Fang's Bites

The Fifth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Time for another mailbag and let’s answer the sports media questions that have landed in the Fang’s Bites inbox over the last week or so. Thanks to all who sent e-mails and left comments. I’ll do my best to answer as best as I can. And don’t forget, I have two $50 Nike.com gift cards. If I can get one other piece of swag to give way, I’ll make an announcement. The recipients will be chosen at random and be e-mailed.

Disclaimer as to where the cards came from and what promotion they’re associated with:

• The Sprite Spark Parks Project is a multi-year commitment to build and restore play environments where teens, families and neighbors can get outside and be active. The big idea: play, be active, be inspired and have fun. The campaign began several weeks ago where people had the opportunity to nominate their courts and we now need your vote to determine which parks will get the funding. If you want one of those refurbished courts to be accessible for your child, all you have to do is head to The Sprite Facebook Page and VOTE!
• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company.  The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.
• Entrants must be located in the US or Canada only.

Now to your questions:

What does (Dick Ebersol’s resignation) mean for NBC’s production of the 2012 Olympics? Is it likely to be different, with less tape delay and non-live events? And what does this mean for NBC’s long term Olympic prospects? Does this basically hand the rights to ESPN? – Shep H.

Hi Shep. Ebersol’s resignation won’t mean much change for NBC next year. With London five hours ahead of New York, primetime will still mean tape delays. It’ll also mean continued holding of glamor events (gymnastics, swimming, track & field) for evening viewing. While Ebersol’s resignation hurts NBC, many of his disciples are still working there and if it wins the bid for 2014/16, expect many of his old producers and directors to remain. While the bid became more wide open, NBCUniversal still is the favorite. This does not mean ESPN automatically gets the rights.

If you’re an executive at an ABC affiliate, would you be disappointed that ESPN won’t allow you to carry one game of the Western Conference Finals (most notably Game 3 on Saturday night in which ABC has to show “Spider-Man 3″ instead) and would you be even more disappointed if the Los Angeles Lakers were in the Western Finals instead of the Dallas Mavericks? – Jimmy D.

Thanks, Jimmy. Yes, this is a bone of contention among ABC affiliates losing sports. Over the years, ABC has lost Monday Night Football, NASCAR, the Open Championship, the Rose Bowl and college basketball. I know ESPN has the philosophy that the difference between cable and broadcast is close to nil, but you do have a broadcast network that is used to carrying sports programming. If I’m an ABC affiliate general manager, I would be very angry about losing NBA Conference Final programming and bring this up at the next affiliates meeting. But with ESPN being a cash cow for Disney, there’s not much the local stations can do. I would not be surprised to see ABC lose even more sports programming down the line.

I love your blog and read it every day!  Here is my question—How do you think the current NFL Lockout and the looming NBA lockout will affect how the networks cover sports?

Obviously CBS, NBA and FOX use the NFL to promote other prime time programs and they are on the hook for the rights fees unless there is a court decision that forces the NFL to return the money. – Benjamin G.

Appreciate the kind words, Benjamin. If the NFL lockout extends to the fall, CBS, NBC and Fox will have huge holes to fill on Sundays. ESPN is in a better position as it can slot college football games into Sunday and possibly even Mondays. NBC says it will put game shows in Sunday Night Football’s slot for the first couple of weeks. CBS and Fox have not announced what they will do. All of the networks continue to sell ads.

As far as the NBA is concerned, TNT can plug in dramas on Thursdays and ESPN can plug college basketball or poker into the lost NBA slots. And yes, the networks are on the hook for the rights fees. They’ve already paid the NFL. Not sure about the NBA.

Hey Ken I just want to know with this new espn book out will those so called journalist’s actually take responsibility for the actions they do like in the real news world? I find it hard to believe that in todays world those guys are not punished for their irresponsible journalism. – Ari

I’m not sure what example of irresponsible journalism you’re talking about. If you’re talking about the sexual activities, those who have been caught have either been fired or suspended. I really can’t speak about anything else because I need a better example of what you’re talking about.

What do you think was behind Gus Johnson’s departure from CBS? His ego? The ego of other CBS announcers who were jealous of the attention that he received? Or was it just plain money? – Jeff H.

Thanks, Jeff. I think Gus knew that he wasn’t going to supplant Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Ian Eagle and Kevin Harlan at CBS. He got a very good offer to be the number one guy calling college football and basketball at Fox plus more money. It’s tough to leave the network that made you, but there’s always a chance that Gus could return to CBS down the line. That story about people at CBS being jealous was probably planted by Gus’ people. I find it hard to believe that Jim Nantz or anyone at CBS was jealous of Gus, but you never know.

Do you see the new NBC Sports Group trying to nab the cable TV rights to either Wimbledon or the French Open to air on Versus (and hopefully not take away anything from Tennis Channel) to complement their NBC network coverage? I can see NBC going after, say, Wimbledon on cable (Versus taking over for ESPN2) and unifying the daytime coverage with NBC network, where they can do a reverse mirror sort of thing between NBC and Versus to show one single live feed that bounces between NBC and Versus differently in each timezone (ex: 10am to 1pm local time is the NBC window, so at 10am ET, Eastern Time viewers are told to switch from NBC to Versus for the next 3 hours and then come back, 1 hour later the Central Time viewers do the same, and so on, with Versus airing some alternate program during the NBC blackout, and viewers essentially not missing any important live action but still having to watch on NBC). – Jason B.

