Fang's Bites

Weekend Programming Press Releases

Let’s give you some weekend programming releases. Asides from baseball, NASCAR and golf, there are some slim pickings, but you may find something you like in the following announcements. Don’t let me influence your viewing.

Tomorrow, CBS airs the finale of the Tour de France plus has a special on the road to the PGA Championship.

CBS SPORTS AIRS ARMSTRONG’S AU REVOIR TO “TOUR DE FRANCE” WITH HIGHLIGHT COVERAGE OF FINAL STAGES ON SUNDAY, JULY 25

CBS SPORTS SPECTACULAR’s coverage of the 2010 TOUR DE FRANCE highlights the final stages of the 2,600-mile race on Sunday, July 25 (1:00-2:00 PM, ET; SD TAPE) in this hour-long recap on the CBS Television Network.  Seven-time Tour winner and one of the greatest cyclists of all-time, American Lance Armstrong makes the final Tour de France appearance of his legendary career as coverage also highlights what could be a dramatic finish between two-time defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain and last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.  American Levi Leipheimer, currently in seventh place, also pedals for the prize of wearing the yellow jersey at the end of the 23-day trek that started in Rotterdam, Netherlands and ends in Paris.  Craig Hummer hosts the show, while Vic Frank serves as coordinating producer of CBS Sports’ coverage.  Production support will be provided by Versus.

CBS SPORTS TRAVELS ANOTHER PATH WITH “ROAD TO THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP” ON SUNDAY, JULY 25

CBS Sports travels a slightly different path than it usually takes each March as it airs THE ROAD TO THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP on Sunday, July 25 (2:00-3:00 PM, ET). The road to a golfing major title has many twists and turns. For 312 PGA professionals, it began at the 43^rd PGA Professional National Championship in French Lick, Ind.  Only the top 20 survive and move on. Hosted by CBS Sports Bill Macatee, THE ROAD TO THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP chronicles their journey into golf’s final major of the year.  CBS Sports’ Chris Svendsen serves as coordinating producer.

Harold Bryant is Vice President of Production, CBS Sports.

Universal Sports has live gymnastics and the return of Alicia Sacramone to the sport.

UNIVERSAL SPORTS PRESENTS EXCLUSIVE LIVE COVERAGE OF THE 2010 COVERGIRL CLASSIC

Action begins at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 24 from UIC Pavilion in Chicago

Alicia Sacramone makes her first competitive appearance since 2008 Olympic Games

July 21, 2010 – Universal Sports presents exclusive live coverage of the 2010 CoverGirl Classic on Saturday, July 24 at 8 p.m. ET at the UIC Pavilion on the University of Illinois-Chicago’s campus. David Michaels, Executive Producer of Universal Sports, will be directing the production, which will feature commentators Tim Daggett, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, and Tasha Schwikert, 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist. In addition to the television coverage, fans can visit www.universalsports.com for live web coverage of the event and click on the gymnastics section for up-to-date broadcast schedules, breaking news, video highlights, special features, photo galleries and more. This marks the second consecutive year that Universal Sports will produce this national championships qualifying competition.

Highlighting this year’s CoverGirl Classic is the return of 2008 Olympic silver-medalist Alicia Sacramone. In her first competitive appearance since announcing a year ago that she was coming out of retirement, Sacramone will look to perform well, just three week away from the 2010 Championships. The competition will be fierce as the reigning world champion, Bridget Sloan, and world silver-medalist, Rebecca Bross, both of whom have already qualified for nationals, will be sure to bring their best in hopes of perfecting their routines for nationals. 

The CoverGirl Classic, formerly known as the U.S. Classic, is the final qualifying event for the 2010 Championships, the U.S. National Championships for men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline and tumbling. Universal Sports will broadcast the 2010 Championships live on Thursday, August 12 and Friday, August 13 at 7 p.m. ET, while NBC Sports will show live coverage on Saturday, August 14 at 8 p.m. ET and taped coverage on Sunday, August 15 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Of course, having Alicia back gives me the excuse to post this video of her knocking out a guy at Brown University.

NBC Sports and USA have coverage of the Dew Action Sports Tour.

