Fang's Bites

NESN & WBZ-TV Announce New Strategic Partnership

NESN and CBS Boston have announced a on-air partnership that will affect both parties.

Starting Friday, NESN’s Red Sox announcing team involving Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy and Jenny Dell will be seen on WBZ-TV on the station’s local newscasts for pregame appearances for all games, road and away.

WBZ’s sports staff including Dan Roche will become regular guests on NESN’s Red Sox pregame shows. In addition, WBZ will provide weather reports on NESN’s Red Sox pre and postgame shows as well as during rain delays. And WBZ’s weather forecasts will be incorporated year round into NESN Daily’s highlight shows.

We have the joint press release from NESN and WBZ-TV.

NESN AND WBZ-TV ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

WBZ AccuWeather to be the “Official Forecast of NESN’s Red Sox Coverage!”

April 12, 2012 – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, and WBZ-TV, the top-rated Boston broadcast station in primetime, announced today that they have entered into a partnership that will connect the two market leaders in a unique content sharing relationship associated with NESN’s Red Sox and Bruins coverage. The partnership, thought to be the first-of-its-kind in the country between a regional sports network and a broadcast station in the same market, will launch on Friday, April 13 for NESN’s exclusive coverage of the Red Sox home opener and will feature a number of regularly scheduled game-day activities, including:

1. NESN Live Shots for WBZ-TV Newscasts
   NESN will provide live pre-game reports from Fenway Park and all NESN road telecasts for WBZ-TV’s 6:00 PM and Noon newscasts. The live shots, which will primarily feature NESN’s Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy or Jenny Dell, will take place throughout the baseball season beginning tomorrow for the home opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.
2. WBZ-TV Sports Anchors on NESN
   WBZ-TV sports anchor Dan Roche will appear as a regular guest on NESN’s Boston Red Sox pre-game shows, joining NESN host Tom Caron and Hall of Famers Dennis Eckersley, Jim Rice, Peter Gammons, and NESN’s newest analyst, former MLB slugger Matt Stairs.
3. WBZ-TV Weather Updates on NESN

·         WBZ-TV News’ team of AccuWeather meteorologists, led by meteorologist Todd Gutner, will provide the “Official Forecast of NESN’s Red Sox Coverage.”

·         WBZ-TV’s AccuWeather team will provide NESN with weather updates for NESN’s pre and post-game shows.

·         WBZ-TV’s AccuWeather team will provide NESN in-game weather updates during rain delays.

·         WBZ-TV’s AccuWeather updates will also be provided year-round to NESN Daily, NESN’s nightly sports news program, which airs at 10:00 PM on non-game days or immediately following NESN’s post-game coverage on Red Sox and Bruins game days.

“This unique partnership brings together two of the strongest and most popular media companies in New England in a way that we think complements the strengths of each organization,” said Sean McGrail, NESN’s President and CEO. “WBZ-TV has a long-standing history as a local leader in the Boston market and we are looking forward to working closely with them.”

“We are delighted to partner with NESN, the region’s top-rated sports network, and combine the significant resources of our two powerhouse media organizations to bring viewers even more comprehensive and compelling weather and sports content during Red Sox and Bruins seasons,” said Ed Piette, President and General Manager of CBS Boston’s WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV.

That concludes this post.

Mixing The Thursday Links

I’ll give you some Thursday linkage while I can. Waiting on an appointment, but while I’m free I’ll do the links for you. Lots of stuff to get to so let’s not keep you waiting.

Jack Carey of USA Today notes that ESPN was a major factor in Brigham Young University declaring independence from the Mountain West Conference.

Cynthia Littleton and Tom Lowry of Variety note that the negotiations between Time Warner Cable and Disney continue today.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News writes that Disney networks will continue to be carried on Time Warner systems even though the current deadline has passed. 

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says NFL Network has made carriage agreements Cable One and Knology.

Alex Weprin of SportsNewser writes that Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio will be expanding his empire to the Sunday Night Football postgame show.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid loves ESPN’s Michelle Beadle so it’s only natural that he has the video of her appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.

At CBS Sports.com, Will Brinson informs us that rival NFL owners Jerry Jones and Daniel Snyder have filmed a Papa John’s pizza ad.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that Maria Sharapova is playing with a tennis racket that appears not to be the brand that she’s supposed to endorse.

Speaking of rackets, Darren tells us about rising brand Babolat.

Ann Donohue of Billboard says ESPN will use Atlantic Records artists during its college football coverage. 

In the Boston Herald, Jessica Heslam writes that Comcast and NESN are squaring off with rival style shows. Let’s just stick to sports, ok?

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe goes after WBZ-TV for its cozy relationship with the New England Patriots. Stop being bitter, Dan.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the son of boxing promoter Bob Arum is missing.

In the New York Examiner, Evan Weiner says the media and the public just loves to feed off Tiger Woods’ misery. 

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says Time Warner Cable has released its high school football schedule for the Capital Region.

Pete has the college football TV schedule for this week.

In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV looks at the firing of MASN analyst Rob Dibble from Washington Nationals games and other Baltimore-Washington sports media news.

I love this next name. J. Freedom duLac of the Washington Post writes about Dibble’s firing.

The Post’s Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog has Dibble’s statement about his firing on Sirius XM this morning.

Dan has Dibble weighing on last night’s Nationals-Marlins basebrawl.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says the Nationals brought Dibble in to be opinionated and that’s what he was. 

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks about the new NFL Network documentary series on the top 100 players of all-time.

George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that despite being retired from the broadcast booth, John Madden still has the power to pitch products.

Jon Solomon from the Birmingham (AL) News says the SEC and ESPN are pleased with their new marriage, but both parties would like more. 

Eva Ruth Moravec of the San Antonio Express-News writes that a local sports promoter and public address announcer for various sports teams has been charged with harassing a TV reporter online.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman says Oklahoma University usually fares well when football games are put on pay per view. 

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals, Big Brother and Cris Collinsworth dominate the local airwaves tonight.

John would like to have a local sports morning show instead of syndicated programming so he can listen to Reds talk.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew are bullish on the Green Bay Packers.

Phil Rosenthal at the Chicago Tribune says the WaPo’s Mike Wise didn’t use his noodle when he triggered off a Twitter firestorm.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about the return of the Cardinals to Midwest radio powerhouse KMOX-AM.

Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune says ESPN’s money and Notre Dame’s prestige will help BYU’s football independence.

Dick Harmon from the Deseret News notes that ESPN presence was too big to ignore for BYU.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News reads the ramblings in USC football voice Pete Arbogast’s blog so you don’t have to.

Cam Inman of the Oakland Tribune has ESPN’s Jon Gruden singing the praises of his former Raiders team. 

Chris Zelkovich at the Toronto Star notes that CFL dominated the Canadian TV ratings.

The great Amanda Rykoff, a.k.a. the OCD Chick, a.k.a. my Twitter Trophy Wife, tells us about the new Capital One Cup which rewards college athletic excellence with school scholarships.