Hi Jason. With Wimbledon, the U.S. and Australian Opens locked into long-term deals over the last few years, the first Grand Slam that would be up for bid would be the French Open, however, that  deal with Tennis Channel could last until 2016. Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australia are locked solidly with ESPN2 for quite some time. I’m not a fan of NBC’s tennis coverage live or delayed so I’m not sure if I want to see a combined NBC Sports Group effort on the French or Wimbledon.

Hey, love the blog, but on to my question. With the NBC Sports Group losing out on the PAC-12 to Fox/ESPN, what other deals are up soon that they can go gung-ho for? I know MLB isn’t up for another two years, same with the Big East, but they’d likely remain on ESPN, as all the group really has is sublicensed Mountain West games and the NHL, which is great, but not big time like the PAC-12 is. Also, one other question, I love Gus Johnson and his style, I think it’ll fit well at Fox, do you think it was a good move for that? Then, who will CBS get to fill Gus’s slot in both the NFL and March Madness? Thanks again for the info! – P.J.

Other than the Olympics, which properties (MLB, MLS, conference USA, etc.) are up up for bidding in the next 2 years and which have a chance to turn hands? – Chaz B.

Since Chaz and P.J. have similar questions, I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

As far as college, the Big East are up, but they aren’t up until 2013. ESPN wants to renew the rights, but the Big East seeing how the Pac-12 did, is being smart and will probably allow for open bidding.

2013 – 2015 is what I call Sports Rights Armageddon as MLB, NASCAR, NBA and NFL being a cycle of possible upheaval. MLB will go first as negotiations start next year. ESPN will probably want to get the MLB postseason back after losing the games to TBS. I think Fox will want to get into the NBA game and who knows what will happen with the NFL?

P.J. as far as who will take Gus Johnson’s place, Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News reported Marv Albert is a candidate and I wouldn’t mind that at all. Ian Eagle or Kevin Harlan would be good choices for promotion for the NCAA Tournament.

For regionally distributed games like the MLB on FOX , do local affiliates that do not have local ties to a game, like KTTV in L.A. this weekend, do the affiliates get to chose what game they show or does FOX select the game for them? – Ben F.

Ben, in some cases, it falls under the MLB territorial rules which are just too tedious to explain. If a region like Las Vegas falls under a team’s territory (and claimed by five teams, by the way), then it could get the Dodgers, Angels, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres depending on which team is on Fox. In Connecticut, the Fox station usually chooses the Yankees over the Red Sox if both teams are playing games on the network, despite the fact that most of the Constitution State has been deemed Red Sox territory. I hope that answers your question. I hate MLB territorial rules and so does Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball.

Hi, Ken!

I appreciate all the hard work you do on maintaining your blog. It’s a valuable took for me to keep up in what’s going on or coming up in my industry.

I did notice that the majority of information and news you provide focus on personalities and ratings. Do you plan on or know of someone who plans on doing more features or profiles on behind the camera personnel like producers, directors and/or technical staff? I’m always interested in what a motivates a producer or director to do the type of show they create and how they got to their status in the business. – Andre’

You might want to check out Sports Video Group which has a mixture of ratings, technical and other articles that might be of interest to you. Unfortunately, the mainstream media usually focuses on sports personalities with a few behind-the-scenes articles thrown in.

With the advent of watching  sports on HD Television’s and mobile media devices  with Sport season subscriptions that are almost cheaper than attending a single game  how our  teams adapting  to less and less fans at the stadium?  Also what are they telling their advertisers? – Robert D.

Good question, Robert. Stadiums knowing that fans can watch the Red Zone Channel on DirecTV or NFL Red Zone on cable are now trying to enhance the gameday experience. They’re adding TV’s to selected seats, all you can eat promotions and wifi. They’re doing everything except for discounting ticket prices, although some MLB teams are doing that now. I think you’ll see more teams adding to the gameday experience to attract fans, but to be honest, it’s all about winning. Put a winning team on the field, people will come. Produce like the Pittsburgh Pirates and it doesn’t matter how many features you offer.

With the end of the Premier League Season what did you think of the coverage of the Premier League and other leagues around Europe this season by Fox, ESPN, GOL TV?  What do you think that Fox and ESPN could do better to add to the coverage next season?   Who is your Premier League Announcer of the Year?   What would you credit more to the growth of the game here in the States from where it was 15 years ago to now between TV coverage by Fox, ESPN, and GOL TV where you can watch 50 or so games a week with digital cable or the growth of the Internet where a fan interested in soccer could finally go to get results and opinions that were previously next to impossible to get before the internet.

Thanks for all of you hard work it’s really appreciated! – CFTV

Thanks for the kind words, CFTV. Both Fox Soccer Channel and ESPN2 have improved their presentation of the English Premier League by leaps and bounds. I like how ESPN2 no longer uses the world feed and has Ian Darke and Steven McManaman for EPL games. Fox Soccer Channel now has to step up its game and should no longer use the world feed announcers. Martin Tyler is perfect for EPL games and does a great job. But I like Ian Darke and his colorful descriptions.

I’d like to see Bob Ley involved in EPL studio shows seeing how much he loves the game.

I like how Fox Soccer Channel is using the NFL on Fox studio for EPL and Champions League, but the look of the games still has a long way to go.

Any news on if there is going to be any other telecast outlets for the Canadian Football League in the US ? While its nice to have the one game on NFLN for part of the season, three other games are not available over the air all season long at this time in the US as far as I am aware, and none at all once the NFL preseason starts and even into September. The old arrangement of having the regional sports net providing an outlet was okay, but what about Versus ? They have lots of available time slots throughout the CFL season,and would be perfect. With the NFL likely not playing until perhaps October or November we really could use all CFL games being telecast nationally across the US this summer and autumn, as well as in future years and seasons. – MaytheHorseBeWithYou

It appears the NFL Network will carry CFL games once again, but not any of the playoff games, unless there’s a lockout, of course.

