ET is actually very late on Sunday night.)

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun, Jan 13	6:30 p.m. – 7 a.m.	Early round play	LIVE
Mon, Jan 14	Noon – 2:55 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Tue, Jan 15	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Wed, Jan 16	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	11 p.m. – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Thur, Jan 17	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	11 p.m. – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Fri, Jan 18	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Sat, Jan 19	7 – 9:55 a.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Round of 16	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Sun, Jan 20	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Mon, Jan 21	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Quarterfinals	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Tue, Jan 22	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Wed, Jan 23	2 – 5 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9:30 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Women’s Semifinals	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	LIVE
Thurs, Jan 24	1 – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	reair
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	LIVE
Fri, Jan 25	1 – 4 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	reair
	3 – 5:30 a.m.	Women’s Championship	LIVE
Sat, Jan. 26	9 – 11 a.m.	Women’s Championship	reair
	10 p.m. – MID	Women’s Championship	reair
	3 – 6:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	LIVE
Sun, Jan 27	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Men’s Championship	reair
	7:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m.	Men’s Championship	reair

That’s it.

Some Mid-Week Sports Media Thoughts

Time to do some original content here. The thoughts come to you in bullet form as always.

• As the Super Bowl fast approaches, we hear from those who know more than your humble blogger that Sunday’s Big Game could set a viewing record. Super Bowl XLV on Fox between Green Bay and Pittsburgh set the standard with an average of 111 million viewers. I do expect we’ll see an average of 115 million for Pats-Giants with a total viewership reaching 170 million. I’ll also predict a rating of 47.5 with a 70 share. Based on last year’s numbers, my prediction would be on track. Patriots owner Robert Kraft feels Super Bowl XLVI will be the most watched program of all-time and I agree with him.
• I wish ESPN would cover every event like it does tennis. The announcing from Chris Fowler, Cliff Drysdale, Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Chris Evert, Mary Jo Fernandez, Pam Shriver, Brad Gilbert to host Chris McKendry was stellar throughout the Australian Open. I have not been enamored with Fowler’s play-by-play in the past, but I thought he was very good especially in calling the men’s semifinals of Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic-Andy Murray and extremely good for the epic Rafa-Djoker final.The men’s final had so many ups and downs and so many shifts of momentum. Fowler and McEnroe were on top of potential shifts and correctly first guessed many points. ESPN2 was on top of the play on Sunday And Tennis Channel was very good as well. It’s too bad that neither ESPN2 or Tennis Channel could pick up John McEnroe for the Aussie Open. He will be on the French Open for Tennis Channel and NBC.

  However, ESPN2′s efforts appear not to be rewarded as the ratings were off from last year. I’ll have more on that later today.

• And one more item from the weekend, I thought the HBO/NFL Films documentary on Joe Namath was fantastic. As with past HBO efforts, it did not sugarcoat Namath’s life and career. It delved into his partying lifestyle during his heyday with the New York Jets in the 1960′s during the height of the Sexual Revolution. In addition, it did not whitewash his alcoholism nor his most infamous moment in 2003 when he was drunk during a live interview with Suzy Kolber on ESPN. The film made great lengths to show that while Namath loved the bright lights of Broadway, he still had his home of Beaver Falls, PA deep in his soul. From the rarely seen footage of his high school days, to his college career at Alabama and through to the AFL and NFL, “Namath” captured the essence of the man. Another solid documentary from HBO, definitely Emmy Award-worthy.
• Just 19 days until pitchers and catchers report. Can’t wait.

That does it for now. This should be another busy day for sports media.

And one quick self-serving note. This week’s edition of the Sports Media Podcast will have a record amount of guests. I’m not going jinx it by pre-promoting them, but suffice to say if everything holds true, you will love the Super Bowl edition of the podcast.

I’ll be back later in the day.

The Mighty Monday Links

I don’t know why they’re mighty, but they’re here. Let’s get to them.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy looks at Super Bowl Media Day which will be covered from all angles on both ESPN and NFL Network.

Preston Bounds from Sports Business Daily lists the top 11 most marketable NFL players. Your humble blogger is quoted in the story.

At the Poynter Institute, Kelly McBride takes both the New York Times and Yale Daily News to task for their handling of the Patrick Witt alleged sexual assault story.

Michael O’Connell of the Hollywood Reporter writes that the NFL Pro Bowl gave NBC a Sunday primetime win over weak competition.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that marketers and star players are for the most part, a winning combination.

Tim Nudd from Adweek looks at the advertiser rundown for Sunday’s Super Bowl on NBC.

Tim loves the extended Honda Ferris Bueller-themed Super Bowl ad.

Back to Crupi who delves into the April launch of Univision Deportes.

Adweek talks with Jim Rome about his move from ESPN to CBS.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times says social media campaigns can enhance and also detract from the Super Bowl viewing experience.

The Nielsen Wire blog looks at the spending trends for Super Bowl ads over the last five years.

Ken Kerschbaumer of Sports Video Group notes that NFL Network is gearing up for a very busy Super Bowl Week.

Patrick Burns of Deadspin breaks down ESPN SportsCenter’s coverage from last week.

At All Things Digital, Peter Kafka says it’s ESPN that’s weighing down your cable bill.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes that NESN has made additions to its Red Sox broadcast team.

Here’s a rarity, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post giving praise and today he’s dishing it out to Knicks radio voice Spero Dedes.

Bob’s Blitz has caught WFAN’s Mike Francesa in a lie regarding his Super Bowl XLVII prediction.

From the Albany Times Union, Pete Dougherty notes that former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian has signed with SiriusXM to co-host some radio shows.

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

Cleveland Plain-Dealer ombudsman Ted Diadun discusses the reassignment of Browns beat writer Tony Grossi after a private tweet about Browns owner Randy Lerner went public.

The Waiting for Next Year blog looks at the Plain-Dealer decision.

Also from the Plain-Dealer, Bill Lubinger writes about how local TV rights money is playing a huge role in baseball free agency signings.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post notes that MLB Network has plucked Root Sports’ Alana Rizzo for a national gig.

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

Friend of Fang’s Bites Jackie Pepper is heading to the Super Bowl.

John Daly of the Daly Planet looks at NASCAR taking over operation of its website from Turner Sports.

John also looks at the future of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series on ESPN.

Sports Media Watch has the overnight ratings of the NHL All-Star Game and Australian Open finals.

Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says UFC on Fox’s ratings may have gone down from its November debut, but they’re still good in the desired demographic.

That will do it.

The Mid-Week Linkage

I haven’t provided links on schedule so let me try to do it now.

We begin with Michael Hiestand of USA Today who talks about NBCUniversal’s big plans to blanket Super Bowl XLVI next week.

Wow. The secret organization Anonymous plans to attack ESPN.com over its support of SOPA and PIPA. In case anyone from Anonymous is reading, Fang’s Bites is an ardent critic of both bills.

Adrian Melville of Forbes says Fox is hoping to retain the US rights to the English Premier League.

Jeff Roberts at paidContent looks at USA Today Media Group’s purchase of Big Lead Sports.

Funny post. It’s a long one, but stay with it. Complex provides the 100 Worst Sports Tweets in history.

The Nielsen Wire blog reviews the year in sports advertising for 2011.

Rarely do we link to Self Magazine, but it has a story on ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele training for the upcoming Disney Princess Half Marathon.

Last week, ESPN’s Front Row PR blog posted part one of its behind the scenes look at Sunday NFL Countdown. Today, it provides part two of that look.

Lacey Rose at the Hollywood Reporter writes that current NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner will host a USA Network reality show that will premiere later this year.

James Hibberd at Entertainment Weekly looks at NBC’s plans for the Super Bowl.

John Eggerton from Broadcasting & Cable says Massachusetts US Senator John Kerry wants DirecTV and Sunbeam to pledge that Super Bowl XLVI won’t be blacked out in Boston. Sunbeam’s WHDH-TV is off DirecTV right now over a carriage dispute and it’s the NBC affiliate.

Tim Nudd of Adweek says clothing retailer H&M is trying to put out a social media firestorm in advance of its first-ever Super Bowl ad.

Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age says CareerBuilder is keeping its lovable chimps for this year’s Super Bowl commercial.

Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth has the best Super Bowl ads ever.

Diego Vasquez from Media Life Magazine speaks with two people from a research firm to find out why some Super Bowl ads fail to connect with viewers.

Karlene Lukovitz from MediaPost’s Marketing Daily says Papa John’s is betting on the Super Bowl coin flip to help sell pizzas.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life notes that the NBA’s ratings despite the lockout are way up from last year’s record.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid catches ESPN2′s Patrick McEnroe firing off an “F” bomb during the Australian Open coverage last night.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has some myths and facts about the Super Bowl ticket market.

Mary Alice Gill from the Nashua (NH) Telegraph writes about the DirecTV/Sunbeam dispute that could affect Boston’s watching of the Super Bowl.

Johnny Diaz of the Boston Globe says area bars with DirecTV are scrambling for other possible ways to show the Super Bowl.

At SB Nation Boston, Kat Hasenauer Cornetta looks at how small market New England sports radio stations try to serve the needs of their audience.