Sports Media Watch says the ratings dropped for the season finale for ABC’s “Shaq vs.”

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to reinvent its brand.

The Big Lead says Andy Roddick may have lost his 2nd round match in the US Open, but it means more looks at Janko Tipsarevic’s wife, Biljana Šeševi?.

Matt Clapp over at Awful Announcing notices that Screamin’ Gus Johnson’s voice is on a Buffalo Wild Wings ad.

Matt Boutwell at the Central Maine Sports Blog appeals to NESN to stop treating Boston as if it represents all of New England.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball notes that the MLB At Bat mobile app is being offered at half price for the rest of the season.

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshynski tells us how much the NHL Center Ice package will cost us this season.

Tony Farinella of 411mania talks with former ESPN’er Sean Salisbury about his new internet radio show.

And we will end the links there for today.

Doing the Friday Megalinks

Let’s do the megalinks for you. Time to give them to you now.

As always, you get the Weekend Viewing Picks which this weekend has the skinny on the college basketball conference tournaments and other sports.

Now to your links.

National

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand looks at ESPN providing ABC with some sports programming starting in April.

Writing for SI.com, Kevin Armstrong profiles popular ESPN/CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery.

The Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center recognizes the winners of the Associated Press Sports Editors Awards.

Todd Spangler of Multichannel News says the ESPN Mobile TV service is being picked up by Sprint cell phones.

Multichannel News looks at Speed’s changes to its Formula 1 announcing crew. 

The Sports Media Watch notes that last Sunday’s NHL Game of the Week did not get a post-Olympics bump, but still did well for NBC.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR ratings dropped yet again.

SMW informs us that TNT’s Inside the NBA crew will be heading courtside to call its first game since 2001.

Joe Favorito can’t wait to see the new movie on Vince Lombardi which would star Robert De Niro.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media says HBO Sports will focus its next documentary on the Philadelphia Flyers of the 1970′s.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe talks with long-time WBZ-TV sports reporter Alice Cook who was given the pink slip last week.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram interviews local native J.P. Ricciardi who goes from being Blue Jays General Manger to ESPN analyst.

Joe Haggerty from Comcast SportsNet New England writes about a new ESPN ad starring Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz and Yankees outfielder Nick Swisher.

A rare Neil Best sighting! The Boston Herald picks up a story from Newsday which continues to hide behind pay wall. In this story, Neil writes about CBS being poised to keep the NCAA Tournament. 

From the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman looks at the possibility of the NCAA opting out of its current contract with CBS.

Phil Mushnick in the New York Post is nitpicking over a dunk highlight.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with CBS/Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis about Siena’s experience as an NCAA player.

Ken McMillan of the Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record has an appreciation of the late Merlin Olsen.

Tim Lemke explains why he is now a fan of the college basketball conference tournaments.

Jim Williams in the Washington Examiner says NBC begins its Paralympics coverage this weekend.

Jim transcribes an interview Billy Packer did with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Jim talks about a Baltimore radio host who’s conducting a contest to give Orioles Opening Day tickets to several families.

South

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald talks with sports radio host Sid Rosenberg about his new book.

Sarah Talalay from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says JetBlue will unveil a Florida Panthers tailfin on Tuesday.

Ray Buck in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes that HBO has some big plans for tomorrow’s Manny Pacquaio-Joshua Clottey championship fight at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.

To David Barron of the Houston Chronicle who discusses the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Reggie Miller’s rivalry with the New York Knicks.

David catches up on some ratings news and notes since returning home from the Olympics.

Midwest

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer remembers an interesting story regarding the late Merlin Olsen and former NBC NFL analyst Bob Trumpy.

Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times writes that the White Sox have shot down manager Ozzie Guillen’s request for a website.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his usual Friday winners and losers.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Time Warner Cable gave subscribers frozen pictures that hampered fans from viewing of the Big East Tournament.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin writes that hockey fans in the Gopher State will have plenty of action to watch this weekend.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says not everyone in the Gateway City will be able to see the Atlantic 10 Tournament this weekend.

West

Scott D. Pierce in the Deseret (UT) News says DirecTV subscribers won’t be able to see the Mountain West Conference men’s and women’s basketball championship games as they will be carried on Versus.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune speaks with Padres voice Dick Enberg who won’t be calling his first game until the season opener in April.

John Maffei in the North County Times says the San Diego State men’s basketball team might get some national love if they keep winning in the Mountain West Tournament.

Over to the Ventura County Star where Jim Carlisle says Hall of Fame defensive lineman Merlin Olsen was also a great broadcaster.

Jim is not a fan of the NCAA Tournament expanding to 96 teams.

Diane Pucin in the Los Angeles Times says both CBS and ESPN will be all over the NCAA Tournament selections.

In the Los Angeles Daily News, Kevin Modesti with help from Tom Hoffarth, has a remembrance of Merlin Olsen.

Tom has his usual media notes.

Tom has Dick Enberg’s thoughts on his former broadcast partner, Olsen.

Tom also looks back at the week in sports media.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says the NHL knocking out head shots was the right thing to do.

The Toronto Star says CTV has relented and will show the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympics live, but only in British Columbia.

Chris Zelkovich of the Star says the Paralympics are not a huge money maker, but are worthy of TV coverage for the Canadian Olympics Broadcast Media Consortium.

William Houston in Truth & Rumours says the head of the Media Consortium may be leaving.

And that will do it for the Megalinks. 

Quick Late Night Update

It looks like this will be a late night for me. I’m going to finish my review of Real Sports from Tuesday and I want to give you some links before the night is finished. Here we go.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is into his Elite Eight in his “As Seen On TV” products tournament.

Maury Brown of The Biz of Baseball has the apparent winner of the Chicago Cubs sweepstakes. Maury reports that the Houston Astros have announced a deal to remain on Clear Channel flagship KTRH for at least four more seasons.

Shane Bacon of the AOL Fanhouse blog talks with A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin about ESPN quoting Deadspin as a source about Mark McGwire’s brother injecting him with steroids.

Thanks to Bob Ekstrom at the Boston Sports Media Watch for this link. Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com explains that the CBS Scene restaurant next to Gillete Stadium played a big role in the Patriots moving its programming from ABC affiliate WCVB to CBS-owned WBZ and WSBK.

Thanks to Friend of Fang’s Bites Ian Bethune of the Sox & Dawg blog, the great Art Martone of the Providence Journal has the list of Red Sox Spring Training games to be carried by both NESN and radio flagship WRKO.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News talks with former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin about his new reality show.

LeAnna Kosub of the San Antonio Express-News has another sports radio victim of the Clear Channel nationwide personnel purge.

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic says the Diamondbacks has cut its Spanish language TV broadcasts for the time being.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News writes that Versus plans to ride Lance Armstrong’s coattails during the Tour of California next month. Tom has a preview of his Friday column which is about his tagging with the TNT crew during its telecast of the Cavs-Lakers game on MLK Day.

