Apple
Oct
21
Some Sunday Linkage
I have some time on this NFL Sunday to provide some rare weekend linkage. Let’s get to it.
Chris Chase at USA Today’s Game On blog notes that Minnesota Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder has confirmed that he’s dating ESPN College GameDay’s Samantha Steele.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News talks about the Pac-12 Networks being made available to Apple mobile devices as long as they’re subscribers of participating cable and satellite providers.
Ed Sherman of The Sherman Report reviews this week’s 30 for 30 documentary which has a Chicago slant.
Sports Media Watch says expect Fox to be a player for the rights to the second half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season if ESPN and Turner falter in their negotiations next year.
SportsRantz says Jen Royle is owed an apology by Toronto Blue Jays fans after she correctly reported that John Farrell was a target of the Red Sox for its managerial opening.
Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says Fox Sports is ready to launch its New Orleans channel with the rights to the Hornets in hand.
Ty Duffy at The Big Lead notes that actress Natalie Portman turned heads at the Baylor-Texas game last night.
Stephen Douglas of The Big Lead has video evidence of Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ryan Lochte being dumber than you and me.
Tom Ley at Deadspin notes that ESPN’s Rick Reilly got fooled by web satire once again.
Once again, Phil Mushnick at the New York Post finds something to hate.
Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s comments on DC NFL team QB Robert Griffin III on Fox NFL Sunday.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with Doug Gottlieb about his new CBS Sports Network late night show.
Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times rates the commissioners‘ of MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL.
Nice to have Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News back in Fang’s Bites. He wonders where are the Cowboys fans as the team’s TV ratings have fallen like a rock this season.
David Barron of the Houston Chronicle bids farewell to Big Tex, the huge statue that adorned the Texas State Fair outside Dallas that burned down on Friday and the voice of Big Tex.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman reviews Fox Sports Net’s production of last night’s Oklahoma blowout of Kansas.
The Oklahoman notes that ESPN’s College GameDay will be at the Notre Dame-Oklahoma game in Norman next Saturday.
The Cincinnati Enquirier’s John Kiesewetter talks with NBC’s Al Michaels who got his big break in the Queen City.
John has some outtakes with Al that didn’t make the newspaper story.
Joe Reedy of the Enquirer talks with Cris Collinsworth who will have a heavy heart working with Al Michaels tonight.
Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco has his work cut out for him in negotiating a new TV contract for the conference.
At TimeOut Chicago, Robert Feder discusses Jenny McCarthy joining the Sun-Times as a columnist, the Tribune going behind the dreaded paywall, and Bob Brenly’s replacement as Cubs analyst.
At the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth recalls the 31st Anniversary of “Blue Monday” for the Dodgers with Vin Scully.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog enjoys the MLB International productions over TBS and Fox in the postseason.
And that will do it.
Oct
04
Your Thursday Linkage
Let’s do a few links for you.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at the local MLB TV ratings.
Mike Ozanian from Forbes explains what the new national MLB TV deals mean for the upcoming bids for the Los Angeles Dodgers TV rights.
Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter has an NBC Sports executive defending its decision not to air live coverage of the Paralympics.
ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry at the Poynter Institute discusses ESPN taking credit for the work of others and standardizing its editorial policies.
Bradley Klein of Golfweek was not enamored with the amount of commercials in NBC’s Ryder Cup coverage. Thanks to Ed Sherman for the link.
Speaking of Ed, he wonders if this season will be the last for the partnership of Chicago White Sox TV announcers Ken Harrelson and Steve Stone.
Jill Goldsmith from Variety discusses the new carriage deal between Disney and Cablevision that includes WatchESPN, Longhorn Network and other ESPN platforms.
Broadcasting & Cable reports on Golf Channel’s record viewership for the third quarter of 2012.
Dan Daly from Sports Video Group explores how Fox and Turner are preparing to pick up audio during the MLB Postseason.