DEW TOUR CONTINUES THIS WEEKEND WITH NIKE 6.0 BMX OPEN, ON NBC & USA

NEW YORK – July 22, 2010 – The world’s top BMX freestylists will be decided this weekend during NBC Sports’ coverage of the Nike 6.0 BMX Open, the only BMX-specific event of the season from Soldier Field Festival Lot in Chicago. NBC Sports’ live coverage of BMX park airs Saturday and taped coverage of BMX vert airs Sunday, at 4-6 p.m. ET both days. USA Network will air late-night coverage of BMX park on Saturday, midnight-1 a.m. ET, and BMX vert on Sunday, 2-3 a.m. ET.

Athlete analysts Jamie Bestwick and Dave Mirra join host Todd Harris, analyst Todd Richards and correspondent Tiffany Simons from Chicago.

Over 190 of the best BMX athletes from 11 different countries will compete in Chicago in vert, park and dirt disciplines. Highlighting the vert roster includes five-time, undefeated Dew Cup champion Bestwick and Chad Kagy, who placed second in Chicago at last year’s BMX Open.

BMX legend Mirra took the BMX park win last year in Chicago. He will again look to repeat his win in the Windy City, but will have to contend with the likes of defending BMX Park Dew Cup Champion Garrett Reynolds, three-time Dew Cup champion Daniel Dhers and the youngest rider on the tour circuit, Brett Bansaniewicz.

Complete 2010 Dew Tour Schedule:

Aug. 12-15: Wendy’s Invitational – Portland, Ore. – Rose Quarter

Sept. 16-19: Toyota Challenge – Salt Lake City, Utah – Energy Solutions Arena

Oct. 14-17:  Dew Tour Championships – Las Vegas, Nev. – Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Versus begins coverage of the final 7 races of the IndyCar season on Sunday with the event in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Sunday.

VERSUS ROARS INTO HOME STRETCH OF INDYCAR SEASON WITH INCREASED RATINGS, TIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP RACE AND NEW RIVALRIES

Overall Points Leader Will Power Seeking His Third Consecutive 2010 Road Course Win When IndyCar Series Visits Edmonton July 25; Coverage Begins at 5 p.m. ET

NEW YORK, N.Y. (July 21, 2010)-VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the IndyCar Series, will air the final seven races of the 2010 season beginning on Sunday, July 25, with live coverage of the Indy Edmonton race. VERSUS’ HD coverage of the event will begin at 5 p.m. ET from the City Centre Airport and pre-race qualifying coverage will air on Saturday, July 24, at 6 p.m. ET.

VERSUS is heading into its second half of the season with tremendous momentum based on ratings and viewership growth over its inaugural year of coverage in 2009. The first five races of the 2010 season on VERSUS averaged a .5 HH rating and 428,000 viewers, which was up 25 percent and 24 percent, respectively, as compared to the first five races of 2009 (.4 HH and 345,000 viewers). Additionally, the network also recorded viewership increases for all key male demos over 2009: Men 18-34 (up 32%), Men 18-49 (up 8%) and Men 25-54 (up 26%).

The 2010 race in Edmonton marks the third consecutive year that IndyCar has held a race at the approximately 2-mile track. The course features 95 laps, including 14 turns, and totals a distance of nearly 190 miles. Scott Dixon was the first driver to win the race in 2008 and Will Power was victorious in 2009. While Power is looking to secure his second win on this course, and third straight street course win this year, he faces tough competition from Dario Franchitti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Justin Wilson-all have had strong showings on road courses during recent events.

The remaining seven races of the season will undoubtedly feature an intense and tight battle for the points title, with the second through fifth place drivers trailing Power by less than 100 points each: Dario Franchitti (-42), Scott Dixon (-78), Ryan Briscoe (-85) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (-91). In addition to the excitement surrounding the quest for the top position, wrecks during last week’s Honda Indy Toronto race are creating heated rivalries, both on and off the course, between Graham Rahal and Ryan Briscoe as well as Tomas Sheckter and Alex Tagliani.

VERSUS’ REMAINING INDY CAR SERIES SCHEDULE FOLLOWS (subject to change, all times ET):

July 25 – Indy Edmonton, 5:00 p.m.