Kevin Dunleavy of the DC Examiner went inside the TNT truck for the Celtics-Wizards game on Monday.

Steve DeClue of the Baltimore Sports Examiner is not happy to have Anita Marks back for one more year.

Despite my requests for college basketball press releases from CBS Sports, I still don’t receive them and I have to depend on the CBSSports.com site to link you to the network’s coverage for this weekend.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times has an in-depth look at the Capitals’ TV ratings.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media blog has the highlights of a Versus media conference call about the channel’s coverage of Sunday’s NHL All-Star Game. And Steve has CBC’s press release about its All-Star Game coverage.

From the Nielsen TV blog, it shows that moving the NHL All-Star Game away from direct competition from football turned out to be a good idea for the ratings.

Ron Judd of the Seattle Times writes that Universal Sports is picking up coverage of one of alpine skiing’s most famous events this weekend.

Larry Barrett of Multichannel TV says GolTV has acquired the US and Canadian rights to the top Brazilian Soccer League.

Alex Marvez of the Scripps Howard News Service talks with former WWE personality-turned ESPNews anchor Jonathan “Coach” Coachman.

Peter Svensson of the Associated Press has some tips for you in case you want to buy that HDTV set in time for the Super Bowl.

Andy Scheidler of the Franklin (NC) Press suggests you watch the Australian Open to help your warm up during this cold winter.

Ok, that’s going to do it. Back tomorrow with more links. In the meantime, look for the Real Sports review up in about a couple of hours.

Thursday Stuff

I have some links for you today.

The Boston Herald’s Inside Track Girls report that NESN’s Heidi Watney is dating a former Fenway Park groundskeeper. Thanks to Sox & Dawgs for that link. So much for the rumors Heidi dating Jason Veritek.

The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Herald reports that the New England Patriots are moving their weekly “All Access” show from WCVB to WBZ next season after Channel 5 was its home for 10 years (scroll down).

Newsday’s Neil Best says the “Giants On-Line” crew do not feel this season’s Eagles are like last season’s Giants.

This link comes courtesy of Neil. Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News says Fox’s Michael Strahan wonders why Philly does not show the love for Eagles QB Donovan McNabb.

Calvin Watkins from the Dallas Morning News says Pacman Jones plans to sue ESPN for its report stating that he arranged a shooting outside an Atlanta nightclub.

Scott Collins from the Los Angeles Times says the Indianapolis-San Diego NFL Wild Card playoff game on NBC was the highest rated program of the week.

Roger van der Horst of the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer discusses tonight’s 3-D broadcast of the BCS Championship Game.

The Sports Media Watch says Fox Sports had a ratings fiesta for the Fiesta Bowl.

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes that the Mid-American Conference is waiting for news on its new TV package.

Jason Anderson of the Stockton (CA) Record writes that tonight begins the Big West Conference’s 13 game TV package with ESPN and FSN.

Jim Ecker of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette feels the Big Ten Network should have more of a Hawkeye presence.

Christine Hall from Houston Business Journal talks about Fox Sports Houston’s transition to a 24/7 network.

Le Anna Kosub of the San Antonio Express-News writes that the local market will see both Fox Sports Houston and Fox Sports Southwest.

The Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin says Fox Sports North will air a tribute to Twins owner Carl Pohlad tonight.

Eric Degerman of the Tri-City (WA) Herald says FSN Northwest has picked up 24 Utah Jazz games from sister network, Fox Sports Utah.

Awful Announcing also summarizes Dick Vitale’s commentary on last night’s Miami-Denver game.

From On the DL, Dan Levy speaks with CBS Sports’ Ian Eagle. Thanks to Awful Announcing for that link.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business says the new Comcast SportsNet morning show will have some big guests when it premieres next week. And Ed says golf’s heavy hitters are staying away from this weekend’s season opening tournament.

Vlada Gelman of TV Week says Golf Channel is launching an HD feed.

Puck The Media lists the regional sports networks that will carry the AHL All-Star Game.

Broadcast Engineering reports that MLB.com is switching its media player from Microsoft Silverlight to Adobe Flash.

That will do it for now. That might do it for links today, we’ll see.

A Monday Linkfest

Back to the work grind and time to provide some linkage today.

Starting with USA Today’s Game On! blog which has Michael McCarthy interviewing Chris “Mad Dog” Russo about his debut on Sirius Satellite Radio today. And Michael says any thought of the Patriots collapsing due to Tom Brady’s injury should be perished.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell looks into the concept that better looking athletes get higher pay.

Some links from the Sports Business Journal.

Steve Bilafer writes that CBS’ owned and operated WBZ-TV whored itself out to promote the new CBS Scene restaurant at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

John Ourand says NBC is off to a good start in selling commercials for Super Bowl XLIII.

John Ourand says Versus will be launching a sports version of E’s popular “The Soup”program.

Austin Karp writes that ESPN saw increased viewership over the summer, but its other networks did not.

New York Post curmudgeon Phil Mushnick says despite criticism from its own Ombudsman, ESPN continues to overhype its own events.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the Michael Phelps-hosted Saturday Night Live had its best overnight rating in quite some time. And Neil feels the Football Night in America guys must have felt euphoric when the Denver Broncos succeeded in a two point conversion to win its game over the Chargers.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette wondered why a local Jets Radio Network affiliate wasn’t carrying the Jets broadcast of the Pats-Jets game yesterday.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in televised sports.

Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog says Fox’s Terry Bradshaw missed an opportunity when he spoke about Vince Young’s troubles with the Tennessee Titans. Chris adds that SI.com is not providing the entire picture to its readers.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball celebrates its two year anniversary. Congrats, Maury and I thank him for the support to Fang’s Bites.

Dusty Saunders from the Rocky Mountain News feels CBS’ two man booth on Sunday’s Chargers-Broncos game worked better than ESPN’s three man booth last Monday night.

But on the other hand, Awful Announcing feels Dick Enberg lost track of time when Denver scored its last TD and winning two point conversion. I’ll agree with that and I also felt up until that moment, Enberg was doing a good job in calling the game.

Michael Malone of Broadcasting & Cable says NBC’s Universal Sports cable channel has been picked up in nine markets on the network’s digital tier.

R. Thomas Umstead says Universal Sports will be replaying various events from NBC’s Olympics coverage this month.

Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life Magazine says ESPN’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Eagles and Cowboys is the highlight of the TV week.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week says the Big Ten Network is now focusing on video on demand services.

That will do it for now. I should have an update later on.

Sunday Linkage

After running some errands this morning, I’m back and it’s time to give you some links.

We start with Richard Sandomir of the New York Times who talks with Harold Reynolds who did a stint with SNY this weekend. And Richard says unlike the Kentucky Derby where he feels NBC Sports dropped the ball in the Eight Belles tragedy, the network did a good job covering the issue in its coverage of the Preakness Stakes.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says Mets’ closer Billy Wagner’s weekly interviews on 1050 ESPN Radio are must listens.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes that the Mets aren’t learning their lessons from last year.