Stuart Elliot of the New York Times says the pregame show has begun for the Super Bowl ads.

To Newsday and Neil Best who writes that reporter Kim Jones is leaving the YES network.

Justin Terranova and Phil Mushnick of the New York Post report that Jones is talking with a national network.

Don McKee of the Philadelphia Inquirer has an obituary for the late Andy Musser.

Ray Didinger of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia remembers Musser.

David Jones from Florida Today feels ESPN’s deal with the SEC is bad for the league.

Gregory A. Hall of the Louisville Courier-Journal notes that NBC has brought the Breeders’ Cup back under its fold.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says a long-time local TV sports director is leaving after this year.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman notes that the NFL Conference Championship Games drew big ratings locally.

Steve Nitz of the Morris (IL) Daily Herald is no longer a fan of ESPN.

NBC’s Michele Tafoya is ending her Minneapolis radio show.

Jon Bream at the Minneapolis Star Tribune says Tafoya has grown tired of a weekly 7 day grind between her show and Sunday Night Football.

David Brauer of MinnPost.com writes that Tafoya’s ratings weren’t great.

Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star looks at ESPN’s College GameDay’s visit to the University of Arizona campus this weekend.

Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen says CBS Sports Network will have inside access to Rich Rodriguez and the University of Arizona during National Signing Day.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail wonders if TSN’s Dave Hodge was reaching when he tried to tweet a connection between Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas and the KKK after Thomas refused to go to the White House earlier this week.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog looks at CBC’s dropping of the Curling’s Grand Slams.

To the Big Lead and Jason McIntyre who has a profile of ESPN Radio Hack Colin Cowherd. Actually it’s a very good profile.

Ryan Yoder at Awful Announcing has the Top 10 Sports Media Busts.

Blythe Brumleve at AA looks at CBS’ client stroke for E-Trade during the NFL Today on Sunday.

Sports Media Watch notes that the NHL is getting increased ratings on both NBC and NBC Sports Network.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media wants the in-game coach interviews during NHL games to end.

Steve tells us where the AHL All-Start Game can be seen in your market.

SportsRantz says NBC Sports Network is using the Super Bowl to get a ratings boost.

And Morgan Wick informs us what the Breeders’ Cup move back to NBC means.

And that is it.

Some Early Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

Time for some sports media thoughts once again. I owe you some since I wasn’t able to do them after last Monday’s post. As always, they come in bullet form.

• Since I was out for most of the afternoon on Sunday, I missed the Pregame coverage and 3/4 of the AFC Championship Game, but I was able to see the entire 4th quarter and watched all of the NFC Championship. From what I saw of the AFC Championship Game, I thought CBS did a decent job, but there was a glaring omission in the last minute.

  First, by not having a rules analyst like Fox with Mike Pereira, CBS really didn’t delve into whether a ruled incompletion thrown by Joe Flacco to Lee Evans should have been reviewed or discussed whether it was an incompletion in the first place. As it was later explained later, it was ruled correctly, but not until after CBS went off the air.

  And CBS never tried to get an answer as to why Ravens place kicker Billy Cundiff ran onto the field late, influencing his missed game tying field goal attempt. Jim Nantz didn’t even mention Cundiff’s tardiness as it was happening. And the NFL Today postgame show didn’t discuss either issue.

  For the NFC Championship, Fox was on its game from the call of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, to key replays showing that 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams muffed fielding a kick when the ball glanced off his knee. Replays were very conclusive. I thought Fox had one of its best broadcasts of the season and it ended the 2011-12 NFL campaign by going out in top.

  CBS could have done a better job by servicing its viewers at the end of the game.

• Thanks to its third overtime in the last five NFC Championship Games, I expect Fox to get a huge viewership number, somewhere near 60 million viewers. I’m not kidding. If records were set for the NFL Wild Card and Divisional Playoffs, why not for Championship Sunday?

  And NBC has to love having the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. With two teams with national followings, plus a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, I think another viewership record will be broken this year for the Big Game.

• Two changes on the national radio coverage of the NFL. First, Westwood One has been officially taken over by Dial Global. The two companies merged last year, but earlier this month, Westwood One was rebranded as Dial Global Sports.

  In addition, Dial Global’s broadcasts of the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl are no longer blacked out in the home markets. In Boston, Dial Global affiliate WEEI aired the AFC Championship opposite New England Patriots radio flagship WBZ-FM. And WEEI will air the Dial Global’s feed of the Super Bowl as well. So stations that carry Dial Global’s NFL schedule won’t have to stop with the Divisional Playoffs in case the team in their local market makes it to the Conference Championship and beyond.

• Being a tennis fan, I am loving the combined Tennis Channel/ESPN2 coverage of the Australian Open. I also love as a DirecTV subscriber having six channels to choose from, either the network coverage, or individual court channels showing commercial-free, uninterrupted action.

  A couple of complaints. ESPN2 could spend some more time showing live matches instead of constant talking from the set. I don’t mind postmatch interviews with players, but sometimes, ESPN2 falls into the trap of too much discussion while matches are underway.

  We are definitely missing Mary Carillo in Melbourne. For some reason, she chose to take this year’s Australian Open off and her presence has been missed. I do love having Tracy Austin on Tennis Channel this year and I hope she’ll be used during the French Open. And could John McEnroe be borrowed from Fox Sports Australia for ESPN2 or Tennis Channel? He’s been missed also.

That will do it. Enjoy your Monday.

Churning Out Some MLK Day Linkage

Let’s do some linkage on this MLK Day, a holiday for some of you.

We’ll begin with a story from an unusual source, Newsweek/The Daily Beast. Nick Summers of Newsweek writes about how ESPN’s subscriber fees could force cable providers to place the network on pay tiers.

Michael Hiestand at USA Today reports that CBS wants Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow as a guest analyst for The NFL Today before Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

Hiestand delves into the overnight ratings for NFL Divisional Playoffs Sunday.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today notes that several TV analysts and national radio hosts ripped the officiating in yesterday’s New York Giants-Green Bay Packers NFL Divisional Playoff Game.

Ben Grossman at Broadcasting & Cable says filmmaker Peter Berg who’s “On Freddie Roach” series premieres on HBO this week, wants to produce a similar series on Washington State head football coach Mike Leach.

Michael Malone from B&C tells us that Sunbeam-owned TV stations in Boston and Miami were pulled from DirecTV forcing viewers to scramble to find ways to watch yesterday’s NFL action and the Golden Globe Awards.

Alex Weprin at TVNewser says Current TV host Keith Olbermann went to visit MLB Network, which housed his former MSNBC offices and found some interesting mementos.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid has video of a Chicago Blackhawks fan professing his love for Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok.

Brandon Costa from Sports Video Group looks at how the College of Charleston produces its own basketball telecasts for ESPN3 and local TV affiliates.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell doesn’t like how colleges and universities are restricting their student-athletes from using social media.

The Tennis Times has a video giving us an inside look at the Australian Open Media Day.

Dan Lamothe of the Springfield Republican’s Red Sox Monster blog notes that former NESN Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney returns to New England next month for a charity auction.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the Tim Tebow TV phenomenon.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post is not a fan of Daryl “Moose” Johnston.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union notes that the Dial Global/Westwood One broadcasts of the NFL Conference Games will be heard locally.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says a local talk show host is heading to Motown.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun actually praises CBS’ production of the Houston-Baltimore game.

The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins conducted the first interview with former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno since the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke.

Sally also answered readers questions on the interview and how she got Paterno to speak with her.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN tennis analyst Darren Cahill about the Australian Open.

The Tampa Bay Times’ Tom Jones reviews the weekend in sports television.

Also from the Times, Eric Deggans wonders why news anchors were doing promos for a local Monster Truck event.

One more from the Times, Laura Keeley says Florida State fans lined up to be part of ESPN’s College GameDay’s appearance on campus on Saturday.

At the Houston Chronicle, David Barron isn’t a fan of the two minute commercial CBS gave to Subway during The NFL Today postgame show yesterday.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman reports that ESPN has settled a wrongful termination lawsuit put forth by former play-by-play man Ron Franklin.

Bob Wolfley from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the NFL insiders were reporting on possible Packers coaching news yesterday.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman looks at the 20th anniversary of sports talk radio in the Windy City with several local personalities.

To the Denver Post where Dusty Saunders talks with CBS’ Jim Nantz about the demise of the Broncos and Tim Tebow on Saturday.

Dawn C. Chmielewski of the Los Angeles Times looks at how ESPN is trying to push 3-D on the unwanting American people.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with ESPN Radio LA host Marcellus Wiley about his acute memory loss and also has his 20th annual bests and worsts in SoCal sports talk radio.

Tom has more with Marcellus in his blog.

Tom also has his SoCal sports calendar for the week.

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail notes how slow motion has revolutionized sports television.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing is echoing what I’ve been saying the last couple of weeks, and that he’s becoming a fan of Joe Buck.

Sports Media Watch also looks at the ratings of the New York Football Giants and Green Bay Packers on Fox.

The Wiz of Odds looks into ESPN allegedly taking credit for a story originally reported by someone outside of the network. Thanks to The Big Lead for the link.

