Tuesday’s Sports Media Notebook — 03/03/2015

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Back to do a sports media notebook for you. Let’s get to it.

NEWS

NASCAR beat reporter Jim Utter of the Charlotte Observer notes that Sunday’s Sprint Cup race in Atlanta did well for Fox and was up from last year’s second race which was held in Phoenix.

Sunday's rain-delayed #NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta got a 5.1 overnight rating – up 6 percent from second race last year (Phoenix)

— Jim Utter (@jim_utter) March 3, 2015

That along with increased viewership for the Daytona 500 the week before and Fox is off to a running start for the 2015 NASCAR season.

After being off for four days last week due to a suspension over some tweets to Penn State students, Keith Olbermann returned to his ESPN2 show on Monday vowing not to engage in what he called “batting practice” on Twitter. Good idea, Keith.

I had wondered why Olbermann bothered to engage with tweeps, but he seemed to enjoy it. That was until last week when he went overboard. Olbermann himself admits he went too far and I’m glad to see that he’s regrets what he did.

LINKAGE

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch calls for ESPN’s Dick Vitale to call one more Duke-North Carolina game. He’s not assigned to this Saturday’s game.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News notes that Turner Sports has launched a new NCAA March Madness YouTube channel just in time for the NCAA Tournament.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group says the PGA Tour has launched a new online video network aimed at millennials.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable writes that Premier Boxing Champions has signed another TV contract, this time with Bounce for a series that will premiere later this year.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine notes that NBC has won the February sweep for the second consecutive year and a big assist was from Super Bowl XLIX. Last year, NBC won thanks to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

At Grantland, Katie Baker chronicles how NFL Films is able to turnaround the Super Bowl DVD so quickly.

Jeff Haggar at Classic Sports TV links to a rare CBS Radio clip from Super Bowl I.

Over to Paulsen at Sports Media Watch who tells us that CBS scored with Alabama-Kentucky this weekend.

I wrote an article at Awful Announcing on the silliest cable disputes in sports.

Also from AA, Fearless Leader Matt Yoder notes that former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling laid the smackdown on a couple of trolls who tweeted at his daughter.

Christopher Clarey of the New York Times looks at the efforts of several sports to get noticed on TV.

Newsday’s Neil Best says NBC’s primetime NHL game on Saturday rated low across the nation.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog looks at the Wizards radio broadcast which is not your ordinary program.

The Houston Chronicle’s David Barron says Root Sports Southwest will air Houston Dynamo games this season.

In the Denver Post, Dusty Saunders writes that Nuggets ratings are way down this season.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog reviews the marathon coverage on NHL Trade Deadline Day.

Joe Favorito in Sports Marketing and PR Roundup gives his thoughts on this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

We have the rare mid-week games in the English Premier League. NBCSN will have fixures today and tomorrow. Here’s the schedule that also includes games on Extra Time.

ESPN has announced a record number of women’s college basketball tournament games during Championship Week between March 4 and March 15. Some 112 games will be aired and streamed on the networks and platforms of ESPN. We have the extensive schedule below.

2015 ESPN Network’s Champ Week Women’s Basketball Schedule (subject to change)

$ – Tape delay on ESPNU at 1 a.m. on Sunday, March 15
^ – Tape delay on ESPNU at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 15
* – Tape delay on ESPNU at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 15

And that wil close the notebook

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