Neil Best from Newsday has a review of YES Yankees analyst Bobby Murcer’s new book. And Neil has a bit more about the book in his blog.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks at a documentary on an 87 year old surfer who’s still riding the waves and has lived a rather interesting life. And Tom has more on Dorian Paskowitz and his family.

David J. Warner of the AOL Fanhouse blog has word that ESPN may convert ESPN Classic into an “ESPN3″ channel devoted to soccer and international sports.

Mark Haselden of South Carolina Now profiles Rosalyn Durant, the recently named Vice President and General Manager of ESPNU.

Here’s a chat former WBZ-TV sports anchor Bob Lobel did for Boston.com.

Joe Favorito writes that the WNBA season is starting off strong.

That will do it.

Some Wednesday Links

I’m back from running errands so it’s time for some links on this Wednesday.

First, I’m seeing increased traffic the last two days. It’s all for my post last year on Hot Chicks, formerly in Sports Broadcasting, who should be back in Sports Broadcasting. It’s mainly for this picture of Jillian Reynolds.

If anyone knows why people are searching for this picture, please let me know.

On to the links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the vacant New York Knicks coaching and GM positions could throw a monkey wrench in the NBA TV analyst world.

Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy spares his usual venom and pays tribute to WBZ-TV sports anchor Bob Lobel who signed off for the last time on Tuesday night.

Adam Leetch of the Portsmouth (NH) Times Herald profiles local resident Dave O’Brien who has his dream job as secondary radio voice of the Red Sox.

Doug Doughty of the Roanoke (VA) Times says the Voice of the Virginia Cavaliers has resigned.

Jeffrey Flanagan of the Kansas City Star writes that the Voice of the Chiefs is not leaving the booth and nor is he moving to TV.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Basketball blog says TNT is still seeing double digit ratings increases for the NBA Playoffs.

Langston Wertz, Jr. of the Charlotte Observer likes Inside the NBA on TNT (scroll down).

From CNN Money, Time Warner is selling off its cable unit which includes CNN, TNT, TBS and HBO.

Greg Augman of the St. Petersburg Times writes that says organizers from the city, ESPN, the Big East and Conference USA are making a presentation to the NCAA for yet another college football bowl game.

The Chattanoogan of Tennessee tells us that FSN’s Amazing Sports Stories will feature a 17 year old girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1931.

Chris Dufrense of the Los Angeles Times writes that Fox Sports is not standing in the way of the BCS changing format.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN Deportes Radio is coming into town.

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Blackhawks apparently will move to WGN-AM next season.

That’s going to be it for now.

Wednesday Night Update

Some more links on this late Wednesday night.

First, John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that with Time Warner Cable’s agreement to put FSN South on its systems to provide Charlotte Bobcats games may help its argument in its arbitration case against MASN.

Bruce Allen of the Boston Sports Media Watch says WBZ sports reporter Dan Roche and political analyst Jon Keller debated over Bill Buckner in their blogs and on TV.

Scott Greczkowski writes in his Satellite Dish blog for Multichannel News that DirecTV will be ready to launch several channels dedicated to The Masters on Thursday.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union wonders if a Masters video game could be closer to reality than we think.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News has a tongue-firmly-in-cheek look at ESPN’s plans for The Masters on Thursday.

Doug Smith from the Austin American-Statesman talks about Verne Lundquist pulling duty at the 16th and 17th holes for CBS’ coverage of The Masters.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel says the men behind the stodgy Masters had specific reasons for bringing ESPN into the Augusta fold.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says an exciting final for the NCAA Men’s Tournament made up in the ratings for otherwise lackluster games.

The Sports Media Watch has some ratings news on the NCAA Women’s Final Four for ESPN. And the SMW has stuff on the NCAA Women’s Tournament as well as Sunday Night Baseball.

The Associated Press says the NCAA Women’s Tournament Final performed well for ESPN.

The Hackensack (NJ) Chronicle reports that students foiled a sexual predator’s ploy after he posed as a lower tier ESPN college basketball analyst. Good for those kids.

The Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy says Providence College would not do any better if they hired ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla as its men’s basketball coach.

Jon Lafayette of TV Week talks about the NHL launching its new online digital network.

Mike Prisuta of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review goes behind-the-scenes with FSN Pittsburgh as it produces Penguins games for TV.

The Digitalhome.ca blog looks at the CBC and TSN NHL Playoff schedule.

Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette says CBC seems to be getting behind the Montreal Canadiens as the Toronto Maple Leafs are home for the playoffs.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Calgary Herald says CBC and TSN are squaring off in a battle for playoff supremacy.

By the way, TSN.ca has redesigned its website and it looks a lot like ESPN.com.

Lance Hornby of the Winnepeg Sun writes that CBC and TSN are actually hoping to televise plenty of Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals during the NHL playoffs.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times says the resurgence of the Caps will help all of the NHL’s TV partners in the US and Canada.

One more from Canada, Alan Cameron of the Calgary Herald writes that CBC is actually providing some good coverage of the World Men’s Curling Championships.

That’s all for tonight. Back in the morning with more linkage.

Thursday Night Links

I’ll give you some more links this evening.

It appears that NBC is close to renewing its deal with the NHL for next season. More on that in the Friday megalinks.

Bruce Allen from Boston Sports Media Watch gives his impressions from an evening with WBZ-TV sports anchor Bob Lobel who is being bought out by CBS. I don’t think there’s one person who hasn’t said Bob is a nice guy.

The Big Lead says it appears that the New York Times’ baseball writer extraordinaire Murray Chass will accept a buyout.

Michael Singer of Information Week says for the first time, the NCAA Final Four will be available as an online video stream.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times talks with ESPN’s Doris Burke who will be in Tampa this weekend to call the Women’s Final Four with Mike Patrick.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the video of ESPN’s Brian Kenny interviewing Ocho Cinco, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Brown about several subjects and not really succeeding. Neil also links to a Will Leitch story for Fast Company about MLB Advanced Media being a cash cow for MLB.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell is happy the Seattle Mariners will still go through with J.J. Putz Soul Patch Night even though the closer is currently injured.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News writes that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area is now offering replays of both recent and classic San Francisco Giants games on demand.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News wonders why Comcast SportsNet Bay Area had Christan Slater on during the Giants-Dodgers game on Wednesday. I saw that and I wondered that as well.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News feels even though Donnie Walsh was open in his introductory press conference as the new President of the Knicks, he’ll eventually fall under the Wall of Secrecy known as Madison Square Garden.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes in his blog about the NFL releasing the national TV preseason schedule.

ESPN talks about its NFL presesason schedule. Maria Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal says my Cleveland Browns get some national exposure on ESPN playing the Super Bowl champs New York Giants on August 18.