Joe Favorito wonders what’s next for Tim Tebow both as a player and as a marketer.

And that will conclude our linkage for today.

Some Monday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I’ll provide some thoughts on the weekend in sports media as hopefully, MLK Day is a holiday for you. If not, then I hope you’re able to find a way to honor Dr. King and his message in some manner today.

As always, the thoughts come in bullet form.

• As I watched the Houston-Baltimore game on Sunday, I kept thinking that Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts should be the NFL on CBS “B” team starting next season. I feel I’m in the minority liking Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, but having heard them extensively over the last half of this season, it’s my opinion that “The Bird and The Beard” have surpassed them as an announcing team. Dierdorf has been a premier analyst for both ABC and CBS, and so has Fouts, but I feel The Beard is better. And while Gumbel has also been the number one play-by-play man for CBS, he is no longer an elite play caller. Ian has continually paid his dues for the Tiffany Network dating back to when CBS reobtained the NFL in 1998 until 2010 when he replaced Dick Enberg on the “C” team with Fouts.

  Ian and Dan have clicked to the point where I named them Best Announcing Team in this season’s NFL TV Awards. CBS should honor them with a promotion and a postseason game next year. It’s about time.

• And while I’m talking about CBS, one of the more blatant client strokes I’ve ever seen came during The NFL Today postgame show when Subway’s sponsorship was all over the screen, not only with the appearance of endorser Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions, but also through company spokesman, Jared Fogle. CNBC’s Darren Rovell was highly suspicious of Suh’s appearance and also criticized the entire Subway integration into the program. With NFL rights fees so high, I understand the networks wanting to recoup their money, but there are other ways to accomplish this.
• The Australian Open has begun and thanks to ESPN’s partnership with DirecTV, I have access to five additional channels that compliment ESPN2′s coverage. I can tell I’m going to hate analyst Luke Jensen. During Li Na’s first round match against Ksenia Pervak, Jensen kept talking throughout the action and hardly took a breath. In fact while play was ongoing, he analyzed points that had previously occurred as if to prove he could keep talking and annoy the viewer. If you don’t have DirecTV, Jensen’s commentary can be accessed through ESPN3.com. If you’re a tennis fan like me, it’ll be hard to put up with him because he doesn’t shut up. The other outer court announcers like Elise Bergin, Jeff Tarango, and Barry McKay are quite good. And ESPN now has a studio show for the five channels to help the transition in between matches and that is welcomed on this end.
• For the first time ever, I actually enjoyed Joe Buck and his call of the New York Giants-Green Bay game. Not only was this related to his transparency on Twitter, I also noticed that Buck was more animated on Sunday than in the past. I’m liking Joe Buck. Cocaine is one hell of a drug. I’m joking, I don’t do coke. But I really don’t know who I am if I can truly enjoy Joe Buck. The Mayans must be right. This year must be the end of the world.

I’m out. Rack me.

Tennis Channel’s Coverage of the 2012 Australian Open Begins Monday

For the first time in its history, Tennis Channel will have continuous coverage of the Australian Open beginning with the second day of the tournament, Monday, January 16 and lasting through the quarterfinals on January 25. Through its new agreement with ESPN2, Tennis Channel will have early evening coverage (late morning/early afternoon in Melbourne) beginning at 7 p.m. ET, usually lasting until 9 p.m. Tennis Channel will be allowed to stay through to the conclusion of the match that it’s showing before totally yielding to ESPN2.

Calling the matches will be called by Bill Macatee and Bret Haber. Justin Gimelstob and Martina Navratilova will be the analysts and joining Tennis Channel this year is Tracy Austin who had been with Australia’s 7 Network previously for the Aussie Open. Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim will be the on-site reporter. All of Tennis Channel’s coverage will be produced by ESPN2.

And Australian Open Today will air live at 7 a.m. to wrap up the day’s event and be repeated at 3 p.m. ET.

Here’s Tennis Channel’s press release.

HALL OF FAMER TRACY AUSTIN JOINS TENNIS CHANNEL BROADCAST BOOTH DURING AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Network Analyst and Tennis Channel Academy Series Host to Join Martina Navratilova, Bill Macatee for Channel’s Fifth Year in Melbourne
Thirteen Days of Live Match Coverage Set for Two-Week Major, First of Four Slams

And that completes our Australian Open press releases.

ESPN2′s Coverage of Australian Open Begins Sunday Evening

Tennis’ first Grand Slam tournament of the year begins down under in the Australasia region as most of the world’s best tennis players congregate in Melbourne for the Australian Open. ESPN2 will be the main U.S. TV network carrying the bulk of the coverage starting Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. ET. Chris Fowler will be the host along with Philadelphia’s own Chris McKendry.

Cliff Drysdale will be the main play-by-play man. Fowler will also call some matches. Analysts include Chris Evert, Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Pam Shriver, Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert. Tom Rinaldi will be accompanied by his piano and guitar strings for tear-jerking and heart-wrenching stories.

For most of the fortnight, ESPN2 will join after college basketball and will go until 7 a.m. the following day making for some marathon tennis coverage. And since this is the first of a new ten year agreement with Tennis Australia, all of ESPN’s platforms both on TV and the internet will have rights to air matches all over the place.

For its ESPN3.com and DirecTV Australian Open Mix channels, SportsCenter anchor Steve Weissman will be the host and will be seen on all of the five channels showing matches.

Here’s the ESPN press release.

Tennis’ First Major of 2012 – The Australian Open – Starts Sunday

The Start of another Grand Slam Year on ESPN with 100+ Hours on ESPN2 HD, 600 on ESPN3, Coverage across Digital Platforms & Around the World

Tennis’ first Major of 2012 – the Australian Open where the year’s storylines on both the men’s and women’s side will begin to unfold – gets underway down under when ESPN2 HD, ESPN3 and ESPN’s digital platforms present some of the longest scheduled live telecast windows of the year in sports, starting Sunday, Jan. 15. Under the terms of a new 10-year agreement taking effect, ESPN2 again will televise more than 100 live hours, plus afternoon highlights and replays from overnight action. The telecasts are also available through WatchESPN online at WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app. Expanded digital coverage includes 600 hours on ESPN3, all live, with users choosing between action on seven courts with all matches available on-demand after completion.

Play begins in Melbourne with a 12.5-hour telecast on ESPN2 and ESPN3 starting Sunday, Jan. 15, at 6:30 p.m. ET. Late-night marathons will continue through the women’s and men’s finals live at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, and Sunday, Jan. 29, (very late on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively). In addition, ESPN’s SportsCenter will provide live look-ins to the action during the 11 p.m. and late-night editions.

New Agreement Takes Effect

The 2012 Australian Open marks the beginning of a 10-year agreement between ESPN and Tennis Australia that extends ESPN’s multimedia through 2021 and international coverage through 2016. Having televised the Australian Open – including the women’s and men’s semifinals and finals exclusively – since 1984, this is ESPN’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship. The new agreement, announced in 2010, includes all ESPN platforms. It continues the extensive ESPN2 schedule, Spanish-language U.S. rights and distribution in Latin America via ESPN International (2012-16). It also includes expanded rights for ESPN3, iTV (interactive television), and highlights on ESPN.com and other emerging and digital media, including ESPN Mobile TV, solidifying ESPN’s position as the leader in live tennis coverage.

Intrigue in Both Draws

Two-time champion Novak Djokovic – coming off one of the finest seasons in tennis history – will defend the men’s title as the top seed against a stellar field topped by No. 2 seed and 2009 winner Rafael Nadal and No. 3 and three-time champion Roger Federer. Andy Murray seeks his first major title at No. 4 as does David Ferrer at No. 5.

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki leads the women’s field, and No. 2 seed Petra Kvitova will try to continue her 2011 success, winning Wimbledon and the WTA Tour Championship. Victoria Azarenka is No. 3, the 2008 champion, Maria Sharapova, is No. 4, the 2011 French Open winner Li Na is No. 5, and local favorite Sam Stosur is No. 6, hoping to win her second straight major title, having taken the 2011 US Open. Last year’s women’s champion, Kim Clijsters, is playing for the first time in more than six months and is seeded No. 12. Right behind her at No. 13 is Serena Williams, a five-time Aussie winner, who is also returning to action after an extended injury layoff, having last competed in the US Open final.

TV:  IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD

Cliff Drysdale – who has been with ESPN since its first tennis telecast in 1979 – leads the ESPN2 team. Chris Evert, who joined ESPN last year for Wimbledon and the US Open, will make her Australian Open debut. Darren Cahill, Mary Joe Fernandez, Brad Gilbert, Patrick McEnroe and Pam Shriver return as analysts. Chris Fowler will again host and call select matches, with Chris McKendry also hosting. Tom Rinaldi will contribute features, news and interviews during event coverage and on SportsCenter.

ESPN2’s Australian Open programming will generally consist of live action in the evening continuing uninterrupted for 10 or more hours until the next morning, plus at least three hours of same-day action the next weekday afternoon at 12 p.m. The tournament is part of ESPN’s ongoing Grand Slam alliance with Tennis Channel, which offers audiences a near round-the-clock tournament experience at tennis’ major events. ESPN is producing all Australian Open coverage for both networks, which will cross-promote each other with each channel utilizing its own commentators.