August 8 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, 2:30 p.m.

August 22 – Infineon Raceway, 5:00 p.m.

August 28 – Chicagoland Speedway, 7:00 p.m.

Sept. 4 – Kentucky Speedway, 8:00 p.m.

Sept. 18 – Twin Ring Motegi, 11:00 p.m.

Oct. 2 – Homestead-Miami Speedway, 6:00 p.m.

Pre-race qualifying coverage airs the day prior to each live event, visit www.VERSUS.com for schedule.

That will do it. One more release coming.

A Late Monday Night Update

I’ll give you some links as I watch some Monday Night Football.

We start with Newsday’s Neil Best as he breaks some news on his first real day back from vacation (he did blog a little on Sunday night). Neil says the YES Network has apparently matched MSG Network’s offer to simulcast Mike Francesa’s WFAN radio show. Neil also says Francesa continues to fly solo on the ‘FAN.

Now some stories from the Sports Business Journal.

Daniel Kaplan writes that the NFL rolling over its $1 billion credit line into a loan comes at an interesting time in its labor deal.

And Daniel reports that the sports industry is watching as the Dallas Cowboys are seeking a $350 million loan.

John Ourand writes that NBC will use Sunday Night Football to kick off its second annual “Green Week”. You may remember last year when NBC dimmed the lights during its halftime show and how Bob Costas openly mocked the gimmick. They won’t do that this year.

The SBJ has an interview with International Baseball Federation president Harvey Schiller on the quest to get the sport reinstated for the 2016 Olympics.

Eric Fisher and Terry Lefton say the second World Baseball Classic is looking to charge higher ticket prices and in turn, bring in higher revenue.

Bill King has a story on how sports franchises are looking for ways to turn green.

Our final link to the SBJ comes from John Lombardo who says Madison Square Garden is looking to expand ticket sales and sponsorship opportunities for the arena’s three sports franchises.

Brian Gainor, guest-blogging for CNBC’s Darren Rovell, notes that the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard endorses McDonald’s, but was seen chowing down at a Wendy’s during the Olympics in Communist China.

Joe Favorito says Rosetta Stone could not get a better endorser than Olympic multi-gold medalist Michael Phelps.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union looks at this week’s college football TV schedule. And Pete has a look at next week’s college football TV schedule.

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer has the ACC football TV schedule for the next two weekends.

The Dallas Morning News’ Barry Horn looks at the ratings for last Saturday’s Texas Tech-Oklahoma State game.

The Sports Media Watch says college football on ABC and CBS scored on Saturday. The SMW also looks at the overnight ratings for the three NFL Sunday TV partners. And the SMW reports on NASCAR’s ratings just as the race was cut off with 34 laps to go.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun has comments from CBS’ and NBC’s NFL pregame shows.

The lovely Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says NBC’s Sunday Night Football did well in the 18-49 demographic.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says no matter how bad the Raiders and 49ers are, they’ll still have three primetime games a season, subjecting the nation to some bad football.

Christopher Byrne in his Eye on Sports Media blog feels that technology doesn’t always enhance a sports broadcast.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball has details of the Verizon Fios/MLB Network & Extra Innings deal.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel News says SNY will fire up the Mets Hot Stove every Thursday night.

Jeff Frisaro of MLB.com says Fox Sports Florida will re-air eight Marlins games on Wednesday nights starting November 26.

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times says Universalsports.com will simulcast Universal Sports TV coverage of the Paralympics this week.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track girls write that Olympics gymnast and Fang’s Bites fav Alicia Sacramone is looking to land a TV gig. It also gives me the opportunity to repost this video of Alicia knocking out a guy at Brown University.

Larry Dobrow of AdAge magazine says ESPN.com jumps into scripted fare with a web series starring Kenny Mayne.

Scott Bair of the North County Times writes that ESPN is cancelling next year’s Moto X World Championships due to the sagging economy.

Plenty of links for you as Monday night turns into Tuesday morning here on the East Coast. I’ll be back later on your Veterans Day.

Some More Tuesday Links

Before I focus on doing something else other than blogging, let me provide you with some more links.

From the Sports Business Journal, John Ourand has a very good article on the fallout from the SEC/ESPN deal from last week.