Del Milligan writes in his Extra Holes blog at The Ledger (FL) that ESPN is going to make the most out of its showing of The Masters.

The Chicago Tribune’s Luis Arroyave talks with ESPN’s Pedro Gomez who is now covering soccer????

Jeffrey Marcus writes in the Goal blog for the New York Times that ESPN is now entering a new era in televising MLS games.

I think that’s going to do it for tonight. The next update will be the Friday megalinks. See you then.

Thursday Links

Let’s give you some links for Thursday.

Newsday’s Neil Best says new New York Knicks Donnie Walsh did his best to schmooze the media during his introductory press conference on Wednesday. And in his blog, Neil says a new era between the Knicks and the media began with free sandwiches and cookies.

Richard Sandomir and Howard Beck of the New York Times also write about the new media outreach by the Knickerbockers.

The Sports Media Watch says the merged Champ Car and Indy Racing League brought increased ratings for ESPN2 last weekend. And the blog has some idle notes including stuff on the Chicago Blackhawks, the Arena Football League and the NBA.

The Biz of Baseball has a couple of items for us today. First, Maury Brown writes that Major League Baseball’s out of market internet package, MLB.TV, has reached some record activity levels in the new season. And Maury says Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and Red Sox DH David Ortiz will be “campaigning” for XM Satellite Radio.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philaldelphia will air a day night doubleheader between the Phillies and Nationals today.

Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post talks with TBS Sports’ Chip Carey about his broadcasting the new MLB package for the once-labled Superstation.

CBS Sports will have final round coverage of Lesbian Spring Break (you would know this if you watched the L Word or are a member of the Lesbian community), or what’s officially known as the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA’s first major of the season.

Tim Lemke of the Washington Times talks about ESPN taking over coverage of The Masters. This is not like they’re taking over everything. CBS is still producing the telecast on Thursday and Friday and CBS Sports will still broadcast 3rd and Final Round coverage.

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads (VA) Virginian-Pilot says while people are talking about the NCAA Tournament, the ratings are still down.

Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has quotes from various college basketball analysts and coaches who say Tom Crean left Marquette’s basketball program in better shape than when he arrived.

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun-Times says Blackhawks fans won’t have to leave home to see their team on TV.

Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post says having Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup playoffs could be big for NHL, Versus and Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald says it’s likely that Steve Burton will take over as the top sports anchor at WBZ-TV now that Bob Lobel has been let go. Jenn Abelson of the Boston Globe writes that Lobel’s departure means the end of an era in Boston TV.

A couple of items from NBC Sports. It will start its countdown towards the Kentucky Derby with live coverage of the Santa Anita Derby and Wood Memorial this Saturday. And NBC Sports ends seven straight weeks of PGA Tour coverage with the Shell Houston Open this weekend.

NBC Sports.com will stream the Women’s Marathon Olympic trials live on April 20.

Meanwhile, Christopher Byrne of the Eye on Sports Media blog feels NBC Sports overhypes everything, especially its golf coverage.

Norma Reveler of the Hollywood Reporter says a battle is brewing in Canada as regulators are considering allowing US cable networks into the country.

That’s going to do for now.

Wednesday Night Links

I’ll give you some linkage this evening.

Earlier today, I was listening to the Red Sox-A’s game through MLB Gameday Audio and noticed that Joe Castiglione was broadcasting solo for the first two innings. Because partner Dave O’Brien was working the Blue Jays-Yankees game for ESPN2, this was one of the games where the Shaw’s WRKO/WEEI Red Sox Radio Network was to use either Dale Arnold or Jon Rish when Dave was not there. However, both Arnold and Rish were in Boston and Joe went solo with special guest appearances from two Red Sox beat reporters. LC from the 38 Cliches blog wonders how this happened. This cannot happen again.

And we already have reaction from South Florida on Glenn Geffner who’s now butchering Marlins games as badly as he did Red Sox games last season.

Neil Best of Newsday reports in his blog that the Yankees season opener scored well for YES as did the Mets for SNY.

Earlier tonight, I had a press release from Fox Sports in which Executive Producer Ed Goren talked about the bullish ad sales for the All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable has more of Goren’s comments about the Fox Saturday Baseball Game of the Week.

MSNBC’s David Sweet says CBS and the NCAA are cashing in on the Final Four.

John Consoli of Mediaweek writes that ESPN has seen a 43% increase in the ratings for the Women’s NCAA Tournament.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says Bryant Gumbel will interview Democratic Presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama (IL) on this month’s edition of Real Sports.

Stuart Levine of Variety says Tuesday night will be movie night on ESPN2 starting April 22 as the network will air various documentaries produced by the ESPN Films unit.

Alex Weprin of Broadcasting & Cable says SoapNET has picked up the steamy CBC series, MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says parents can now test their kids for steroids.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about Jose Canseco’s interview with Howard Stern on Sirius Satelllite Radio as well as The Masters on CBS.

USA Today picks up an article written by the Associated Press’ Doug Ferguson about The Masters showing more of its coverage online and going global thanks to ESPN.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune says watching an entire Blackhawks season on TV and in HD becomes reality in the fall.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News talks with ESPN’s Julie Foudy about David Beckham playing in the Galaxy’s home opener tomorrow.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette talks with Bob Lobel who was ousted from WBZ-TV in Boston this week. Amy Derjue of Boston Magazine’s Daily Blog has her reaction to the cuts at WBZ.

That will do it for tonight. See you in the morning.

Wednesday Linkage or How Media Buyouts Affect You

It’s been a big week for media layoffs and buyouts. As someone who follows the sports media, it seems like every week, a local news or reporter is bought out or has had his/her contract terminated as part of cost cutting. It’s happening in newspapers, TV and radio. But this week, the bloodletting has cut really deep.

Yesterday, David Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch broke the news that Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan accepted a buyout from her paper.

This week, CBS has been has been laying off staffers at its Owned and Operated stations across the country. Michele Greppi of TV Week says the cuts at the CBS O&O’s and CBS News are part of a major restructuring at the company.

WBZ in Boston was hardest hit with 30 layoffs. WBBM in Chicago let go of 17 employees and KPIX in San Francisco said goodbye to 14. It did not matter if the employee was newly hired or a long-time veteran. As far as sports reporting is concerned, WBBM decided to part ways with anchor Mark Malone who has done work at ESPN. A weekend sports wrap up show in New York was cut and in Boston, long-time sports anchor Bob Lobel accepted a buyout from WBZ-TV.

David Scott has more on Lobel’s departure which ends an era in Boston sports reporting. The lovely Jessica Heslam of the Boston Herald talked with Lobel after he got the bad news. The Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley treats Lobie as if he was a pioneer, which he was not. And the following story has nothing to do with sports, but I link to this story only for my own personal interest. Included in the WBZ cuts was entertainment reporter Joyce Kulhawik on whom I had a massive crush when she did features on Evening Magazine in the early 1980′s. She was the last full-time entertainment and arts TV reporter in Boston and her departure was not a surprise.