ESPN Interactive TV, seen on DIRECTV and ESPN3, will present the Australian Open with a six-screen “mix channel.” For eight hours per night during the first eight days of the tournament, viewers will be able to watch the ESPN2 feed or one of five other courts, all with commentary and customized graphics. Features include interactive data, the tournament draw, up-to-date scores, daily order of play, and social media interaction. A studio host has been added 2012, SportsCenter anchor Steve Weissman will provide updates and news from around the tournament, across each of the five additional channels.

ESPN International will deliver to the pan-regional ESPN networks in Latin America (including the HD networks) over 100 hours of coverage, showcasing the biggest names in tennis and players of local relevance. ESPN+ will air over 30 hours of live complementary coverage in primetime throughout the early rounds, while ESPN Dos and ESPN Brazil will re-air some of the best matches of the day during the first week of action.

ESPN On Demand will offer a variety of programming before, during, and after the 2012 Australian Open. Highlights of past finals are available through January 31 (men’s from 1995, 2009, 2010, and 2011 and women’s from 2010 and 2011). A recap of each of this year’s Women’s and Men’s Finals will also be offered through February 13.

DIGITAL MEDIA, AT HOME AND ABROAD

ESPN3 will again provide coverage of no fewer than eight live feeds (including a simulcast of ESPN2’s live coverage) from various courts – including the women’s and men’s semifinals and finals – nearly 600 hours.  For the first 11 days (Sun., Jan. 15 – Wed., Jan. 25), coverage will commence at 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in Melbourne, when play begins) and continue for at least seven hours. The courts to be included are the “TV courts,” the ones most likely to have top matches:  Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena, Margaret Court Arena, plus Courts 2, 3, 6 and 8. For the remainder of the tournament, ESPN3 will continue the ESPN2 simulcast, including the women’s (Jan. 28) and men’s (Jan. 29) finals, plus exclusive coverage of select men’s, women’s and mixed doubles play and the boys’ and girls’ finals. For the first time, fans can access ESPN3 feeds from AustralianOpen.com.

Each window also will be available for on-demand replay following completion. With ESPN3’s dynamic interface, fans will be able to fast-forward, rewind and pause action – during on-demand replay and live action.

ESPN3 is ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network, a 24/7 destination that delivers thousands of global sports events annually and accessible online via WatchESPN.com. It is currently available to approximately 70 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks. It is also accessible through ESPN on Xbox LIVE to Gold members and on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app through an affiliated provider.

ESPN.com will once again feature Courtcast, a cutting-edge application presented by IBM, featuring official IBM tournament and real-time statistics, Hawk-Eye technology, a rolling Twitter feed, Cover It Live analysis and interactive poll questions. Slam Central, an aggregation of all the day’s top news, analysis, blogs and video, as well as a daily Digital Serve and At This Minute video segments with commentators in Melbourne discussing the results, will be a daily staple.  News and analysis from contributors Ravi Ubha and Tennis.com writers will add to the depth of coverage.  During the second week of play, the staff will interact with fans via live blogging.

ESPNdeportes.com will have the following content:  A daily webisode called “ESPiaNdo el Australian Open”; an “applet” featuring real-time, point-by-point scoring of all matches; live scores, results and brackets; columns, chats and blogs by TV commentators and other writers; polls; the “Ask ESPN” feature, prompting users to send their comments/questions via the website; video clips with highlights of daily action and analysis; TV scheduling information, and photo galleries.

ESPN International’s ESPN Play (ESPN 360 in Brazil) broadband service in Latin America will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the year’s first Grand Slam, airing over 600 hours of live tennis from every available televised court, including the men’s & women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, all live. This streaming action will be available in over two million homes in 11 countries throughout Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Honduras, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Panama).

ESPN Mobile TV, a 24/7 channel for wireless, will provide 113 hours of live and simulcast coverage with ESPN2′s programming schedule.

ESPN – All Four Slams, All In One Place

Tennis has been part of ESPN since its first week on the air and provided many memorable moments, but it has never been as important as today, with the US Open joining the lineup in 2009, giving ESPN all four Grand Slam events, something no other U.S. network has ever done, let alone in one year. ESPN has presented the Australian Open since 1984, the French Open since 2002 (plus 1986 – 1993), and Wimbledon since 2003, with exclusivity for live television with all other rights extended added in a 12-year agreement starting in 2012.

ESPN debuted September 7, 1979, and the first tennis telecast was exactly one week later, September 14, a Davis Cup tie, Argentina at U.S. from Memphis with Cliff Drysdale on the call and John McEnroe playing.

In addition, broadband network ESPN3, now in nearly 70 million homes, carries thousands of hours of tennis annually, including all four Grand Slam events, plus ATP 1000 and 500 tournaments and WTA Premier Events, and season-ending championships for both tours. Also, ESPN Classic shows great matches from the past and the sport receives extensive coverage on SportsCenter, ESPNEWS, Spanish-language ESPN Deportes, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. ESPN 3D aired its first tennis at Wimbledon in 2011.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2012 on ESPN2 HD

(For these charts, all times are Eastern, and each day “begins” at 6 a.m. ET. Therefore, the listing for Sun., Jan. 15 at 3 a.m. ET is very late on Sunday night.)

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun, Jan 15	6:30 p.m. – 3 a.m.	Early round play	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Mon, Jan 16	9 p.m. – 3 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Tue, Jan 17	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 3 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Wed, Jan 18	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	11 p.m. – 3 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Thur, Jan 19	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	11 p.m. – 3 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Fri, Jan 20	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 3 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Sat, Jan 21	10 a.m. – 1 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Round of 16	LIVE
	3 – 7 a.m.	“	LIVE
Sun, Jan 22	11 a.m.  – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Mon, Jan 23	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Quarterfinals	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Tue, Jan 24	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	“	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	“	LIVE
Wed, Jan 25	Noon – 3 p.m.	“	Same-day
	9:30 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Women’s Semifinals	LIVE
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	LIVE
Thurs, Jan 26	Noon – 3 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	reair
	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	LIVE
Fri, Jan 27	Noon – 3 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	reair
	3 – 5:30 a.m.	Women’s Final	LIVE
Sat, Jan. 28	9 – 11 a.m.	Women’s Final	reair
	10 p.m. – MID	Women’s Final	reair
	3 – 6:30 a.m.	Men’s Final	LIVE
Sun, Jan 29	9 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Men’s Final	reair
	9 p.m.–MID	Men’s Final	reair

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2012 on ESPN3

Date	Time (ET)	Event
Sun, Jan 15	6:30 p.m. – 3 a.m.	Early round play	LIVE
Mon, Jan 16- Mon, Jan 23	3 – 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Early round play	LIVE
Mon, Jan 23	9 p.m. – 2 a.m.	Quarterfinals	LIVE
Tue, Jan 24- Wed, Jan 25	3:30 – 6 a.m.	Quarterfinals	LIVE
	7 – 2 a.m.	Quarterfinals	LIVE
Wed, Jan 25	9:30 p.m. – 1:30 a.m.	Women’s Semifinals	LIVE
Thurs, Jan 26	11 p.m. – 3:30 a.m.	Mixed Doubles SF/Women’s Doubles Finals	LIVE
	3:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #1	LIVE
Fri, Jan 27	3:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.	Men’s Semifinal #2	LIVE
	9 p.m. – 1 a.m.	Girls and Boys Singles Finals	LIVE
Sat, Jan. 28	5:30 – 7:30 a.m.	Men’s Doubles Final	LIVE
	3 – 5:30 a.m.	Women’s Final	LIVE
Sat, Jan. 29	12:30 – 2:30 a.m.	Mixed Doubles Final	LIVE
	3 – 6:30 a.m.	Men’s Final	LIVE

I’ll have Tennis Channel’s press release on its Aussie Open coverage plans next.

Some Tuesday Morning Sports Media Thoughts

I haven’t written a sports media thoughts post in quite some time. I owe you one do let’s do this without further delay. As always, they come in bullet form.