What is the latest on the United States Football League (USFL) starting play in February 2012 ? Not much can be found about this anywhere, so I assume at this point it is a no-go. I wonder if the NFL lockout carries into September and beyond, will the USFL starting be a possibility; or is the window for getting things going 9 months from now closed ? I suspect a 2013 start is more possible, but still not probable. – Lefty

Hi Lefty. Your guess is as good as mine.

That’s it. Thanks for your questions. I will contact the winners of the gift cards by e-mail.

Time For Another Mailbag; And I Have Swag!

Ok, let’s do another mailbag. I’ll take your sports media questions via e-mail at kzf1@fangsbites.com. I’ve already received some good questions and I’d like to get some more so I can get a good sampling. What I have for you is a couple of $50 Nike.com gift cards where you can buy sports apparel for a friend, a loved one or even yourself. And I’m working on getting a book about a certain four letter sports network. So three people selected at random would get prizes. I would put each sender’s name on a piece of paper, put them into a hat and draw three winners. Once selected, I will contact the winners by e-mail to get your name and address and have the gift cards or the book sent to you.

So I’ll take your sports media questions and answer them as best as I can. Here’s where I have to post a disclaimer on the gift cards as they come courtesy of the Sprite Spark Parks Project. Bear with me.

• The Sprite Spark Parks Project is a multi-year commitment to build and restore play environments where teens, families and neighbors can get outside and be active. The big idea: play, be active, be inspired and have fun. The campaign began several weeks ago where people had the opportunity to nominate their courts and we now need your vote to determine which parks will get the funding. If you want one of those refurbished courts to be accessible for your child, all you have to do is head to The Sprite Facebook Page and VOTE!
• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company.  The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.
• Entrants must be located in the US or Canada only.

No disclaimer for the book. I hope to get an extra copy and if I’m able to get one, I will make it part of the giveaway. Again, send your sports media questions to kzf1@fangsbites.com and I hope to get everything up by this weekend or early next week.

The Fourth Fang’s Bites Mailbag

It’s been quite a while since the last mailbag, October of last year to be precise and I’ve been meaning to do one. Let’s do one now since we have a few questions stockpiled. Thanks to you for sending questions and if you want to have one answered for the next mailbag later in the spring, send it to me at kzf1@fangsbites.com.

Hi Ken,

I want to know what you think of Kirk Herbstreit having to move his family from Columbus, Ohio to Nashville to get away from sicky Buckeye fans who don’t appreciate him speaking negatively on their team.

Link below:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/11/rumblings-3-11-art-gl0bu32m-1.html

Jimmy D.

Hi Jimmy,

That was very sad. That Kirk Herbstreit felt the need to move from his home to Columbus to escape the wrath of some crazy Ohio State fans who did not understand that he can’t lean one way or the other on ESPN/ABC is quite sad. Yes, he’s paid to give his opinions, but they have to be down the middle. Kirk is an Ohio State grad, but the fact that he didn’t “love” them on College GameDay or during college football games wasn’t enough for some Buckeyes fans who don’t understand. It’s too bad that he has to move away from the area where he grew up for the sake of his wife and children.

With the success of the NCAA across multiple-media platforms. Do you see other sports going the same way with live broadcasts across a variety of networks, websites, and portable visual displays? thank you.

Dr. Jeff

Thanks, Dr. Jeff. I do. The success of the NCAA Tournament on March Madness on Demand shows how an online platform should be run. All of the games were available to watch in conjunction with the live broadcasts. Unfortunately, MLB NBA, NFL and the NHL have not put their postseason online and if they do, will probably charge a fee. I would like to see a portion of their playoffs be put online and for free as the NCAA has done with the men’s basketball tournament. I believe the interest in the tournament has increased this year thanks to access to the multiple platforms both online and on TV.

How do you think the ratio of online to televised coverage will change as the tourney advances round by round?

Russell S.

Thanks, Russell. Well, as the tournament advanced round-by-round, there’s no doubt that the number of online views went down, after a stunning first day of visits to the digital platforms. Turner Sports says the first three rounds also saw record numbers as people wanted to see all of the games.

We did see increased TV ratings for the Sweet Sixteen, but they were even for Saturday’s Elite 8 games. I would think online viewing went down by at least 30% from the week before. I hope to get the online viewing numbers sometime today or tomorrow.

Peter W.

Much appreciated, Peter. The NHL definitely has more suitors than the last TV negotiation when Versus and NBC pretty much had the table to themselves. Yes, Fox would be interested and could place the games on FX to ensure a national platform for the NHL. ESPN says it’s interested, but I really don’t know how much. To me, ESPN has decided to lie in bed with the NBA and I have a feeling it will show tepid interest in bidding for the NHL. CBS/Turner has a commitment to March Madness, so I don’t know how serious this interest is, but with more bidders at the table, this will drive the rights fee up and that’s encouraging to the NHL. I still think NBC and Versus will remain the main rightsholders. I now think that a second cable partner will be signed, but I don’t think it will be ESPN.

Worst national sports network package announcer combos, in your opinion?

Chris K.

That’s a tough one, Chris, but I’ll go with MLB on Fox. Joe Buck, Tim McCarver, Chris Rose, Eric Karros, sometimes Thom Brennaman, sometimes Josh Lewin, not the best lineup in my opinion.

