0 comments by Ken Fang on 7/6/2016
After ten years at ESPN serving as a pit reporter on NASCAR and then a sideline reporter on both college football and college basketball and sometimes host of College Football Live, Shannon Spake is heading to Fox Sports. Spake worked under the Fox Sports umbrella with the Motorsports network, SPEED in 2005 on NASCAR Nation. […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 5/11/2016
On Tuesday, May 10 at Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, the Sports Emmy Awards were handed out to the national sports networks nominated in a number of categories. FS1 was the network that received the most with 8 awards. NBC was next with 7 followed by FoxSports.com with 6 then […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 6/11/2015
Let’s do another notebook for you on this Thursday. NEWS The NBA Finals are breaking records. Through three games, the series between the Cleveland Cavs and Golden State Warriors is averaging almost 18.5 million viewers and a 10.8 rating which is slaughtering all programming on broadcast and cable. Game 3 drew an 11.1 rating on […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 5/5/2015
The 36th Annual Sports Emmy Awards were handed out in New York on Tuesday, May 5. NBC’s coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games was a big winner, but in several technical categories. We can’t say the usual suspects won because Bob Costas did not pick up the Outstanding Studio Host Award. Ernie Johnson won […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 3/3/2015
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. That along with increased viewership for the […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 1/30/2015
We did the news segment in the first part. Let’s do the linkage and News You Can Use here. LINKAGE Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch talks with Phil and Chris Simms about being television analysts after their playing careers. Deitsch has a preview of what NBC has in store for its Super Bowl XLIX production. Reuters […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 1/16/2015
Back with another edition of the notebook. Let’s get cracking, shall we? NEWS CBS Sports Network has announced the renewal of its contract with Army to air all of its home football games and neutral-field games where Army is the home team for five years beginning with the 2015 season and lasting until through 2019. […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 6/5/2014
While I’m in California attending a wedding, Fang’s Bites will present various guest columns from contributors all over the country. We begin with Nathan Brice of Birmingham, AL who presents the question, which sports work best being televised on cable and which work best on broadcast TV? It’s an interesting question and one Nathan tries […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 5/3/2014
When 24 was airing regularly on Fox, Fox Sports would be a big supporter of the show with promos during the World Series, countdown clocks during “The O.T.” before season premieres and plenty of in-game mentions during the NFL and NASCAR. As 24: Live Another Day is about to premiere on Monday, Fox Sports is […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 3/26/2014
The nominees are out. A few interesting developments for this year’s Emmys. In the play-by-play category, Al Michaels is noticeably absent. Marv Albert, Mike Breen, Joe Buck, Bob Costas (?) and Mike Emrick are nominees. I guess the Academy decided to put Bob in this category in addition to his customary Studio Host nomination. For […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 2/13/2014
Today is the day when the new NASCAR season gets underway with the Daytona 500 Media Day. It begins Speedweeks which will run for two weeks and continue through Sunday, February 23 when the Daytona 500 is run. Starting at 10 a.m. ET, Fox Sports 1 will have live coverage of Media Day. Then at […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 2/12/2014
In anticipation of its new contract with NASCAR in 2015, NBCSN will be launching a new studio show devoted to the sport beginning later this month. NASCAR America will air for a half-hour every day at 5 p.m. from the NBC Sports World Headquarters in Stamford, CT and from a new NBCSN studio in Charlotte, […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 2/10/2014
Starting on Thursday, Fox begins coverage of its 14th season of NASCAR. And as usual, Fox will start its portion of the NASCAR season with the Daytona 500. Fox starts with Speedweeks coverage on Thursday and then qualifying plus the Camping World Truck Series kickoff and a whole lot more. For the first time, the […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 1/23/2014
NBC Sports won’t be airing NASCAR until 2015, but it’s not stopping the network from hiring on-air talent for its upcoming coverage. Two reporters have been hired to contribute to NBC’s NASCAR studio programming as well its IndyCar coverage. Marty Snider is a familiar face to NBC Sports as he has been a pit reporter […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 1/14/2014
This is the last of four posts regarding Fox and Super Bowl XLVIII. While Fox Sports 1 made a big splash when it launched on August 19 of last year, it hasn’t been making ripples in the sports media pond since. It will during Super Bowl Week when it goes all out to air shoulder […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 1/9/2014
Just announced by NBC Sports Group, crew chief Steve Letarte will join the network’s NASCAR broadcast team when NBC/NBCSN begins airing the sport in 2015. He’ll join lap-by-lap announcer Rick Allen and fellow analyst Jeff Burton in the broadcast booth for the second half of the Sprint Cup season. Letarte was the crew chief for […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 12/4/2013
This from NBC Sports. Two hires made this week for its NASCAR coverage which begins in 2015. First, NBC announced that Jeff Burton will leave full-time racing to become its on-air analyst. Burton is the 6th driver in NASCAR history to make 1,000 starts spanning a 25 year career and has 21 Sprint Cup wins. […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 10/7/2013
Back with an overdue Week Ahead post. Lots of things happening in the Week Ahead so let’s not delay any further and get to what’s happening in the Sports Media over the next seven days. TELEVISION PBS Frontline The already controversial PBS Frontline documentary “League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis” airs in two parts […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 9/23/2013
After a week’s absence, it’s time for The Week Ahead to return. With the season turning to fall, baseball points towards the postseason, college football has some decent games in Week 5 after some horrible games this past weekend, the English Premier League speeds on with more good matches and the NFL heads to London. […]
0 comments by Ken Fang on 9/18/2013
Time for some linkage. Haven’t done any in a long time. My apologies for that. John Ourand of Sports Business Journal speaks with CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus about the future of CBS Sports Network. Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Daily writes that Nationwide will not sponsor NASCAR’s secondary race tour after 2014. Jason McIntyre […]