• Last night’s BCS National Championship Game between Alabama and LSU was another dull affair, just like their first game in the regular season. ESPN did its best to step up for the game. Brent Musburger seemed to be in hype mode more than usual. Kirk Herbstreit was on his game as analyst. As Alabama’s defense was in lockdown mode, not allowing LSU past mid-field until midway of the 4th quarter, Brent and Kirk were quick to point out the differences in approach by coaches Nick Saban and Les Miles.Production of the game was also championship-worthy. Replays were sharp and close calls were resolved through ESPN showing the correct angles.However, ESPN overused last year’s BCS National Championship Game coaches, Gene Chizik of Auburn and Chip Kelly of Oregon. Both were dull and in need of personality transfusions. ESPN barely used their own analysts for College GameDay.Because the game was so dull, Musburger could not make a tie-in to sponsor Allstate as he did last year for Tostitos. He did overuse “Honey Badger.” What last night’s game did was to assist the skeptics’ screams for a college football playoff or at least a Plus One game. Overall, I give ESPN a B+ for the game.
• Still no word on whether NESN is any closer to a replacement for Heidi Watney as Red Sox field reporter. Of the candidates NESN has conducted interviews and those I’ve been able to confirm through several sources include Erin Hawksworth of Fox Seattle, Courtney Fallon of ABC6 in Providence, and Britt McHenry from WJLA-TV in Washington. I told you last month that Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle was interviewed and is not believed to be a candidate at this time. If anything happens, I’ll certainly let you know.
• You have to believe that CBS is happy to be riding the Tim Tebow wave as it heads to Foxboro, MA this weekend as Denver takes on the New England Patriots in the NFL Divisional Playoff round. The only game during Wild Card Weekend to see massive gains over last year was Sunday’s Pittsburgh-Denver game, garnering an amazing 25.9/43 overnight number for CBS. This would mark the 5th straight week CBS and its number one team, Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will have called the Broncos and Tebow. No matter how you feel about Tebow, he draws ratings and makes people watch. I don’t expect Saturday night’s game to draw near the Wild Card ratings because Saturday is not a big TV night, however, if Denver-New England is close going down to the wire, expect big numbers.
• Here’s looking forward to ESPN2/Tennis Channel’s coverage of the Australian Open starting Sunday night. Coverage will begin every night at 7 p.m. ET. Finals will take place in the wee hours of the morning at 3:30 a.m. on the East Coast, but it will lead to some very good tennis. The 16 hour time difference between Melbourne and the US Eastern time zone means for some disjointed viewing, but it’s always fun to see the summer weather from the Southern Hemisphere. Here’s looking forward to hearing from Chris Fowler, Cliff Drysdale, Pam Shriver, Patrick McEnroe, Darren Cahill, Bill Macatee, Martina Navratilova and Justin Gimelstob for two weeks.

And that’s going to it for the thoughts this morning.

A Monday Link Thing

Let’s do the Monday linkage. Some interesting stories out there already.

I’ll start with some housekeeping from the weekend in regards to Saturday’s passing of Nick Charles.

Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski who wrote a wonderful and poignant article in March on Nick’s coming to peace with his cancer and how he attempted to make every day count, has another wonderful and poignant article on Nick’s passing.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun remembers Nick’s time in Baltimore.

Matt Schudel of the Washington Post has an obituary for Nick from another market where he worked before hitting it big with CNN.

Michael Marley at Examiner.com notes how boxer Mike Tyson made up with Nick before Charles’ passing.

Jason Levine of the Delaware News-Journal mourns Nick’s passing as well as USA Today baseball writer Rod Beaton.

Becky Schlikerman of the Chicago Tribune writes about Charles never forgetting his Windy City roots.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News also has a remembrance of Charles and calling his last fight earlier this year for HBO.

At Fight News, Nick’s Showtime partner, Steve Farhood, also gives his thoughts on Charles’ passing.

Now to other sports media and business news of the day and there’s quite a bit on this Monday.

One big story surfacing today is the potential bidding for the first half of a Thursday Night Football package that would begin in 2012. John Ourand and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal write about it. I add some thoughts as well.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have filed for bankruptcy after MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the team’s 17 year deal with Fox for media rights. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on owner Frank McCourt’s filing in bankruptcy court.

The Times has the Dodgers’ statement on the bankruptcy filing.

Chris Dufrense of the Times has a good story on how the Dodgers lost their toehold on Los Angeles to the Lakers.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell reports on some of the biggest Dodgers creditors.

Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal writes that McCourt’s filing sets up a battle with Selig.

David McLaughlin of Bloomberg News also has a story on this latest Dodgers development.

Craig Calcaterra of NBC’s Pro Hardball Talk tells us what bankruptcy means for the Dodgers.

From Sports Business Journal, we have a couple of stories from this week’s issue.

First, Terry Lefton breaks news that the new Meadowlands Stadium, home to the Giants and Jets,  is close to having a new sponsor for naming rights.

Tripp Mickle reports that Sprint is about to roll out a new promotion with NASCAR that will benefit both fans and drivers.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today explains how NBC’s tape delayed shenanigans at Wimbledon will work this week. This is the last year of NBC’s contract with Wimbledon. Let’s hope the shenanigans end in 2011.

Mike writes that ESPN college football analyst Craig James could be starting a political career.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reviews ESPN’s NBA Draft coverage.

Mick Mulvenney from Reuters says the International Olympic Committee says athletes can go on Twitter during competition during the 2012 Olympics so long as they don’t do it for commercial purposes.

Jason Fry writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center discusses some of the comparisons Grantland faces with the late, great The National.

SportsGrid notes some nutty behavior by some baseball announcers over the weekend.

SportsGrid has video from Wendi Nix’s subbing for Karl Ravech on Baseball Tonight from Sunday and it apparently didn’t go over well.

Fox Sports in Australia has announced that tennis analyst John McEnroe will be part of its Australian Open coverage in 2012. He had previously called matches for 7 Network, but had not been in Australia since 2004.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels WFAN’s Craig Carton can be a good listen when he wants to be.

Jerry Barmash at Fishbowl NY has ESPN Radio New York’s Jared Max reaction to the New York State Senate passing the same sex marriage bill last Friday.

At the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that the Nationals’ TV ratings are beginning to surpass other teams in the market.

Dan has some observations from the news conference involving Wizards top draft pick Jan Vesely who made a big splash last week with a kiss from her girlfriend at the NBA Draft.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times shares his thoughts on the sports weekend on TV.

Hal Boedeker of the Orlando Sentinel says the local NBC station won’t be airing Wimbledon this week due to its wall-to-wall coverage of the Casey Anthony trial.

Jeff Korbelik of the Lincoln (NE) Journal-Star says a new local sports radio station will pick up programming from Fox Sports and Premiere Radio Networks in addition to having some local shows.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says soccer’s popularity is rising.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News has your Southern California sports calendar for the week.

Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News writes that the Pac-12 Conference is consideration all distribution options on both TV and the internet for its in-house channel.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail writes about the NHL delaying a decision about participating in the Olympics and the media rights for the new Winnipeg Jets.

The Toronto Sports Media blog says expect to hear some changes at the local Rogers Sportsnet’s radio station.

With some upheaval expected for next season, Paulsen at Sports Media Watch has some announcing suggestions for the NBA’s TV partners.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that the NHL Awards saw increased ratings on both Versus and CBC last week.

And Steve says NHL Network will pick up TSN’s coverage of the first day of the league’s free agent signing period.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner wonders if NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens injured himself during the taping of a VH1 reality show.

EPL Talk looks at ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup.

The Big Lead notes that Dallas Mavs owner Mark Cuban shot a new Transformers 3 movie ad.

Jack Dickey at Deadspin says it seems Marv Albert’s conviction on sexual assault charges has been long forgotten.

And that’s where we’re going to leave it.

Going For Wednesday Linkage

If you’ve been visiting the blog throughout the morning, you may have noticed a couple of theme changes and then the return of the current theme. I’ve been trying to make a few cosmetic changes, but I screwed them up so I had to delete the theme and then reinstall it. If you were visiting and saw a different look and got confused, I apologize. Just trying to make the blog look as best as possible. I can assure you I’m done with the cosmetic changes for a while.

Let’s do some links on this Wednesday.

Sean Leahy of USA Today notes that NBC’s Cris Collinsworth is so fearful that the NFL will lose half a season that he took a non-paying high school football coaching position for the fall.

Michael Hiestand looks at the ratings for the Indy 500, primetime baseball and the UEFA Champions League Final.

Lindsay Powers at the Hollywood Reporter writes that Lance Armstrong lawyers are demanding an apology from CBS News’ 60 Minutes stating that the program did shoddy journalism in a segment on his alleged steroid use.

Philiana Ng of the Reporter says NBC has selected its blockbuster hit, “The Voice” to air after Super Bowl XLVI next February.

George Winslow from Broadcasting & Cable says the NBA has launched a Windows phone app.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News reports that ESPN and Tennis Channel have extended their multimedia alliance for the French and Australian Opens starting next year.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine writes that having a Canadian team in the NHL Stanley Cup Final won’t help NBC’s ratings.

Last night, ESPN’s Chris Berman called the San Francisco Giants-St. Louis Cardinals game for the Alleged Worldwide Leader and as expected, it turned out to be a disaster. Berman can’t call play-by-play to save his life. Two examples of this EPIC FAIL.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has the video from Bubbaprog/Mocksession of Berman not getting the concept of a walk off win.

Then Glenn Davis at SportsGrid has video of Berman trying to be edgy or most likely, not having a clue about “Tossed Salad”.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser visited the MLB Man Fan Cave.

Joe Favorito says the NCAA College World Series is a missed opportunity for college baseball.

My Twitter Trophy Wife Amanda Rykoff has compiled a hockey glossary at espnW just in time for the Stanley Cup Final.

From the upcoming New York Times Sunday Magazine, Jonathan Mahler profiles Captain Blowhard who’s already complaining about Grantland and the site hasn’t officially launched yet. The profile is long so get ready to scroll.

Richard Sandomir of the Times reports that former Montreal Expos and New York Mets Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter has an inoperable brain tumor.

