Fang's Bites

The Thursday Linkage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Sports Website Geared Towards Kids To Launch In October

Received this press release and I’m glad to post it. It’s off the beaten path from the usual network fair, but as you know, I sometimes post releases from National Geographic Channel so this is not unusual. Received this in regards to a new sports entertainment website that will be geared towards children. It’ll be called “The Whistle” and some heavy hitters in sports have invested in the site including Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and former soccer star Mia Hamm. The whole idea is to get kids involved in sports at an early age and to give them original content through health and fitness videos, sports news and highlights and games.

We have the press release on this new venture.

The First Sports Media Destination for Kids – THE WHISTLE – Announces its October Launch

Platform slogan to be: “The Whistle – Building the next generation of sports fans”

Officials today formally announced the upcoming launch of The Whistle, the first cross-platform content provider focused exclusively on developing sports programming tailored to kids. The new venture, which is based in New York, is led by an experienced team of sports and entertainment industry veterans.

At the helm of the venture are Founder and Chairman John West, a serial entrepreneur; Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Urban, the former SVP of sports marketing for Gatorade; and Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Kit Laybourne, a former executive producer for Nickelodeon, MTV and Oxygen. The investor team includes Peyton Manning, Derek Jeter, Mia Hamm, Bob DuPuy, Geraldine Laybourne, Bob Pittman, and Mark Adams.

“Our mission is to provide kids with entertaining and instructional sports content integrated across both traditional and emerging distribution platforms,” says West. “We are creating a revolutionary media experience to assist kids in developing a lifelong bond with sports and fitness.”

“With the many challenges facing today’s youth, pro leagues and advertisers are seeking to align with companies that encourage kids to lead active lifestyles,” says Urban. “We’ve been pleased with the interest from the pro leagues and several leading advertisers, and we will be announcing these partnerships over the next several months.”

The Whistle’s website launches in October, 2011. The new online video destination, along with a suite of mobile applications to debut at a later date, is powered by NeuLion (TSX: NLN),  the true end-to-end technology service provider for delivering live and on-demand content to any Internet-enabled device. NeuLion has a dominant foothold in the digital sports market with premier sports services for the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Soccer (MLS).  Over the coming months, The Whistle will announce distribution agreements with cable, satellite, online video, web portal, mobile and gaming console partners.

“We are creating the next generation of sports content for kids by combining new interactive digital technologies with successful TV programming approaches,” says Kit Laybourne. “Production is underway on a range of programming, including sports news and highlights, health and fitness series, dramas, history and bios, game shows and more.”

About The Whistle
The Whistle is a cross-platform content provider representing the next generation of interactive sports content specifically designed for kids. Conceptualized by sports and entertainment industry veterans, The Whistle offers entertaining and inspiring sports content across TV, internet, mobile and gaming platforms, where this generation of “digital natives” lives. The Whistle is where kids go for sports and sports go for kids.

That will do it.