ESPN’s Kristi Dosh looks at the next Manchester United cash deal.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell wonders how much Master Swindler Curt Schilling can receive for selling his bloody sock. I live in Rhode Island and I’m an angry taxpayer on the hook thanks to Curt’s 38 Studios deal.
Rocco Pendoia at The Street wonders if national sports radio can generate revenue for CBS.
Jordan Rabinowitz at SportsGrid has the painful video of actor Liam Neeson’s appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter as Mike Hill asked him about Tim Tebow. You can only imagine the results.
Newsday’s Neil Best talks with SiriusXM’s Chris Russo.
Jerry Barmash at FishbowlNY says YES has received its best ratings in two years for the last two Red Sox-Yankees games.
The Schenectady Gazette’s Ken Schott says local sports anchor Andrew Catalon will call UConn women’s basketball on SNY this season.
Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union has the Week 5 NFL TV schedule for the Capital Region.
Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record looks at the SNY UConn Women’s basketball schedule.
Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger talks with ESPN analyst John Congemi about Saturday’s UConn-Rutgers game.
Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says IndyCar racing returns next year to Pocono Raceway, but in a shorter form and with ABC televising the race over NBC Sports Network.
David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun has a slideshow in which he gives grades to the MASN Orioles broadcasters for this season.
David notes the O’s home finale’s ratings on MASN almost doubled from the last season.
In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg wants to know why former WaPo columnist Michael Wilbon trashed DC in ESPN The Magazine.
Dan also responds to Michael’s trashing of him.
David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the final day of the Astros season meant saying goodbye on both TV and radio.
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman writes that several Oklahoma City Thunder players were gripped by ESPN’s “Broke” 30 for 30 documentary.
John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Reds set a ratings record on Fox Sports Ohio.
In the Los Angeles Times, Joe Flint writes about the Disney carriage deal with Cablevision.
Joe Eskanazi of San Francisco explains how the Bleacher Report became so big.
John Carvalho at ChuckOliver.net delves into the feud between South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier and a newspaper columnist.
Andrew Kameka of Mobile Play says WatchESPN is now adding support for Apple AirPlay through iOS6.
Dave Kohl has some various sports media thoughts in The Broadcast Booth.
I’m going to end it there.
May
16
Some Wednesday Night Linkage
I’ll do some more linkage for you this evening. You’re owed it. Why not?
Thomas O’Toole from USA Today reports that Laurie Fine, the wife of ex-Syracuse assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine, is suing ESPN for libel saying a report ruined her reputation.
Barry Petchesky of Deadspin goes inside the lawsuit and notes that Fine is accusing ESPN of circling the wagons against her.
John Koblin from Deadspin says Fang’s Bites fave Charissa Thompson will replace the outgoing Michelle Beadle on ESPN2′s SportsNation.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch speaks with ESPN’s Prince of Darkness John Skipper who fires some shots at NBC Sports Network.
Mike McCarthy of USA Today has NBC’s response to Skipper.
Tom Weir of USA Today says ESPN’s Adam Schefter threw a G*d D*mned reference at Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio and ESPN2. That’s a lot of ESPN references in one sentence.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Pat O’Brien is back on the Olympic stage.
Mike Ozanian from Forbes says while sports TV advertising spending is up, the return of investment is not necessarily that good.
Andy Fixmer and Edmund Lee of Bloomberg Businessweek report that the networks are putting more sports programming in primetime to avoid DVR timeshifting.
Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable looks at NBCUniversal announcing Olympic coverage plans for three cable networks.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News reports that NBC Sports Network will air a cable TV record amount of Olympic coverage this summer.
Mike notes that ESPN is hoping to double its subscriber numbers for its WatchESPN app.
Meanwhile, Josh Lowensohn of CNET says hold the WatchESPN to Apple TV talk.
Billy Steele of Engadget reviews the new ESPN Radio iPad app.
Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that Fox Sports West had an interesting “Key to the Game”.