John Ourand teams up with Eric Fisher for a story on Major League Baseball looking to stream live games into local markets next season. Currently, you cannot watch your local team online even if you buy the MLB.TV package.

Then John co-writes another story, this one with Terry Lefton, on the NFL going into the wild frontier of live online streaming among some of its new deals for this season.

John Show of the SBJ says the LPGA may end up owning a fourth tournament on the tour.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the name of Mike Francesa’s show on WFAN.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has reader’s reaction to his story on the NCAA paying athletes for jersey sales.

The great Sox & Dawgs blog is moving and should be back up in a few days.

The Red Sox Monster’s Dan Lamonthe has video of the lovely silver medal winning gymnast Alicia Sacaramone visiting Fenway Park on Sunday.

ESPN Classic and NBA TV will simulcast the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this Friday nght.

Kent Bush of the Augusta (KS) Daily Gazette feels ESPN is exploiting a high school football game this Friday.

SportsbyBrooks is not a fan of the new “Dr. Lou” segment on ESPN.

That’s all for now.

A Tuesday Night Update

As NBC’s Olympic coverage is in a lull, I turn over to NESN and find the Red Sox and Texas embroiled in a 14-13 barnburner at Fenway Park. This is after the Red Sox put up 10 runs in the 1st inning and seemed to be cruising until the 5th inning when Texas scored 8 runs and now the Sox are hanging on for dear life in this game. I guess I’ll have to watch this until Michael Phelps comes on.

I’ll do some linkage in the interim.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth has found a way to get around NBC’s tape delayed Olympics coverage on the West Coast.

The Sports Media Watch links to a story which states that NBC is giving serious consideration to breaking its West Coast primetime embargo for one night only. And the SMW says the estimate of 1 billion people watching USA vs. China men’s basketball may be a bit overstated.

James Hibberd of the Hollywood Reporter writes that NBC is blowing away the competition with the Olympics.

Variety’s Rick Kissell says thanks to the Olympics, NBC is having one of its best weeks ratings-wise in a very long time.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says boosted by Michael Phelps, NBC is riding a gold medal ratings wave for the Olympics.

Newsday’s Neil Best blogs about a very funny incident at the Olympics involving the Aussies and the Brits. Neil previews the next YES “CenterStage” program which features an interview with Yankees Hall of Fame reliever Rich Gossage.

Heidi Dawley of Media Life Magazine says traffic to NBCOlympics.com is up 641% (!) from Athens.

TV Week’s Chris Pursell writes in his Pressbox blog that the men’s 4 x 100 meter relay won by the US in dramatic fashion is helping to steer traffic to NBC Olympics.com.

Andrew Smith of the Dallas Morning News blogs that NBC is even delaying webcasts of many events on NBCOlympics.com.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record gives praise to the Olympics boxing coverage on CNBC.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post talks with NBC Olympics equestrian analyst Melanie Smith-Taylor who’s calling the sport off a monitor in New York.

I am loving CNBC’s Darren Rovell’s blog dispatches from Beijing. They’re giving me a very nice taste of what’s going on in Communist China. Darren says the Speedo LZR swimsuit is going mainstream. Darren introduces us to Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic. We like her.

And Darren writes that the US men’s basketball is dominating, but did not cover the point spread.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says Baltimore remains on the top of the nation in Olympic ratings thanks to interest in native son Michael Phelps. Ray also blogs that for Saturday night only, the Orioles will be seen only on WJZ-TV while MASN carries the Ravens.

Brett Love of TV Squad isn’t spreading his love to the Olympics, but he’s still watching.

Mary McNamara of Multichannel News loves watching the Olympics in HD.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel writes that the ESPN family of networks will show all 32 games of the Little League World Series this month.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch has a funny look at what WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan would sound like in ten years.

It’s finally official, Jonathan “Coach” Coachman, formerly of the WWE, is now an ESPN SportsCenter anchor.

Lastly, since you’re most likely watching the Olympics and the women’s gymnastics team competition, here’s the video I put up earlier this year of Alicia Sacramone knocking out a guy at Brown University.

The Red Sox finally win 19-17. Unbelievable. Have a good night. See you tomorrow.