Chuck Barney of the San Jose Mercury News says long-time KPIX sportscaster Rick Quan was part of the CBS station cuts. Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times talks about the staff cuts at WBBM-TV.

Unfortunately, the buyouts have become the norm in the media business. As I mentioned last month when my friends at sports radio station WSKO in Providence lost their jobs, on-air talent will most likely be able to find other work, but the grunts and behind-the-scenes people are the ones that get hurt the most. Plus, the product whether it be the stories you read or watch suffer as staffs get stretched thin and have to make up for those who have been cut. When I entered the news business in the mid-1980′s, radio was already cutthroat, but it was nothing like it is now. Media is in transition as it tries to determine how to provide news and sports in a timely manner.

Your newspaper is practically out of date when it arrives on your doorstep. In addition, fewer people are reading papers. The traditional early and late evening newscasts are losing viewers and sportscasts on local news program are being cut as people turn to other outlets like ESPN and the internet to get their information. This is a new age for information and newspapers and local TV stations have to figure out how to use the internet as a tool and not treat it as shovelware.

Ok, enough of me, let’s get to other links.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today has the weekend TV ratings. And Hiestand talks with CBS Sports’ Billy Packer who will not say if this Final Four will be his last.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell has the winner of the Minor League Baseball Logo Contest after 17 days of voting. And Darren has a new twist in ballpark food.

Neil Best of Newsday has his take on NESN’s hiring of Tina Cervasio’s replacement.

The Sports Media Watch says the Davidson-Kansas game ended a series of downward trends for CBS’ coverage of the NCAA Tournament. And the SMW has the final weekend ratings.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune looks forward to the Final Four on CBS.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun received an e-mail from CBS’/ESPN’s Jay Bilas in regards to Frager’s post on the manlove for Tyler Hansbrough.

Laura Nachman says the Phillies’ home opener scored for KYW-TV, a 90% increase from last year! And Laura says a local TV sports anchor is recovering from a car accident.

Maury Brown from the Biz of Baseball blog has the latest Bon Jovi video promoting the Sunday MLB package on TBS.

Rick Dean of the Topeka (KS) Capital-Journal writes that Cox Cable will not pick up 40 Kansas City Royals games from FSN. Kirk Seminoff of the Wichita Eagle also explains why Cox will not pick the entire Royals TV schedule.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says Comcast SportsNet’s first day on the air on Monday was a success.

Mark Berman of the Roanoke (VA) Times says MASN2 will be put on expanded basic cable so fans can watch overflow Orioles and Nationals games.

Andrew Neff of the Bangor (ME) Daily News talks with Red Sox announcer-in-exile Sean McDonough.

Rick Kushman of the Sacramento Bee says NBC Sports will most likely treat Communist China with kid gloves during the Summer Olympics.

Phil Swann of the TV Predictions site says ESPNews HD has been added to the DirecTV lineup. By the way, ESPNews HD looks absolutely great.

David Goetzl of the Mediapost Publications says ESPN will put its Masters coverage on TV and online.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail says Masters coverage on CBS and ESPN will focus on Tiger Woods and offer some new technology.

Aaron Williams of the Redding (CA) Record-Spotlight says a local radio station is dropping ESPN Radio in favor of music.

That’s your update for today.

Friday Megalinks Combined with Saturday Links

My fault that the Friday megalinks weren’t here yesterday. Lots of issues that I don’t need to get into, but I’ll give them to you today with your weekly Saturday links.

Let’s go:

Michael Hiestand of USA Today writes about Fox’s plans for its silly Red Carpet Super Bowl pregame show.

TV Week has the sports TV ratings for the week ending January 20.

Let’s go from East to West

East and Mid-Atlantic

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe writes about WBZ-TV being the “official Patriots station”.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times tells us that Marv Albert is still learning from his mentor, the late Marty Glickman.

The New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman lectures the media on how to do their jobs when asking Bill Belichick questions during Super Bowl week.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says Boomer Esiason is going to have to make a choice soon. Mushnick’s arguments here really don’t water.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Giants fans who want Super Bowl tickets are finding the process frustrating.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says Orioles fans remain interested in the team despite the recent hard times.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner says there’s a lot to watch this weekend even if there’s no football.

South

Doug Nye of The State says the Buick Invitational is a pick to click this weekend. And Nye says there was a lot of talk about South Carolina basketball coach Dave Odom’s retirement announcement this week.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says WQAM beat rival 790 The Ticket in the most recent Arbitron ratings.

Dave Darling in the Orlando Sentinel says there’s going to be plenty of sports to watch before the Super Bowl.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says Fox will cover other things besides the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News says former Dallas Mavericks announcer Allen Stone has found a new calling in life.

Ray Buck from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes that Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson share the same philosophy when it comes to the Super Bowl.

Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News asks are you ready for a lot of football?

Midwest

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says NBC hopes to bring figure skating back into the national spotlight.

Paul Christian of the Rochester Post-Bulletin writes that NBC is pulling out all of the stops for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships this weekend.

Bob Wolfley has Fox Sports’ Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson talking about their frozen experience in Green Bay last week.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says KSDK hopes to resolve problems with hockey and golf conflicts when it airs the Cardinals during the spring and summer.

West

Scott D. Pierce in the Deseret Morning News writes that Versus will keep the NHL for the next three seasons.

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says he’s relieved not to hear about LaDanian Tomlinson this week. And here are the ratings in San Diego from last week.

John Maffei of the North County Times says CBS and the Golf Channel are showcasing a lot of the San Diego area thanks to the Buick Invitational.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star previews the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC.

Christine Daniels writes in the Los Angeles Times about the technical glitch that marred Kelly Tilghman’s apology on the Golf Channel on Thursday.

The Los Angeles Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth says there’s a whole lot of apologizin’ going on. He has a follow up to the column in his Farther Off the Wall blog. And there’s his extensive media notes as well.

Canada

In the Toronto Star, Chris Zelkovich writes that the CBC is hoping to jump into the all-sports parade.

And William Houston writes in the Toronto Globe and Mail that CTV is charging a premium for Super Bowl spots.

I’ll have another post later. Keep it here.

Some More New Year’s Eve Links

Let’s give you some more links today before I work on some other things.

First, Neil Best of Newsday writes that Patriots-Giants on Saturday was the most watched program of 2007. Not an easy task considering that Saturday are the least watched day of the week.

The Boston Herald’s Jessica Heslam writes in her Messenger blog that WCVB was the winner of the Patriots-Giants ratings sweepstakes easily outpacing WBZ and WHDH.

In his Medium Well blog, Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun writes his thoughts about the NFL Network production of the Patriots-Giants game.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle writes about the overnight numbers for Pats-Giants in his Four DVRs, no waiting blog.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell tells us the winner of the copyright infringement battle between Western Kentucky University’s mascot, Big Red and beloved Italian TV character, Gabibbo. I’m not making this up. It’s a funny story.