Each of the major pro sports leagues in US/Canada now has a channel devoted to covering that league (i.e. MLB Network, NHL Network, etc.), as well as some of the major individual sports (i.e. Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, etc.). Some are affiliated with one of the league’s broadcast partners (like NBATV is now run by Turner Sports where TNT is a TV partner of the league and Golf Channel is now part of the NBC family where NBC is one of the many TV partners) while others are independent (like Tennis Channel is independent and MLB Network isn’t directly affiliated with any of MLB’s TV partners).  So my question is this…

• Is it better for the league, viewers, ratings, content, etc. for the league/sport TV channel to be completely independent, or is it better in some or all of those areas to for it to be affiliated?  Like are viewers of the Golf Channel better off now that it’s part of the NBC Sports Group? And would the NHL Network be better in the U.S. if it were affiliated with NBC/Versus or in Canada if it weren’t part of the TSN family?

Do you see ESPN creating a College Football Bowl game to be named after themselves (i.e. the “ESPN Bowl”)?

Programming sports in a vacuum, which broadcast or cable network do you trust broadcasting (as the best to present a broadcast to be watched) each of the major sports, given their current resources, history, production values, and ability to bring in the right on-air talent?

DyHrdMet

Quite a few questions from regular reader, DyHrd. All good ones too. Let’s tackle the first one.

I don’t have a problem with the league-owned networks. Both MLB and NFL Networks have shown they can cover a story and not get shackled by being a league mouthpiece. NBA and NHL Networks are highlight factories and there’s nothing wrong with that either. There’s no one particular formula for these networks. Yes, Turner is now running NBA TV and it’s 100 times better than when it was run by the league itself. NHL Network continues to be run by TSN in Canada and while the production values have improved, there’s still room for improvement. MLB and NBA are the best-run and they have people who have led network sports divisions running the channels. I think each of the four networks have merit, but whether they’re affiliated with NBC, ESPN, CBS doesn’t matter. It’s all part of how the league wants to be presented.

Second, I think ESPN sells bowls based on sponsorship and ad revenue. If it named a bowl ESPN, there won’t be much money to make from sponsoring it itself. For example, The Capital One Bowl not only gets bowl sponsorship, but ESPN can also sell ads to Capital One. It’s a win-win for both parties. While ESPN executives may joke privately about naming a bowl after itself, I don’t think it’s gotten to the activation stage.

And last, the sports network I trust the most. It’s easy for many to say ESPN because of its inventory, but not so for me. I like CBS because of their history with college basketball, NFL and the PGA. I know what I’m going to get. In addition, Jim Nantz is a good fit on all three. Gus Johnson has become popular thanks to his NFL and NCAA calls. And CBS has a very good bench. After that, I like NBC’s coverage of the NFL due to the signing of the old Monday Night Football crew from ESPN/ABC. ESPN as far as MLB and college sports are concerned are very solid and there’s a good track record. And I also like Turner’s coverage as well.

And there you have it, our mailbag for March. I hope to do another mailbag either in April or May. Thanks for sending the questions.

Letters! We’ve Got Letters! Mailbag Time

I think it’s time for another mailbag. Don’t have swag for this one yet, I’m working on that. But send your questions to kzf1@fangsbites.com, or you can leave one at the Fang’s Bites Facebook page. No particular theme. You can ask anything on sports media, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Each mailbag has gone well and I hope to get more questions this time around. So get creative and ask away. I hope to get enough questions and post the mailbag by this weekend.

The Third Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Ok, time to answer your questions for the Fang’s Bites mailbag. You have come with great questions and I would like to thank you for taking the time for some nice thought out questions. I have great readers. As I mentioned previously, five people at random will be receiving swag from My Coke Rewards. The prizes are listed in the post that is linked in the last sentence. I’d like to thank My Coke Rewards and again I give this disclaimer.

The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.

Ok, we have that out of the way. Let’s answer the questions.

Who, in your opinion, is going to get the rights to the 2014 and 2016 Olympics? Do you think NBC will keep the rights, or will CBS/Turner, Fox, or ESPN nab them up?

Taylor W.

That is the $1,000,000 or actually in the Olympics case, the $1,000,000,000 question. There has been upheaval in the Olympic TV bidding process for 2014/2016. Long time Olympics broadcast partner, the European Broadcasting Union, which was responsible for distributing the Olympics to public broadcasters all over Europe, had its bid rejected by the International Olympic Committee in 2008. That affects a lot of long-time partners including the BBC in the UK.

As a result, Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcast entities have won bids in Hungary and Italy.

What does this mean for the United States? Well, it means a wide-open bidding process for the first time in a long time. I expect ESPN to present a very strong bid based on its performance at this year’s World Cup in South Africa. This proved that ESPN can produce an international event with respect and not go over the top.

Fox has not broadcast an international event until this year when it aired the UEFA Champions League final and it did ok.

CBS/Turner has experience from the 1990′s when it did a very respectable job broadcasting three Winter Olympics (1992, 1994 and 1998). However, since Sean McManus took over as President of CBS Sports, his focus has mostly been on sports at home. CBS did not submit a serious bid for 2010/2012.

The incumbent, NBC, has a lot of capital with the International Olympic Committee. Its parent company, General Electric has been an Olympic sponsor. The IOC has stated it likes the way NBC and in particular, Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol, has treated the Games.