Jim Williams of the Bleacher Report talks with Fox Soccer analysts on this Saturday’s Champions League Final.
Clare Atkinson from the New York Post reports that the networks are jacking up ad rates for the NFL including CBS for Super Bowl XLVII.
Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette notes that NBC Sports Network will cover the Indy 500 Time Trials this weekend.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at the amount of Olympic coverage on three NBCUniversal cable networks.
Pete says NBC Sports golf reporter Dottie Pepper has co-authored a series of books bringing golf to kids.
Keith Groller at the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says a local cable TV sports reporter is fast becoming a regular on the high school scene.
Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says a sports radio producer put Icy Hot on his manjunk.
Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald writes that TNT’s Charles Barkley is not a fan of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
Paul M. Banks at Chicago Sports Media Watch can’t believe Mike Francesa’s anti-Twitter stance.
Kent Youngblood at the Minneapolis Star Tribune says the new TV voice of the Minnesota Wild comes with some controversy.
Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News says the national media is beginning to take notice of the Kings’ playoff run.
Bud Withers of the Seattle Times writes that ESPN has moved the coaching debut of Mike Leach with Washington State to a Thursday night primetime game.
Jeff Morrow of the Tri-City (WA) Herald notes that ESPN Radio has returned to the local area.
Annie Fowler of the Herald says NHL Network will air the Memorial Cup in its entirety.
Ryan Yoder of Awful Announcing is still buzzing over Mike Francesa’s anti-Twitter rant from this week.
Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC could be moved on Saturday if Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final goes into triple overtime.
Steve says the ratings Game 2 of the NHL Western Conference Final were down from last year.
Dave Kohl at the Broadcast Booth looks at various local radio ratings for baseball.
And that will be do it for tonight.
Mar
26
Late Monday Night Links
As promised earlier today, I’m giving you more links. I was out earlier today and I’ll be out again tomorrow so it’s going to be a bit crazy for me. So let’s get to the linkage right now.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the media circus that was the Tim Tebow press conference at the New York Jets practice facility on Monday.
Speaking of Richard, he and CNBC’s Darren Rovell were locked in Round 2 of their Twitter feud. This was fun while it lasted as Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing recaps.
Matt notes that Al Trautwig of MSG Network had a slip of the tongue.
And Matt is gleeful that ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman also had a similar slip.
Christina Settimi of Forbes looks at baseball’s biggest local cable TV rights deals.
George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN has promoted an executive to handle its international digital media efforts.
Sam Laird of Mashable notes that the Boston Bruins have launched their own social media portal, believed to the first in pro sports.
Todd Cunningham at The Wrap says with Tiger Woods win this past weekend, CBS now looks forward to having masterful ratings for The Masters® in two weeks.
Dale Buss of Brand Channel writes that Jockey brand underwear welcomed Tim Tebow to New York as only it could.
Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew has one of the funniest on-screen graphics pulled by Fox Sports Midwest during a St. Louis Cardinals exhibition game.
Jesse Sawyer of the Avon (CT) Patch says ESPN’s Kenny Mayne has sold his Connecticut home over half a year after he moved his family to Washington State.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates everybody.
Breaking the Bob Raissman ban to note that the New York Daily News curmudgeon feels Tim Tebow is already a pro at handling the Big Apple media circus.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the ratings for the NCAA Tournament this past weekend took a huge hit thanks to Tiger Woods.
Greg Connors of the Buffalo News writes about ESPN’s three month-long initiative to celebrate Title IX.
Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the departure of local native Meredith Marakovits for the bright lights of New York.
Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog tells us that he’s going to have a partner on the blog.
And Sarah Kogod introduces herself to DC Sports Bog readers in her first post.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo.
Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.
Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that the Oklahoma City Thunder set a new ratings record.
John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says a nationally syndicated radio morning show will be in town for Reds Opening Day.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Wisconsin-Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 did well in the local ratings.
Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune says BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has a future in TV if he so chooses.
Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says an investment bank helped to broker the Pac-12 media rights contract with ESPN and Fox plus other huge sports and entertainment megadeals.
Joe reports that DirecTV and Tribune are in a dispute over the company’s TV stations and this could include WGN America which carries a bunch of sports programming.
Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has yet another amazingly uninformed column not realizing that CBS and Turner share the NCAA Tournament and CBS no longer regionalizes games. Many Canadian college basketball fans are aware of this, yet Bruce is not.
Sports Media Watch looks at the lower ratings generated by the NCAA Tournament over the weekend.
SMW has the viewership for the first primetime effort by ESPN2′s First Take.
To Macgasm where we learn that ESPN is teaming with Apple to make sports scores available on the Siri voice platform on the iPhone 4S.
Joe Favorito asks does UFC really needs New York to be successful?
Jim Connelly at USCHO.com wonders if ESPN is doing more to hurt the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament than help promote it.
Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball wonders when MLB Network will hit Canada.
And we’ll end it there. Good night.
Oct
06
Some Thursday Links
I was hoping today would be quiet, but instead, the Hank Williams, Jr. story is released and all hell breaks loose. What can you do?
Anyway, let’s do some links while I can. With Hank Williams, Jr. being the stop story, I’ll start with those links first.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch.
Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter
Andrea Morabito in Broadcasting & Cable/Multichannel News
Leah Goldman with the Business Insider’s Sports Page
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir
The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth
I think those are enough links on Hank Williams, Jr.
Now to the other sports media stories of the day.
Glenn Davis of SportsGrid says ESPN had Bobby Valentine and Herman Edwards get into an argument that made no sense.
Andrew Gauthier from Media Bistro’s TV Newser gets a video tour of the MLB Network studios. They’re nice.
Sports Video Group’s Ken Kerschbaumer remembers a legendary ABC Sports and Fox Sports director who passed away yesterday.
Jason Dachman of Sports Video Group writes about NHL Network getting a new master control area.
Bill Pennington of the New York Times profiles long-time Yankees radio voice John Sterling.
Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says Syracuse’s game against Tulane will be seen in the New York area this Saturday.
The St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans notes the changes that Apple’s Steve Jobs made in TV viewing.
Chip Brown of OrangeBloods notes that the Longhorn Network will not air any high school highlights as part of a new agreement between Texas and the Big 12.
The Cincinnati Enquirer’s John Kiesewetter remembers a local sportscaster who passed away today.
Craig Lyndall of Waiting For Next Year looks at the new Cleveland Cavs radio announcing team that will begin announcing the new season whenever the new season gets here.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that NBC’s Rodney Harrison is picking Green Bay to beat Atlanta on Sunday Night Football.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News takes a gander at the NFL TV ratings by market.
Tom has the college and pro football TV schedules for SoCal this weekend.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the Hockey Night in Canada regional splits for October.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog recaps some of the NHL TV partners offseason moves.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has the viewership numbers for the NHL Opening Night numbers on US TV dating back to 2003.
Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page has the video of the Busch Stadium squirrel that wreaked havoc on yesterday’s Game 4 of the Phillies-Cardinals series. Of course, the squirrel now has its own Twitter account.
Joe Favorito says the lesson from Steve Jobs is never squash creativity.
And that’s where we’ll end it today.
Oct
05
RIP, Steve Jobs
There aren’t too many people who can say they changed the world. Steve Jobs could.
His influence to make our world better cannot be measured. Just think of the Macintosh computer, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. And he also revolutionized Super Bowl ads. Jobs got major buzz for Apple by running this ad only once for the launch of the Macintosh during Super Bowl XVIII on CBS.
After that, advertisers have been trying to copy the Apple formula for getting buzz. An amazing visionary.
You can send your condolences, thoughts and reflections on Steve Jobs to rememberingsteve@apple.com. He will be missed.
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