Mike Madden of the Washington City Paper notes that DC NFL team owner and bully Daniel Snyder is taking the next step in his lawsuit against the publication by subpoenaing Washington Post blogger Dan Steinberg for just linking to the City Paper column that led him to sue in court.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner reports that ABC received the best NBA Finals overnight rating since 2004.

Jim says the NBC Sports Group gets to keep the Stanley Cup Final all to itself for the next two and a half weeks.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that a local reporter may have jumped the gun when he reported on an alleged contract extension for the Magic’s Dwight Howard.

Mel Bracht in the Daily Oklahoman says Game 5 of the Dallas-Oklahoma City NBA Western Conference Finals did very well in the local ratings.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the ESPN book has some Wisconsin ties.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business wonders if the Windy City will tune into the Stanley Cup Final.

Scott Dochterman of the Iowa City Gazette notes the rebranding of Big Ten Network.

Chris Foster from the Los Angeles Times speaks with “How I Met Your Mother Star” Cobie Smulders who like her character Robin Scherbatsky is a big Vancouver Canucks fan.

Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun says CBC’s Jim Hughson and Canucks voice John Shorthouse are happy to be calling their native Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Sports Media Watch notes that ESPN2′s coverage of the French Open will be all live starting next year.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media predicts how the Stanley Cup Final will fare on NBC/Versus this year.

That will do it for now.

Tennis Channel’s Announcement On New Sharing Agreement With ESPN2

Here’s what Tennis Channel is saying about its new four year agreement with ESPN2 to share both the Australian and French Opens. ESPN2 will enter into a new contract for the Australian Open in 2012. The following year, the new agreement for the Aussie Open will take effect. Tennis Channel will begin coverage for the first ten days of the tournament at 7 p.m. Eastern and run until 9 p.m. or the conclusion of the match it’s showing. ESPN2 will then take over at 9 p.m. and air the day session until 2 a.m. Then at 3:30 a.m., ESPN airs the night session.

The French Open is controlled by Tennis Channel. Under the new four year agreement beginning in 2012, ESPN2 will start each day’s coverage at 5 a.m. with Tennis Channel taking over at 10 a.m. until the conclusion of the day’s play.

So here’s what the nightly schedule would look like:

AUSTRALIAN OPEN (Starting in 2013)
Tennis Channel: 7 p.m. — 9 p.m.
ESPN2: 9 p.m. — 2 a.m.
ESPN2: 3:30 a.m. — conclusion

Tennis Channel: Australian Open Today, 8 a.m.

FRENCH OPEN (Starting in 2012)
ESPN2: 5 a.m. — 10 a.m.
Tennis Channel: 10 a.m. — conclusion

Tennis Channel: French Open Tonight, 6:30 p.m.

Let’s take a look at Tennis Channel’s press release now.

TENNIS CHANNEL AND ESPN EXTEND FRENCH OPEN, AUSTRALIAN OPEN PROGRAMMING ALLIANCE

Tennis Channel to Have Consistent, Nightly Prime-Time Coverage Beginning with 2013 Australian Open

PARIS, May 31, 2011 -Tennis Channel and ESPN have extended the French Open and Australian Open multimedia programming alliance they began in Roland Garros in 2007.  Both networks will continue to offer matches virtually round the clock from both events, two of the sport’s four major “Grand Slam” tournaments, with complementary coverage and cross-promoted schedules.  A noteworthy evolution, however, will see the networks tweak the French Open broadcast schedule, with ESPN moving to cover the early morning matches, and Tennis Channel’s window running contiguously from 10 a.m. ET, throughout the night and up to the next day’s play.  Additionally, Tennis Channel offer 10 consecutive nights of prime-time match play during its Australian Open window, without any intermittent days off.

The four-year agreement begins with the 2012 French Open and 2013 Australian Open.

Tennis Channel will cover close to 60 hours of live French Open matches in Paris; an additional 30-plus same-day delay hours; and more than 140 hours of prime-time news, feature, interview, highlight, show French Open Tonight, hosted by Bill Macatee.  Beginning with the 2013 Australian Open in Melbourne, however, the network’s 13 days of live coverage will now include 10 consecutive nights of prime-time matches, first Monday through Wednesday of the second week, without any intermittent days off.  Also a first, Tennis Channel will be able to stay with men’s matches that run longer than its two-hour programming windows, which it was previously only able to do during women’s matches.

“Not only is there more championship-caliber tennis on television week-after-week than ever before, but consistent, daily schedules allow fans to follow and enjoy this sport in a way that was impossible even just a few years ago,” said Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO, Tennis Channel.  “With this arrangement there will be no more guesswork during the Australian Open: just turn your TV on when you get home at 7 o’clock and we’ll be there live, night after night.  Tennis fans are the big winners here, as has been the case ever since Tennis Channel and ESPN started working together”

Tennis Channel will again televise close to 30 hours of live matches at the Australian Open, and offer another 75 hours of daily show Australian Open Today.

Beginning next May, a typical televised day at the French Open will begin with ESPN2 from 5 a.m. ET to 10 a.m. ET, followed immediately by coverage on Tennis Channel for the remainder of play.  French Open Tonight will appear on Tennis Channel in prime time for three-and-a-half hours and, as is the case now, re-air throughout the night, right up to the next morning’s play on ESPN2.  Tennis Channel will also produce and distribute many additional hours of coverage via multi-match interactive telecasts.

ESPN2 will continue to show close to 50 live hours of play at the French Open and more than 120 live hours at the Australian Open, via its daily marathon late-night telecasts.

“Sports fans want to see the action live and that’s how we deliver tennis and all our sports,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content.  “Tennis fans are among the most dedicated – willing to stay up or get up to see live competition – and that’s what we will provide for years to come from Melbourne and Paris.  In addition, we look forward to continuing our relationship with Tennis Channel to best serve tennis fans at both events.”

Both networks will continue to cross-promote each other’s schedules, and each will present live broadband action during both networks’ telecast windows at the tournaments.

The five-year-old Grand Slam alliance between Tennis Channel and ESPN is currently in effect again in Paris for the 2011 French Open.  The joint-network coverage has provided viewers with more than 125 hours of live tennis in Paris and close to 150 live hours in Melbourne each year.  More than sheer volume of coverage, Tennis Channel and ESPN work in tandem to give their tennis viewers the opportunity to stay on top of these respective events almost all day, every day for each two week competition.

It is a cross-promotional system so successful that the networks now have working relationships at the other most prominent events in the sport: the two other majors Wimbledon and the US Open; the “Fifth Slams” of Miami and Indian Wells, Calif.; and the Olympus US Open Series.  As with the French Open and Australian Open, more combined television time is now devoted to these other events too.

So the continuing alliance between ESPN2 and Tennis Channel means plenty of live tennis for fans for the first and second Grand Slam tournaments of the year.

ESPN2 & Tennis Channel Announce New Multimedia Sharing Agreement for Aussie & French Opens

Just received this press release from ESPN. It’s been announced that ESPN2 and Tennis Channel will continue to share coverage of both the Australian and French Opens. For the French, this means that ESPN2 will begin its coverage at 5 a.m. It had been jumping in at noon, meaning most of the live coverage had been on Tennis Channel. Now ESPN’s coverage starting in 2012 will begin at 5 a.m. and run until 10 a.m. Tennis Channel will join at 10 a.m.

For the Australian Open, Tennis Channel will begin its coverage nightly at 7 p.m. Eastern. ESPN2 will then join in for late night coverage running throughout the overnight hours as Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of the US East Coast. This new arrangement will begin with the 2013 Australian Open.

And it’s a more consistent schedule for the Australian Open as some days ESPN2 would begin at 7 p.m. or Tennis Channel would. Now fans will be able to find the matches easier.

We have the press release from ESPN2. I expect to get one from Tennis Channel shortly.

ESPN’s New Multimedia Agreement for French Open Emphasizes Live Telecasts

Alliance with Tennis Channel Continues Virtual 24/7 Coverage of Australian and French Opens

ESPN and Tennis Channel have agreed to a new four-year, multimedia programming alliance for the Australian and French Opens.  ESPN and TC will continue to air action from both Grand Slam events, but in a key change ESPN’s telecast windows of the French Open will now be virtually all live, generally starting at 5 a.m. ET for five hours. In addition, extensive schedules of action will continue on all ESPN platforms, including ESPN3.com, ESPN Deportes,  ESPN Mobile TV, the WatchESPNApp, ESPN Interactive TV and ESPNNetworks.com under the new deal, which takes effect with the 2012 French Open and the 2013 Australian Open.

As under the current arrangement, ESPN will televise more than 50 hours from Paris, starting with the first day of the tournament, a Sunday, and concluding with the women’s semifinals live on the second Thursday of the event. ESPN’s Australian Open schedule – part of an agreement with Tennis Australia that runs through 2021 – will continue to total more than 120 hours with daily marathon late-night live telecasts, including the men’s and women’s semifinals and championships. Having televised the Australian Open – including the women’s and men’s semifinals and finals exclusively – since 1984, this is ESPN’s longest uninterrupted professional sports programming relationship. Also, ESPN3.com will present live action during both ESPN’s and TC’s telecast windows from both events.