While I may not like the way NBC has produced the Olympics from 1992 until now, I fear if ESPN gets it, we’ll see Chris Berman and Stuart Scott bloviating throughout the 17 days of competition. With Comcast coming in, I expect the company to make a solid bid and make it so NBC doesn’t lose the Olympics. This is a very wordy way of saying NBC should keep the 2014/16 Games in its stable.

Thanks for the questions. I’ll tackle one at a time.

1. I’m sure ESPN is aware of the complaints of the Bottom Line, but the network feels it’s providing a service to viewers. The Bottom Line has been a staple on ESPN2 and for other networks for over 10 years now. I don’t expect it go away anytime soon.
2. As far as leagues putting pressure, sure. The NBA wants the networks to present their game in the way David Stern wants. All leagues want their TV partners to deliver their message and product in a positive way. The last thing the leagues want is negative stories. 
3. I know that MLB.TV and NBA Gametime are featured on Roku which allows you to receive games over your high speed internet connection onto your HD TV. You’ll see more content from the sports leagues on other non-traditional platforms as they look for ways to generate revenue.
4. I’m not the person to look at ratings trends, Sports Media Watch is very good for that. ESPN continues to carry baseball as it has the postseason on Radio and can promote it on SportsCenter. ESPN also has the MLB International contract overseas. It’s very financially viable for ESPN to continue carrying baseball although it looks like it’s treated like an afterthought the last few seasons. 

I do DyHrd. I see this coming in the next year or so. With SportsCenter on ESPNews from 3-6 p.m. and again at night, I see the rebranding of this channel as an inevitability. Maybe there will be ESPNews from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and again at 6 p.m., but SportsCenter will most likely take over the rest of the day. I believe this will be a way to keep punching up the channel as the ratings have fallen since ESPNews began.

And an aside, I tried watching ESPNews’ “The Beat” which runs twice in the 6 p.m. hour. Horrible. Awful. Terrible. What is that?

Now a couple of questions regarding the New England area.

I believe that WEEI is still in for the long haul, although losing Jessica Camerato and Joe Haggerty to Comcast SportsNet were very huge losses for the website. However, there’s still a very good stable at WEEI.com. I know WEEI’s owner, Entercom, is still committed to the website and will continue to maintain it. WEEI.com has very good writers. However, with so many sites in the area including Boston.com, WEEI.com, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, one of those sites will go dark. I don’t think it’ll be Boston.com or CSNNE. ESPN has been disappointed in the growth of its local websites, but it’s in for the long haul. But I can see a scenario where one site will go by the wayside after its owner feels it’s not getting enough revenue.

As far as NESN and WEEI simulcasting, I don’t see it happening. NESN appears to be going away from sports and trying to go into mainstream programming. Why, I’m not sure.

What Boston sports radio station will add a female full-time host first – WEEI or 98.5 the Sports Hub? Or is this so many light years away, it’s tough to call?


WEEI tried having a female anchor (Kristine Leahy) their foray into video, but that was eventually canned. I hoped that with 98.5 looking to make a splash when they were established, they would take the jump, but they haven’t yet either. With two of the most respected sports journalists in this town (Jackie McMullan and Amalie Benjamin) being female, you would think one of them may take the jump (especially McMullan, but her ESPN role may prevent that.)


Thanks!


-Kat

Thanks, Kat. WEEI did have a female co-host, Janet Prensky, working with Glenn Ordway in the early days of the sports radio format. After she was fired, it’s been an all-male lineup. There’s been Jamie Parker who’s done sports updates, but she’s not full-time. WEEI enjoys catering to male listeners and I don’t see the station hiring a female host in the foreseeable future.

98.5 The Sports Hub is another story. With the station being run out of New York, I can see the CBS Radio bosses hire a woman. At its stations in Baltimore and New York, Anita Marks was used as both a full-time host and fill-in. I don’t see her going to Boston, but perhaps there’s someone CBS can bring in. It’s a long shot, but more likely at The Sports Hub than WEEI.

I would like to know if you see what upcoming TV rights are coming up for renewal like the NHL, US Open tennis, PGA golf, etc….and your thoughts if ESPN/ABC might make a serious run for any of these TV rights?  I think that any of these sports would be a great addition to ESPN and could even have some of it on ABC.  ABC is in desperate need of additional sports programming and any of these sports would help.

Richard F
I keep hearing that ESPN is interested in the NHL, but I don’t see the evidence. Plus, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman appears to be happy with Versus. With Comcast buying NBC, expect the NHL to remain with a newly combined NBC/Versus.

For the US Open, CBS is expected to continue carrying the tournament which includes the semifinals and finals, but for a reduced cost. Expect an announcement soon, but if talks break down, I’m sure ESPN would love to swoop it up for ESPN2.

For the PGA Tour, I would expect NBC/Golf Channel, again part of a combined Comcast/NBC, to get a majority of tournaments with Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller getting an increased workload. I don’t expect ESPN to get involved in the PGA Tour rights.

The real interesting period for sports rights will be in 2013-14 when MLB, NASCAR, NFL and the NBA all go up for bid. I call this Sports Rights Armageddon. ESPN is involved in each of these sports. There will be upheaval and some incumbents may be shocked to find themselves on the outside looking in.

For college football, it’s a case of too much inventory. CBS is doing well with its SEC package and with its right of first refusal, it will continue to be on top. ABC is the victim of some bad decisions by ESPN. Notre Dame-Boston College in primetime in the East while putting Stanford-Oregon on ESPN2 in standard definition? Come on! And Oregon State-Boise State wasn’t as attractive as network executives thought. If ESPN wants to make the ABC primetime game a showcase, it would behoove them not to have games on ESPN and ESPN2 opposite.

