With the NCAA Tournament having started in earnest, I’ll do my best to give you links now. Let’s get cracking.
Mike McCarthy of USA Today has ESPN’s Erin Andrews denying that she’s interested in being on ABC’s “The Bachelorette”. This whole thing started when Erin, appearing on KNBR in San Francisco, said she wanted to be on the show. However, Erin is now saying she was joking.
At SportsNewser, Marcus Vanderberg says this would not have become a story had Erin not put it out there.
David Ubben of ESPN.com says the Big 12/Fox deal could be richer than originally thought.
George Winslow at Broadcasting & Cable says Sports Illustrated is launching new mobile apps called “Front Row”. These should not be confused with ESPN’s new public relations blog also to be called, “Front Row“.
Keach Hagey of Politico notes that the Washington Times will be relaunching its sports section come this Monday.
Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News notes that March Madness has officially begun today.
Bill Cromwell of Media Life says the New York Times has finally set the date for putting up its dreaded paywall.
Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine gives media buyers what they need to know about March Madness.
Steve Smith of MediaPost looks at the new NCAA Vault unveiled this week that has archived NCAA Tournament games dating back to 1982.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus and Turner Sports president David Levy about their new 14 year partnership for the NCAA Tournament.
Darren feels ESPN should up the ante for its NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge.
Darren wonders if we’ve reached our Bracket limits.
Robert Andrews at paidContent says ESPN plans to unveil a new web-only post soccer match show for the UK as well as develop new apps for the iPad.
Andrew Brady of Connecticut Magazine notes that while ESPN is encouraging millions of people to participate in its Tournament Bracket Challenge, it doesn’t allow its own employees to fill out their own brackets for any office pools. Seriously.
Speaking of that dreaded New York Times paywall, publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. explains why the paywall is going up.
Until it goes up on March 28, we’ll try to link to as many Times articles as we can. Note that we can still have access to 20 stories a month, so I’ll do my best to keep our limit to that every month.
Bob Tedeschi of the Times says the March Madness on Demand mobile apps provide you with opportunities to watch the NCAA Tournament without a TV.
Richard Sandomir of the Times looks at NFL Network’s coverage of the lockout, but does not mention reporter extraordinaire Albert Breer who’s been keeping vigil at the negotiations and has been covering the story extremely well for the channel.
Newsday’s Neil Best explains why Monday’s Yankees-Red Sox game on ESPN2 was blacked out in New York despite YES not airing the game locally.
Amy Anderson at Manhattan Blockshopper notes that ESPN’s Rachel Nichols and her husband have bought a really nice townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner says the ESPN family of networks will be all over the NCAA Women’s Tournament starting on Saturday.
Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that people did manage to find truTV in time for the NCAA Tournament.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says the college basketball scene in the Windy City is a rather sorry state.
Ferd Lewis of the Honolulu Advertiser notes that ESPN’s new Hawaiian soccer event will have an international flavor to it.
Chris Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media has some thoughts on truTV’s coverage of the NCAA FIRST FOUR®.
Steve Lepore of Puck The Media looks at the local NHL on NBC ratings from last Sunday.
I’ll end it there for now. I might add a few more links here so check back while you can.