“Sports fans want to see the action live and that’s how we deliver tennis and all our sports,” said John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president, content. “Tennis fans are among the most dedicated – willing to stay up or get up to see live competition – and that’s what we will provide for years to come from Melbourne and Paris. In addition, we look forward to continuing our relationship with Tennis Channel to best serve tennis fans at both events.”

At the French Open, Tennis Channel air 60 live hours, following ESPN at 10 a.m., plus studio programming with highlights in prime time. TC will televise up to 100 hours from Australia – approximately 30 hours of live play plus studio shows in prime time.

Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO, Tennis Channel, said, “Not only is there more championship-caliber tennis on television week-after-week than ever before, but consistent, daily schedules allow fans to follow and enjoy this sport in a way that was impossible even just a few years ago.  With this arrangement there will be no more guesswork during the Australian Open: just turn your TV on when you get home at 7 o’clock and we’ll be there live, night after night.  Tennis fans are the big winners here, as has been the case ever since Tennis Channel and ESPN started working together”

That does it for this post.

The Fifth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Time for another mailbag and let’s answer the sports media questions that have landed in the Fang’s Bites inbox over the last week or so. Thanks to all who sent e-mails and left comments. I’ll do my best to answer as best as I can. And don’t forget, I have two $50 Nike.com gift cards. If I can get one other piece of swag to give way, I’ll make an announcement. The recipients will be chosen at random and be e-mailed.

Disclaimer as to where the cards came from and what promotion they’re associated with:

• The Sprite Spark Parks Project is a multi-year commitment to build and restore play environments where teens, families and neighbors can get outside and be active. The big idea: play, be active, be inspired and have fun. The campaign began several weeks ago where people had the opportunity to nominate their courts and we now need your vote to determine which parks will get the funding. If you want one of those refurbished courts to be accessible for your child, all you have to do is head to The Sprite Facebook Page and VOTE!
• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company.  The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.
• Entrants must be located in the US or Canada only.

Now to your questions:

What does (Dick Ebersol’s resignation) mean for NBC’s production of the 2012 Olympics? Is it likely to be different, with less tape delay and non-live events? And what does this mean for NBC’s long term Olympic prospects? Does this basically hand the rights to ESPN? – Shep H.

Hi Shep. Ebersol’s resignation won’t mean much change for NBC next year. With London five hours ahead of New York, primetime will still mean tape delays. It’ll also mean continued holding of glamor events (gymnastics, swimming, track & field) for evening viewing. While Ebersol’s resignation hurts NBC, many of his disciples are still working there and if it wins the bid for 2014/16, expect many of his old producers and directors to remain. While the bid became more wide open, NBCUniversal still is the favorite. This does not mean ESPN automatically gets the rights.

If you’re an executive at an ABC affiliate, would you be disappointed that ESPN won’t allow you to carry one game of the Western Conference Finals (most notably Game 3 on Saturday night in which ABC has to show “Spider-Man 3″ instead) and would you be even more disappointed if the Los Angeles Lakers were in the Western Finals instead of the Dallas Mavericks? – Jimmy D.

Thanks, Jimmy. Yes, this is a bone of contention among ABC affiliates losing sports. Over the years, ABC has lost Monday Night Football, NASCAR, the Open Championship, the Rose Bowl and college basketball. I know ESPN has the philosophy that the difference between cable and broadcast is close to nil, but you do have a broadcast network that is used to carrying sports programming. If I’m an ABC affiliate general manager, I would be very angry about losing NBA Conference Final programming and bring this up at the next affiliates meeting. But with ESPN being a cash cow for Disney, there’s not much the local stations can do. I would not be surprised to see ABC lose even more sports programming down the line.

I love your blog and read it every day!  Here is my question—How do you think the current NFL Lockout and the looming NBA lockout will affect how the networks cover sports?

Obviously CBS, NBA and FOX use the NFL to promote other prime time programs and they are on the hook for the rights fees unless there is a court decision that forces the NFL to return the money. – Benjamin G.

Appreciate the kind words, Benjamin. If the NFL lockout extends to the fall, CBS, NBC and Fox will have huge holes to fill on Sundays. ESPN is in a better position as it can slot college football games into Sunday and possibly even Mondays. NBC says it will put game shows in Sunday Night Football’s slot for the first couple of weeks. CBS and Fox have not announced what they will do. All of the networks continue to sell ads.

As far as the NBA is concerned, TNT can plug in dramas on Thursdays and ESPN can plug college basketball or poker into the lost NBA slots. And yes, the networks are on the hook for the rights fees. They’ve already paid the NFL. Not sure about the NBA.

Hey Ken I just want to know with this new espn book out will those so called journalist’s actually take responsibility for the actions they do like in the real news world? I find it hard to believe that in todays world those guys are not punished for their irresponsible journalism. – Ari

I’m not sure what example of irresponsible journalism you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the sexual activities, those who have been caught have either been fired or suspended. I really can’t speak about anything else because I need a better example of what you’re talking about.

What do you think was behind Gus Johnson’s departure from CBS? His ego? The ego of other CBS announcers who were jealous of the attention that he received? Or was it just plain money? – Jeff H.

Thanks, Jeff. I think Gus knew that he wasn’t going to supplant Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan at CBS. He got a very good offer to be the number one guy calling college football and basketball at Fox plus more money. It’s tough to leave the network that made you, but there’s always a chance that Gus could return to CBS down the line. That story about people at CBS being jealous was probably planted by Gus’ people. I find it hard to believe that Jim Nantz or anyone at CBS was jealous of Gus, but you never know.

Do you see the new NBC Sports Group trying to nab the cable TV rights to either Wimbledon or the French Open to air on Versus (and hopefully not take away anything from Tennis Channel) to complement their NBC network coverage? I can see NBC going after, say, Wimbledon on cable (Versus taking over for ESPN2) and unifying the daytime coverage with NBC network, where they can do a reverse mirror sort of thing between NBC and Versus to show one single live feed that bounces between NBC and Versus differently in each timezone (ex: 10am to 1pm local time is the NBC window, so at 10am ET, Eastern Time viewers are told to switch from NBC to Versus for the next 3 hours and then come back, 1 hour later the Central Time viewers do the same, and so on, with Versus airing some alternate program during the NBC blackout, and viewers essentially not missing any important live action but still having to watch on NBC). – Jason B.

Hi Jason. With Wimbledon, the U.S. and Australian Opens locked into long-term deals over the last few years, the first Grand Slam that would be up for bid would be the French Open, however, that  deal with Tennis Channel could last until 2016. Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australia are locked solidly with ESPN2 for quite some time. I’m not a fan of NBC’s tennis coverage live or delayed so I’m not sure if I want to see a combined NBC Sports Group effort on the French or Wimbledon.

Hey, love the blog, but on to my question. With the NBC Sports Group losing out on the PAC-12 to Fox/ESPN, what other deals are up soon that they can go gung-ho for? I know MLB isn’t up for another two years, same with the Big East, but they’d likely remain on ESPN, as all the group really has is sublicensed Mountain West games and the NHL, which is great, but not big time like the PAC-12 is. Also, one other question, I love Gus Johnson and his style, I think it’ll fit well at Fox, do you think it was a good move for that? Then, who will CBS get to fill Gus’s slot in both the NFL and March Madness? Thanks again for the info! – P.J.

Other than the Olympics, which properties (MLB, MLS, conference USA, etc.) are up up for bidding in the next 2 years and which have a chance to turn hands? – Chaz B.

Since Chaz and P.J. have similar questions, I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

As far as college, the Big East are up, but they aren’t up until 2013. ESPN wants to renew the rights, but the Big East seeing how the Pac-12 did, is being smart and will probably allow for open bidding.

2013 – 2015 is what I call Sports Rights Armageddon as MLB, NASCAR, NBA and NFL being a cycle of possible upheaval. MLB will go first as negotiations start next year. ESPN will probably want to get the MLB postseason back after losing the games to TBS. I think Fox will want to get into the NBA game and who knows what will happen with the NFL?

P.J. as far as who will take Gus Johnson’s place, Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News reported Marv Albert is a candidate and I wouldn’t mind that at all. Ian Eagle or Kevin Harlan would be good choices for promotion for the NCAA Tournament.

For regionally distributed games like the MLB on FOX , do local affiliates that do not have local ties to a game, like KTTV in L.A. this weekend, do the affiliates get to chose what game they show or does FOX select the game for them? – Ben F.

Ben, in some cases, it falls under the MLB territorial rules which are just too tedious to explain. If a region like Las Vegas falls under a team’s territory (and claimed by five teams, by the way), then it could get the Dodgers, Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres depending on which team is on Fox. In Connecticut, the Fox station usually chooses the Yankees over the Red Sox if both teams are playing games on the network, despite the fact that most of the Constitution State has been deemed Red Sox territory. I hope that answers your question. I hate MLB territorial rules and so does Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball.

Hi, Ken!

I appreciate all the hard work you do on maintaining your blog. It’s a valuable took for me to keep up in what’s going on or coming up in my industry.

I did notice that the majority of information and news you provide focus on personalities and ratings. Do you plan on or know of someone who plans on doing more features or profiles on behind the camera personnel like producers, directors and/or technical staff? I’m always interested in what a motivates a producer or director to do the type of show they create and how they got to their status in the business. – Andre’

You might want to check out Sports Video Group which has a mixture of ratings, technical and other articles that might be of interest to you. Unfortunately, the mainstream media usually focuses on sports personalities with a few behind-the-scenes articles thrown in.