Which of ESPN’s college football announcers deserve a bigger stage/game than they currently have (promotion?) & vice versa, which should be demoted?


Tim C.

Good question, Tim. I hate to demote, but one already happened this season and that was Pam Ward going from the ESPN2 noon ET game to the ESPNU game. I’m not a fan of Pam Ward and she can no longer do damage on a showcase game. I would like to see Brad Nessler be bumped up to the ABC primetime game. He did the Notre Dame-Michigan State game for ABC and did a fantastic job. I thought when Keith Jackson retired, Brad was going to be the guy, but ESPN opted for Brent Musburger. When Brent retires, I would like to see Brad and his partner, Todd Blackledge become the ABC primetime team.


Here’s one I want to ask reporters: How would you rather receive news tips: text, email, phone call or other?


Question 2: How do media balance the public’s desire to know more about what’s going on off the field than the game itself?


Gail S.

Thanks, Gail. For myself, I prefer texts or e-mail. I’ve seen many “insiders” get texts via Blackberry and their iPhones. Speaking for myself, if I’m working as a reporter, I would prefer receiving texts.

The second question is very open ended. Blogs and TMZ have definitely had an influence on the decision to cover off the field issues. When editors and news directors see the readership for the blogs and gossip sites, they feel they have to cover the story. The interesting issue was the Jerry Jones story earlier this year when someone secretly taped the Dallas Cowboys owner without his knowledge and gave the tape to Deadspin. Dallas TV stations ran it, but not without reservation.

With more sites reporting on what used to be private matters, you’ll see more stories in the mainstream media for fear of being left behind. I think the MSM misreads trends and blogs thinking readership for Deadspin and TMZ thinking that’s what the public wants.

And with that, we’re done. Thanks for the questions. We’ll do our next mailbag in November. I’ll be contacting five people at random on the swag from My Coke Rewards.

Time For Another Mailbag and Fang’s Bites Has Gone Mobile!

• Rolling (foldable) Cooler (1 per pack)
• Long Sleeve T-shirts (1 per gift pack) 
• Cinch Totes (1 per gift pack)  
• Stadium Cushions (1 per gift pack)  
• Cups (1 per gift pack)
• Nerf like footballs- (2 per gift pack)
• 100 points for redemption on MyCokeRewards.com

• The prize was provided by The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is not a sponsor, administrator or connected in any other way with this sweepstakes.

So five questioners at random will receive the prizes. I will contact the winners via e-mail. If you’re not interested, let me know. 

This mailbag will involve the MLB Postseason, college football and the NFL. If you have questions regarding other subjects (Olympics, tennis, rights fees, cable disputes), feel free. I hope to have enough questions to answer by mid-week.

In addition, Fang’s Bites is now going mobile. Thanks to Notice Software, there’s already a Fang’s Bites Android app. My blog feeds as well as my Twitter timeline is available on the app. My suggestion is that you turn off the push notifications so you don’t get a notice every time I make a Tweet. The app is free so you can download it and stay updated on the latest links, breaking news and press releases from the networks. 

Apps are also being developed for the iPhone and BlackBerry. When they are released, I will definitely let you know, but Android users, you can download the app right now. Let me know how it’s working for you and what else you would like to see in the app.

I’ll be back later with Football Night in America quotage, an inside look at tonight’s Mad Men episode plus a sneak peek at next week’s episode, an Amazing Race 17, Episode 1 recap and anything else that breaks. Sunday has become a busy day on Fang’s Bites. Who says the weekend is for resting?

The Second Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Ok, let’s answer some questions that have come into the Fang’s Bites inbox over the last week or so. I will do another mailbag in October during MLB postseason and as college football and the NFL are in high gear so you can mark your calendars for that. And unfortunately, the swag did not come through for this mailbag. Hopefully I can procure some for the next one.

Here goes.

One of my regular commentors, DyHrd who always has insightful thoughts. Well DyHrd, your question gave me food for thought and did inspire me to write my post for Dan Levy’s Press Coverage on the aging of our play-by-play announcers. As I stated in the Press Coverage post, Spero Dedes is being nurtured by CBS to eventually take a starring role. I think he’ll be moving up the ranks. He’s quite good on basketball. I haven’t heard him call football yet, but he will this season for the NFL.

I also like Dan Hoard who calls the Pawtucket Red Sox on radio in Rhode Island and also does the Cincinnati Bengals preseason games on TV as well as the Cincinnati Bearcats football and basketball teams. I think he deserves a national shot.

Let’s go to one more from DyHrd.

Wow. Interesting question. I’ve been partial to CBS’ packages from the Terry O’Neil redesign in 1981 up until now. I liked ABC Sports (when they were ABC Sports) graphics during the 1988 Winter Olympics. And NBC’s fonts in the early 1980′s were pretty good. I wish I had some examples for you.

Hmmm. Now? Ok, I’ll list them this way top to bottom.

Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth – NBC
Jim Nantz and Phil Simms – CBS
Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa – Fox
Dave Sims and James Lofton – Westwood One Radio
Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan – Fox

How’s that?

A quick question for you: I was watching the CBS College Football Preview Show and a promo for the “NFL ON CBS” came on. At the end of the promo, I hear what appears to be three or four seconds of not the rap theme (which they have been using for way too long) but an altered version of the Frankie Vinci theme. Has CBS dropped the rap theme for this season?

Matt K.  
Ottawa, Ontario

No problem. I did not see the College Football Preview so I didn’t hear the music. I’m not sure what CBS is planning for its music for the NFL season. Usually, they change every time a new TV contract comes into place. The current CBS theme which is not my favorite at all has had a bit of a rap to it, but we’ll see what they use in Week 1.