Drew Houff of the Winchester (VA) Star hung out at various sports bars on Saturday to watch the Pats-Giants game with sports fans (many of whom are Boston haters I might add).

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel liked the way the Fox crew called the Lions-Packers game on Sunday.

William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail gives us some of the more interesting sports quotes of 2007.

Glen Dickson of Broadcasting & Cable says Tennis Channel has moved into new production facilities to accommodate its High Definition broadcasts.

The Sports Media Watch blog has named Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock as the Worst of Sports Media 2007. And here are Paulsen’s runners up for Worst of Sports Media. Paulsen is working on his Stories of Sports Media for 2007 and when they’re up, I’ll link to them.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News follows up on some of the people he’s met in 2007. And Hoffarth goes even further on this in his Farther Off the Wall blog.

We have some quotes from the last Football Night in America broadcast for the season on NBC last night.

ESPN’s self promotion goes into overdrive with a new “This is SportsCenter” ad starring the always-flamboyant Richard Simmons.

And that will do it for now. Look for Amazing Race and Amazing Race Asia recaps as well as my look into the Best and Worst of Sports Media in 2007.

Primetime & Late Night Viewing Picks coming up.

Giving You the Friday Megalinks

Let’s do the megalinks today.

Starting with USA Today, we get the weekend viewing picks.

We’ll do the links from East to West today.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe says Patriots fans got a huge holiday season present on Saturday.

A couple of stories from the Boston Herald. The lovely Jessica Heslam writes that the ratings winner among WBZ, WCVB and WHDH for tomorrow night’s Patriots-Giants game will depend on which local pre-game show viewers prefer to watch. Jessica and Jay Fitzgerald report that WCVB is in talks with the NFL about losing its exclusive rights to the game.

From the New York Post, Phil Mushnick rips the NFL Network. Also from the Post, Justin Terranova has five questions for ESPN’s Lee Corso. Terranova talks to the NFL Today’s Bill Cowher about the Giants.

Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Giants fans selling their tickets for tomorrow’s game to Patriots fans. And Neil says in his blog that his scheduled appearance on MSNBC today was pre-empted due to coverage of the Benazir Bhutto funeral in Pakistan.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times says the move by the NFL to put Saturday’s Patriots-Giants game on CBS and NBC was a lesson in humility for the league.

Brian Heyman of the White Plains (NY) Journal News writes that WWOR is still fuming over losing exclusive over the air New York rights for the Patriots-Giants game.

Laura Nachman has the Philadelphia Sports Media Year in Review.

From the Baltimore Sun, Ray Frager says the three way simulcast on Saturday is a win for fans. Bill Ordine of the Sun praises Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter for looking out for fans.

Jon Solomon of the Birmingham News says the ratings for the Papajohns.com Bowl were up for ESPN.

Doug Nye of The State has his Best Bet for viewing this weekend.

Dave Darling from the Orlando Sentinel has his Top 10 Sports Media stories of 2007.

Keeping up with that theme, Barry Jackson has his Best and Worst of Sports Radio and TV for the Miami Herald.

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ray Buck writes about Fox Sports’ Grumpy Old Coaches, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer.

Marc Katz of the Dayton Daily News says the NFL and the NHL will be the viewing picks for this holiday weekend.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says the NFL served its own interests by putting tomorrow’s Patriots-Giants game on CBS and NBC.

Paul Christian from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin talks about the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day being telecast on NBC.

Phil Rosenthal of the Chicago Tribune says the NFL took a sack for this weekend.

Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret (UT) Morning News says the fans win out with the Patriots-Giants being on three outlets.

Over to the San Diego Union-Tribune and Jay Posner says look up “caved” in the dictionary and the NFL’s picture will be there. Here are the ratings from last week in San Diego.

John Maffei of the North County Times says it’s tough to predict the NFL Wild Card playoff picture for next weekend.

Jim Carlisle in today’s Ventura County Star says NBC is trying to sell the NHL’s Winter Classic as a special event.

In the Los Angeles Times, Christine Daniels in her Sound and Vision column says football will be the viewing choice this weekend. Also from the Times, Greg Johnson writes that advertisers get one stop shopping with Fox Sports for the Bowl Championship Series.

Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News talks about the late Stu Nahan’s movie cameos. And Hoffarth talks about NBC’s preparation for the NHL Winter Classic. And in his Farther Off the Wall blog, Hoffarth has his extensive weekly media notes.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star has his Best and Worst in Canadian and U.S. Sports Media for 2007.

Tony Gallagher of the Vancouver Province says the NHL Network is great for American hockey fans.

The Sports Media Watch talks about the lowest ratings ever for network primetime NFL games this season. And Paulsen has some ratings news and notes.

Jon Friedman of Marketwatch.com says don’t confuse the NFL with Santa Claus on the Patriots-Giants issue.

Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball website shoots down the rumors that Fox Sports’ MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal is leaving to go to ESPN.

Phil Swann of TVPredictions.com reports about ESPNews’ HDTV plans. And Swann says DirecTV has added Tennis Channel and CSTV in HD today.

Lot of links today. That will do it. I’ll be back later.

Thursday Morning Linkage

Time to give you some links on this Thursday. On WEEI, it was WBZ-TV’s Bob Lobel and Steve Burton filling in for Dennis & Callahan once again. Tomorrow is the day when D&C’s contracts expire.

On this opening night of the NFL season, Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe talks with CBS’ Dan Dierdorf and ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about the Patriots. Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times-Union writes about Jaworski joining Monday Night Football. Don Benevento of the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier Post also has a story on Jaworski. In the Philadelphia Daily News, Mark Kram says Jaworski is ready for some Monday Night Football. Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says NFL Network games will be hard to see in the Bay Area. Mike Burrows of the Denver Post looks at the building of a football nation, some of the events listed include TV watersheds. Also from the Denver Post, Anthony Cotton says football is king in the US, thanks partly to TV.

Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star talks about the opening of the NFL season and some of the changes in TV partners in Canada. And William Houston of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks with NBC’s John Madden about being ready for the season. Bill Harris of the Winnepeg Sun talks with NBC’s Al Michaels.

John Ryan of the San Jose Mercury News says the Raiders game against Detroit is close to being blacked out locally in the Bay Area.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes about ESPN’s Keyshawn Johnson, NBC’s John Madden and Bethanie Mattek’s wardrobe.

Andy Fixmer of the Bloomberg News service writes that due to higher rights fees for MLB, NFL and NASCAR and lower subscription fees from the cable companies means ESPN’s growth has slowed, and lowering Disney’s stock price.

The Worcester Telegram and Gazette’s Bill Doyle talks with NESN’s Don Orsillo who for some reason changed his policy about mentioning no-hitters on the air.

Dave Dye of the Detroit News says controversy over the Big Ten Network stands to get uglier. From very amateurish looking West Liberty (IA) Index, Susan Sedlacek writes that Liberty Communications has BTN while Mediacom customers still cannot watch it. Mike Prisuta of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says BTN is worth watching.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated has his media power rankings for August.