With the advent of watching  sports on HD Television’s and mobile media devices  with Sport season subscriptions that are almost cheaper than attending a single game  how our  teams adapting  to less and less fans at the stadium?  Also what are they telling their advertisers? – Robert D.

Good question, Robert. Stadiums knowing that fans can watch the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV or NFL Red Zone on cable are now trying to enhance the gameday experience. They’re adding TV’s to selected seats, all you can eat promotions and wifi. They’re doing everything except for discounting ticket prices, although some MLB teams are doing that now. I think you’ll see more teams adding to the gameday experience to attract fans, but to be honest, it’s all about winning. Put a winning team on the field, people will come. Produce like the Pittsburgh Pirates and it doesn’t matter how many features you offer.

With the end of the Premier League Season what did you think of the coverage of the Premier League and other leagues around Europe this season by Fox, ESPN, GOL TV?  What do you think that Fox and ESPN could do better to add to the coverage next season?   Who is your Premier League Announcer of the Year?   What would you credit more to the growth of the game here in the States from where it was 15 years ago to now between TV coverage by Fox, ESPN, and GOL TV where you can watch 50 or so games a week with digital cable or the growth of the Internet where a fan interested in soccer could finally go to get results and opinions that were previously next to impossible to get before the internet.

Thanks for all of you hard work it’s really appreciated! – CFTV

Thanks for the kind words, CFTV. Both Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN2 have improved their presentation of the English Premier League by leaps and bounds. I like how ESPN2 no longer uses the world feed and has Ian Darke and Steven McManaman for EPL games. Fox Soccer Channel now has to step up its game and should no longer use the world feed announcers. Martin Tyler is perfect for EPL games and does a great job. But I like Ian Darke and his colorful descriptions.

I’d like to see Bob Ley involved in EPL studio shows seeing how much he loves the game.

I like how Fox Soccer Channel is using the NFL on Fox studio for EPL and Champions League, but the look of the games still has a long way to go.

Any news on if there is going to be any other telecast outlets for the Canadian Football League in the US ? While its nice to have the one game on NFLN for part of the season, three other games are not available over the air all season long at this time in the US as far as I am aware, and none at all once the NFL preseason starts and even into September. The old arrangement of having the regional sports net providing an outlet was okay, but what about Versus ? They have lots of available time slots throughout the CFL season,and would be perfect. With the NFL likely not playing until perhaps October or November we really could use all CFL games being telecast nationally across the US this summer and autumn, as well as in future years and seasons. – MaytheHorseBeWithYou

It appears the NFL Network will carry CFL games once again, but not any of the playoff games, unless there’s a lockout, of course.

What is the latest on the United States Football League (USFL) starting play in February 2012 ? Not much can be found about this anywhere, so I assume at this point it is a no-go. I wonder if the NFL lockout carries into September and beyond, will the USFL starting be a possibility; or is the window for getting things going 9 months from now closed ? I suspect a 2013 start is more possible, but still not probable. – Lefty

Hi Lefty. Your guess is as good as mine.

That’s it. Thanks for your questions. I will contact the winners of the gift cards by e-mail.

Videos of the Week: Funny Australian Open Interviews

I don’t know what got into the water in Melbourne over the last two weeks, but tennis players showed some spunk and personality during postmatch interviews and press conferences throughout the fortnight. That is a very good thing too as tennis tries to regain popularity in the United States. If players continue to show humor instead of the boring same old, same old answers, then we might see some more of tennis in the highlight shows.

Let’s start with Caroline Wozniacki who decided that she would take control of a postmatch press conference after learning that reporters called her “boring.”

The following day, Caroline decided to have some fun with the media saying she got cut by a kangaroo. This ended up not being true.

Caroline did apologize for pulling one over the media on her Twitter account.

But these interviews pale in comparison to Kim Clijsters’ interview with Todd Woodbridge of Australia’s 7 Network after her second round match. Kim and Todd are friends off the court and they like to tease each other. This has become viral.

Of course, there’s Li Na’s funny interview after her semifinal win over Wozniacki. Every wife and girlfriend could identify with Li’s comments about her husband’s snoring, inspiration to win, remembering the date of her wedding anniversary and dealing with her mother. As you can see from the reaction of 7 Network’s Sam Smith, she must have felt like the straight man to Li Na’s classic lines. Li became a worldwide star thanks to this interview.

And finally after losing a hard fought three set match in the women’s final to Clijsters, Li made some very funny comments about her husband again.

If I work for Breathe Right strips, I sign Li Na and her husband to an endorsement contract right away. What a great two weeks of tennis. Now, it’s to the winter tournaments here in the States, then the clay court tournaments leading to French Open in May.

We’re done here. Nice to have the Videos back again.

Saturday’s Links

You’re linkage once again so let’s provide some now. I am putting together a Videos of Week for Sunday morning so look for that if you get up around 8 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow.

ESPN Ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer writes his last column in his role of overseer and apologizes for his lack of writing.

Nellie Andreeva of Deadline.com reports that CBS is picking up two sitcoms based on two ESPN personalities, one extremely annoying, the other not so much.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable writes that DirecTV wants to settle a dispute with Northwest Broadcasting that is keeping several local channels off the satellite provider and preventing subscribers from possibly seeing the Super Bowl.

Milton Kent from Fanhouse says ESPN’s Stuart Scott will undergo chemotherapy after having cancerous tissue removed. Our best to Stuart.

Milton says Fox’s Terry Bradshaw will be tickled pink if he gets to hand the Super Bowl Trophy to his old team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Lucia Moses from Mediaweek says after a two year absence, Sports Illustrated is bringing back its Super Bowl party in Dallas.

The Nielsen Ratings Wire blog looks into the factors that are causing the NFL’s TV ratings to increase at an astounding rate.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life Magazine says Comcast has a long road ahead to pull NBC out of its current doldrums.

One quick aside. You may have noticed that as of yesterday, I recommended a non-sports NBC program in the Weekend Viewing Picks for the first time in about a year. Now that Jeff Zucker is gone from running the network into the ground, I have ended my primetime and late night boycott of NBC. I had only put NBC sports programs in the Viewing Picks since the Conan debacle last year. If I feel an NBC program is worthy of being recommended, I will place it in the Picks. Right now, absolutely none of NBC’s primetime lineup (The Cape? A Minute To Win It? Perfect Couples? What the hell are those?) appeals to me. We’ll see if the upcoming programs are of any quality. For now, baby steps for NBC. And no, please don’t sell me on “Friday Night Lights”. That has no appeal to me whatsoever.

Back to the links.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life says there is plenty of buzz over the Super Bowl ads again this year.

E.J. Schultz of Advertising Age says Snickers is hoping comedienne Roseanne will do in this year’s Super Bowl what Betty White did for the candy bar in last year’s Super Bowl ad. I’ll be honest. Everyone loves Betty White. Roseanne doesn’t have that same appeal.

Ken Wheaton of Ad Age has one of the two silly Go Daddy.com Super Bowl ads.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that the NHL is not only seeing higher TV ratings, but is also seeing more revenue from corporate sponsorships.

Tanya Irwin of MediaPost’s Marketing Daily notes that the NFL is teaming up with Visa to produce an exclusive Twitter feed for the Super Bowl.

One story that surfaced earlier this week and I wasn’t able to get to it. This comes from Allan Brettman of The Oregonian who points out the conflict of interest of ESPN’s Erin Andrews endorsing Reebok after reporting in the BCS about some problems about Nike shoes.

Katie Thomas of the New York Times now picks up the story and further explores the problems this brings.

Don’t forget last year when ESPN’s Jenn Brown was going to be the spokesperson for Icehouse beer and after Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch pointed out the conflict of interest, the deal was nixed.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that Fox’s Terry Bradshaw will be excited if he hands the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the Green Bay Packers.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that Midwest radio powerhouse KMOX is expanding its sports coverage.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the Best and Worst of SoCal’s analysts.

Tom has his extensive media notes.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid provides the very funny postmatch comments by Li Na after the Australian Open women’s final.

Sports Media Watch notes that NASCAR will have later start times for its late season races.

Steve Lepore of Puck the Media has the ten most watched and least watched NHL games on Versus thus far this season.

We’ll end it there for now.

Australian Open Day 11 Schedule in US Time

Once again, I provide the Australian Open schedules for you. This is in Eastern time so adjust accordingly for your time zone. The women’s semifinals are tonight and should start around 9:30, depending on how long the men’s doubles semifinal match involving the Bryan twin brothers takes. So here’s the schedule. Matches begin at 7 p.m.

And there you have it.

Australian Open Day 10 Schedule in US Time

I almost forgot to post this. Here’s tonight’s Australian Open schedule of play. It begins at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Australian Open Day 9 Schedule in US Time

We provide the schedule of the Australian Open in US Eastern Time. Adjust for your time zone accordingly. Remember, Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone, 13 for the Pacific. Today’s matches start at 7 p.m. in the East. Here goes.