With the NFL extending its TV deals with existing partners, I read this spring that ESPN will gain more digital rights. Does that mean Monday Night Football will be streamed on ESPN3.com? Will NBC continue to stream Sunday night games?

Ken Barnes
Little Rock, Arkansas

You have a good memory, Ken. Yes, John Ourand, Terry Lefton and Daniel Kaplan wrote the story in Sports Business Journal back in March. I have an e-mail into ESPN on this and I hope to get an answer. If I do, look for an update in this post. ESPN appears to have streaming rights for Monday Night Football, but it’s not known where it will post the live video, whether it will be ESPN3.com, NFL.com or the main ESPN.com site.

As for Sunday Night Football, it appears that will be streamed once again this season at NBCSports.com and NFL.com.

Hi Charles. It appears that Time Warner and NFL Network will enter another season on the outs. While Time Warner Cable is about to hash out a new deal with Disney keeping ESPN on its systems, NFL Network remains on the outside looking in. NFL Network has hashed out deals with Suddenlink, the National Cable Television Cooperative, Cable One and Cox Communications this summer, however, it has yet to make a deal with two huge holdouts, Cablevision and Time Warner/Bright House. It’s very silly that this dispute has lasted this long. But Time Warner is a very stubborn company refusing to pick not only NFL Network, but MASN in North Carolina. I think you’re out of luck again this season. My sympathies to you.

I was and still am a loyal ABC Sports fan. I was really disappointed when ESPN took over ABC Sports several years ago. I sometime believe that ESPN can’t handle all of the sports they cover.  For example, when the Arena Football League television contract moved to ESPN from NBC, the AFL folded after 1 season on ESPN.  A couple of weeks ago, the AVP had to discontinue operations due to financial problems. This happened after they moved their television coverage to ESPN earlier this year. Coincidence? ESPN did very little promotion of these sports along with other sports that they cover. These days, it seems that SportsCenter is just a promotion for the NFL, MLB, college football & basketball, and nothing else.

Ok, first things first. I wrote two years ago that ESPN was trying to hoard events for itself and it was a thought that was scoffed at back then, but as we see now, this is coming to fruition.

This includes college basketball although the SEC Championship is on ABC in March. ESPN has the philosophy that with the digital conversion, cable is now on a level playing field with the over the air networks and can keep events instead of buying time on ABC, which basically what the ESPN on ABC productions are, glorified time buys. ESPN sells the ads and it buys the time on ABC.

By keeping events on cable, instead of shelling out money, it keeps the ad revenue while also taking money from the cable companies, thus the dual revenue streams that CBS, Fox and NBC were complaining over the last few years.

In a perfect world, yes, ABC would get more events. The local affiliates have complained that their sports inventory has dwindled almost to nothing and it’s legitimate. This was a huge complaint by the ABC affiliates during network meetings in the spring. The discontent could get bigger if ESPN gets other sports and doesn’t put a portion on ABC.

We’ll see if ESPN continues to keep events on cable.

This last question comes from a commentor.

Ken, who are the ten most influential individuals in sports media today? Is there anyone close to the level of importance and prestige that Rudy Martzke had for years at USA Today ?
Sports sure could use their own version of the Drudge Report ….

Ten? I’m not sure I could go that far. I have to assume you mean sports media writers since you mention Rudy Martzke. I’ll say upfront I was not a fan of Martzke because he played favorites (Bob Costas) and also seem to revel in silly verbal sniping between the networks which was by his own doing, by the way.

I’ll list the writers and bloggers whom I think have the most influence now. It’s in no particular order. These are listed off the top of my head.

Richard Deitsch – Sports Illustrated
John Ourand – Sports Business Journal/Sports Business Daily
Richard Sandomir – New York Times
Neil Best – Newsday (yes, even behind a paywall)
Barry Horn – Dallas Morning News
David Barron – Houston Chronicle
Tom Hoffarth – Los Angeles Daily News
AJ Daulerio – Deadspin
Paulsen – Sports Media Watch
Jim Williams – Washington Examiner

Honorable mentions:
Bob Wolfley – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Jason McIntyre – The Big Lead
Dan Steinberg – DC Sports Bog, Washington Post
Barry Jackson – Miami Herald
SportsbyBrooks

That’s the mailbag. Thanks once again for your questions. Let’s do this again in October.

Still Need A Few More Mailbag Questions

Ok, I’ve received some very good questions from you. I do need a few more. About three to four more so if you have sports media questions, preferably regarding the NFL, send them along to kzf1@fangsbites.com.

I hope to get a mailbag post up by Monday or Tuesday. Thanks.

Time For Another Mailbag

I thought I would do another mailbag around the end of September, but with NFL season coming fast upon us, I thought I would answer your questions about the NFL on TV or any other subject. I’m going to try to get some swag so I can give away some stuff to you, the loyal readers. If anyone in the network promotions departments want to give away some extra DVD’s, games, t-shirts or other swag of which you need to clean your closets, let me know and we can arrange something.

The e-mail address has changed and it’s kzf1@fangsbites.com. Let’s see if we can ten questions this time. We had six and that was very good for the first mailbag. I hope we can do more. And once this is done, our next mailbag will be in October for the MLB postseason, you can definitely plan on that.

Once again, I won’t publish full names, just first name and last initial, and put your town in the e-mail. I thank you once again.