While ESPN announced last week it would reduce the scripted fare it had offered, news comes from the Television Critics Association Convention that the network is still considering doing a movie about the late Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.

Bob Molinaro of the Virginian-Pilot says even with a local TV station dumping its traditional sports report on its newscasts, other stations feel local sports still needs to be covered.

A lot more links than I expected for a Thursday, but the opening of the NFL season has helped. I’ll be back later.

Friday Links

I’ll do as many links as I can this morning. I do have to leave work today so I’ll give you as many as my time permits.

First, USA Today, Fox and ESPN are talking with Major League Baseball about expanding their coverage when Barry Bonds gets closer to the all-time home run record. You may recall both networks went all out for the single season record in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were close so expect similar coverage here. No matter what you think about Bonds, whether you feel he did steroids or you feel he was railroaded, this is a major story.

Also from the Nation’s Newspaper, Steve Wieberg has a story on Kevin Weiberg (note the spellings) leaving his post as Big 12 Commissioner and heading to the Big Ten Network.

Michael Hiestand says the TV networks need to get creative to boost NBA TV ratings.

Dave Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch has his usual Friday column. He’s really good and I enjoy his stuff. Today, he’s mildly surprised at some intelligent talk coming out of WEEI in Boston, plus he discusses the blogging policy of the major sports leagues in the wake of the NCAA stopping real-time blogging of a reporter out of Louisville.

Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe says the just completed NBA Finals lacked competition and did not showcase the best of the league. She also has a blurb on WBZ-TV renewing its “5th Quarter” postgame Patriots show for three more years.

I always laugh when I read Phil Mushnick in the New York Post. He always rails against something, but lately, I find myself agreeing with him. Today, he goes against ESPN for not showing any live golf in the first ten minutes of its US Open coverage yesterday and takes Chris Berman to task for being a woefully poor play-by-play announcer.

Bob Raissman looks into the hiring of Harold Reynolds by MLB.com. Raissman correctly asserts that MLB must have done its homework in bringing HR into the fold especially in the wake of his firing by ESPN last year for alleged sexual harassment.

In Newsday, Neil Best’s Friday column focuses on a new law in New York banning ticket scalping. He wonders if this lead to increasing ticket prices or if ticket re-sellers like StubHub will get more busines.

Laura Nachman of the Philly Burbs papers profiles Michael Bradley of WPEN who is in the second month of his morning show.

Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer opines that sideline reporters don’t serve much purpose on a telecast. I’ll agree with that somewhat, but there are times when they’re needed. One definitely, not two in some cases, especially on Monday Night Football when ESPN uses both Suzy Kolber and Michelle Tafoya.

In the Baltimore Sun, Ray Frager discusses Johnny Miller and the US Open and looks deeper into the ratings of WHFS for Orioles radio broadcasts.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel urges his readers to watch the US Open.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune likes to keep track of Mike North of sports radio WSCR and he writes about North’s contentious interview with White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper.

Judd Zulgad in this morning’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a story about Twins owner Carl Pohlad purchasing an FM station leading to speculation that the team might be changing stations when its current deal with KSTP runs out.

Bob Wolfey in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes about the city’s AHL team moving stations.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle tells us what programs are beating the NBA Finals. It’s not pretty, let me tell you.

John Maffei of the North County Times says the University of San Diego has hired Padres announcer Andy Masur as its basketball play-by-play man for this season. And Maffei previews the US Open TV coverage.

Larry Stewart has his usual two stories in the Los Angeles Times. First one is on the poor ratings of the NBA Finals. Second is on the US Open.

Tom Hoffarth of the LA Daily News feels like me on the subject of Chris Berman and golf. Get him off my TV!!

Friday Links

Time to go across the country and get the links from TV/Radio Sports columnists on this busy Friday. And it’s a good sport viewing weekend including the NBA Finals, Interleague MLB play, NASCAR debuts on TNT, the French Open Finals and a whole host of other events.

Let’s start with Michael Hiestand of USA Today. Last night marked the first time the NBA Finals were seen on multiple platforms, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, ESPN360, ESPN.com, etc., etc., etc. This was overkill to the max by the Alleged Worldwide Leader. Hiestand calls these multiple airings, “roadblocks” as a way to promote synergy and this isn’t limited to ESPN. NBC gets involved next week in a big way with the US Open golf tournament. It’s a novelty at first, but it has the potential to be very annoying if this is done too much.

To my native New England region and Dave Scott from Boston Sports Media Watch. He blogs about the effort to unionize at NESN, Bob Ryan’s new show at said NESN, plus Comcast taking over Fox Sports Net New England.

Susan Bickelhaupt of the Boston Globe gives an update on two well-known Boston sports personalities, Gerry Callahan, part of the Dennis & Callahan morning team on WEEI, and Bob Lobel, long time sports anchor at WBZ-TV. Both have been ailing of late. Callahan had polyps removed from his throat and Lobel underwent back surgery. Both have been away from their jobs for a prolonged period of time.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News says the idea of MLB Commish Bud Selig ordering Yankee Jason Giambi to talk to George Mitchell in the steroids investigation is nothing more than a dog and pony show.

Neil Best of Newsday has a review of the movie “Ruffian” about the horse that died after a match race in 1975. ESPN made the movie and will air it on ABC tomorrow night.

Last Friday, Laura Nachman of the Philly Burbs newspapers gave her grades to Philadelphia-area sportscasters. This week, she gives her readers the opportunity to speak out.

Ray Frager of the Baltimore Sun says in this first year for new TV and radio outlets for the Orioles, ratings for MASN and WHFS are up compared to their previous rightsholders, Comcast and WBAL-AM.

Jim Williams of the DC/Baltimore Examiner talks with ESPN/ABC’s Kenny Mayne who will host the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson talks to two men who lost their broadcasting jobs over remarks they said. Lamar Thomas who’s notorious comments during the Miami-Florida International University got him canned from Comcast, and Steve Lyons who lost his gig on Fox after making a comment during the NLCS.

Dave Darling of the Orlando Sentinel has a column stating that the NBA needs to have good ratings from the Cleveland-San Antonio finals, especially with LeBron James as the focus.

In Chicago, Teddy Greenstein gives his picks for weekend viewing.

Dave Barron of the Houston Chronicle says ESPN would like to have Jeff Van Gundy do more work on NBA games next season.

John Maffei of the North County Times (kind of strange to call it that when it’s located just north of San Diego, in Southern California, but that’s me) has a long news and notes column today. He talks mostly about college baseball not being too conducive for television.

As usual, Larry Stewart of the LA Times has two stories on Fridays. His first story focuses on Johnny Miller who will be front and center next week during NBC’s coverage of the US Open. Stewart’s other story looks at the Ruffian movie and the legal problems that surfaced this week.

Those are the links for now. More later as they warrant.