The First Fang’s Bites Mailbag

Time to answer your sports media questions. Thanks to all who sent e-mails. Let’s make this a regular feature and I hope to do this every two or three months. And down the road, I hope to offer DVD’s, books and other swag. I don’t have anything for this mailbag, but I hope to have stuff in line for the future. Let’s get to your questions.

Hi John. From what I’ve heard, CBS and Turner will decide on announcing teams sometime soon. I suspect that you’ll see the four regional final teams for CBS, Jim Nantz-Clark Kellogg; Gus Johnson-Len Elmore; Dick Enberg’s replacement-Jay Bilas; and Verne Lundquist-Bill Rafery. Who Turner will hire is anyone’s guess. Ian Eagle who did work on TNT this past NBA postseason might move over to Turner as would Kevin Harlan who’s TNT’s NBA guy anyway. I doubt Marv would call tournament games, but you never know.

As far as the ACC Sunday Night Hoops are concerned, I know the coaches all hated the Sunday night games. They have told ACC Commissioner John Swofford as much. Under the new ESPN contract that takes effect in 2011-12, ESPNU gets a Sunday game, but I think it will be earlier in the afternoon, although ESPN could call for it to be played at let’s say, 4 p.m. ET. And unless ESPN decides to sell a few games, Fox Sports Net is done after this coming season.

No, up until the BCS and Open Championship, ESPN would have ABC in mind to compliment coverage. But as we have seen in the last two years, ESPN has decided to keep events for itself (BCS and Open Championship) and this year, chose to cut the number of NASCAR Sprint Cup races on ABC from 11 to 3. However, ABC affiliates are screaming over the lack of sports on the network and this may force ESPN’s hand in the future especially with the Olympics, MLB and NBA bidding all coming up. The ABC affiliates are the ones that are keeping ESPN in line and preventing the Alleged Worldwide Leader from hoarding everything. In addition, the NBA and MLB would still want to have their finals on network TV as opposed to cable. But the day of a major final on cable is coming.

A related question to the one from Scott. I agree that having those events on cable prevented casual fans from finding them. In addition, I was still used to turning on ABC early Sunday morning for the final round of the Open Championship this year, but I’ll be weaned off that next year. Having no suspense hurt the Open more than being on cable. NASCAR’s ratings have been down all year so even had the event been on ABC, not much more could be done on viewership. Certainly being on cable did not help the ratings.

- Do you have a favorite sport to watch on television? What about a favorite broadcaster? Favorite non-sports show?

Steve G.
North Kingstown, RI

A Rhode Island homey! And from North Kingstown to boot! Well, let me answer the questions in order.

My favorite sport to watch is baseball and Vin Scully is my favorite broadcaster. And he’s done more than baseball. Old school fans will remember he called the NFL for CBS and also did the PGA for both CBS and NBC.

With 24 and Lost gone, my favorite non-sports shows currently are Mad Men, My Boys and the Amazing Race.

The biggest misconception. That’s a tough one. One misconception is that some reporters are as passionate as the fans. That’s not true. It’s a job. Another is that people in the sports media don’t have agendas. Even I have an agenda, but I’m not telling what that is.

And I agree that the commentary shows like Around the Horn and even the Sports Reporters have gone over the top. You have columnists and sports writers mugging for the camera. Now that could be the program over the personality, but Skip Bayless and Woody Paige have become totally unwatchable and unlikable. I used to enjoy reading them, but after seeing and hearing them, I don’t anymore.

Pittsburgh

Hi Mike. Thanks for the question. You can do a little of both. You can find one of the hosts or producers and start exchanging e-mails and if he doesn’t blow you off, tell him the blog you write for, let him know you’re available as a guest. You can also let people know on your blog that you’re available to go on radio shows to talk about your team. I don’t know what it’s like in Pittsburgh if sports radio shows depend on bloggers as guests, it’s not the case here in New England. Certainly sending an e-mail doesn’t hurt. The least the host or producer can do is say no. But if you get a positive response, you have something to build on.

This only loosely touches sports media, but I was wondering if you could shed any light on the upcoming Minnesota-Texas college football series that was canceled due to a dispute over video rights. Curious what specifically the schools would have not seen eye-to-eye on (especially after agreement had already been made)? Is this related to Texas trying to start its own network and Gophers not wanting game to be aired on that, Horns wanting a cut of BTN or ESPN money, or what?

Thanks!
Tim C.

There’s no doubt that Texas which now has control of its TV rights thanks to its increased power in the Big 12 wanted a bigger piece of the pie when the series was to be played at TCF Bank Stadium in Minnesota. In college football, the home team or conference controls the rights. For the game at Minnesota, the rights revert to the Big Ten Network. At Texas, rights revert back to the Big 12. In 2016, who knows if Texas’ own network, ESPN or Fox Sports Net will have control of that game. But there’s no doubt that TV rights money was a huge part of the cancellation. Texas probably wanted a bigger payoff plus Minnesota wasn’t willing to part with a bigger payout and lose TV rights at the same time. You may see more of this with Big 12 schools down the line.

I Want To Answer Your Questions

Ok, I’ve been doing the blog since 2007 and it’s time to do a mailbag post. If you have questions about sports media, the blog or comments about likes/dislikes in sports broadcasting, now is the time to get your e-mails in. I asked on Twitter and I’ll ask here on the blog. Send your e-mails to kzfone@gmail.com. If I get five, that’s enough to get a post in. If I get more, great. I’ll do my best to answer all of them here on the blog. I’ll use your first name and last initial and please include your town.

I hope to make this a regular feature here. Send in your questions and I’ll be happy to answer them.