Monthly Archives: March 2011
Sports Media Weekly Podcast No. 49- March 24, 2011
We had such a good time ressurrecting the Sports Media Weekly Podcast last week that we thought we’d do it again this week.
Ken Fang from Fang’s Bites and I discuss the early success of the coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on CBS and Turner Sports. We also look at some of the nominees in the 32nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards (and give our projected picks). And finally we piggyback on a piece this week by Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media Watch where he discusses best practices for sports media members using Twitter and some of the best in the Boston market who use the service effectively.
Of course I had my say on the matter earlier this month. Not that I’m accusing Bruce of stealing my idea or anything…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
SMJ Inbox- March 24, 2011
There are a few sports media items that have found their way into the SMJ inbox…
NBC and Golf Digest Team Up For Equipment Show- For the third consecutive year the NBC Sports Group has announced a partnership with Golf Digest to present the Golf Digest Equipment Special that will air on The Golf Channel. The program will this Sunday at 1:3opm ET prior to the network’s final round coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Final Round of Masters Will Look Back at the 1975 Classic- CBS Sports, in conjunction with Jim Nantz Productions, will take a look back at the 1975 Masters through Jim Nantz Remembers Augusta- The 1975 Masters. The program, featuring interviews with Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, and Johnny Miller, airs Sunday, April 10th at 1pm ET prior to the final round of the 2011 tournament.
Pedro Speaks with Bob Costas on Studio 42- The next edition of Studio 42 with Bob Costas on the MLB Network will feature an interview with former MLB pitcher Pedro Martinez. The program debuts Wednesday, March 30th at 7pm ET.
ESPN Previews the 2011 Baseball Season in Next Edition of ESPN the Magazine- The next edition of ESPN the Magazine is set to preview the 2011 Major League Baseball season. Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman is on the cover. In the mag Buster Olney predicts the Giants will defeat the Red Sox in the World Series.
60 Minutes to Profile Legendary H.S. Coach Bob Hurley, Sr.- One segment on this weekend’s edition of CBS’ 60 Minutes will profile longtime high school basketball coach Bob Hurley, Sr. You may remember that Bob’s son Bobby made a great career for himself at Duke before he proceeded to the NBA. The senior Hurley has been coach at St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, New Jersey for 39 years. He has had unheralded success, including seeing all but two of his players over the years attend college.
Fox Sports Set for NASCAR at Fontana- The weeks NASCAR Sprint Cup event will be from Fontana at the Auto Club 400 Powered by Coca-Cola. Coverage will begin on Fox Sports Sunday at 2:30pm ET.
SMJ Inbox- March 23, 2011
Let’s take a peak into the middle of the week mail coming into the Sports Media Journal inbox…
More Coaches Bounced from NCAA Torunament Being Drafted for TV Work- CBS and Turner Sports have announced that Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo and Villanova Head Coach Jay Wright will be working as analysts on this weekend’s coverage of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Izzo will work in studio for the regional semi-final games this Thursday and Friday. Wright will provide insight during the regional finals coverage on CBS on Saturday.
MLB Network Announces April Game Schedule and New Studio Show- The MLB Network plans to telecast 30 regular season games during the month of April as part of its 30 Games, 30 Clubs, 30 Days promotion. Beginning April 4th at 5pm ET, MLB Network will debut a new studio talk show entitled Intentional Talk, featuring Chris Rose and Kevin Millar. MLB Network will relaunch The Rundown, a live pre-game show each weekday from 3pm-5pm ET.
NBC Sports Group Promotes this Weekend’s PGA Event at Bay Hill- This weekend’s PGA Tour event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and The Golf Channel and NBC will have the event covered. The Golf Channel will have frist and second round coverage Thursday and Friday from 3pm to 6pm ET. The Golf Channel will also provide third round coverage Saturday from 12:30pm to 2:30pm ET before NBC takes over from 2:30pm to 6pm ET. The Golf Channel resumes coverage Sunday also from 12:30pm to 2:30pm ET. NBC wraps up the tournament with coverage from 2:30pm to 6pm ET.
CBS Sports Spectacular Looks at College Basketball Sunday- Gus Johnson will be the host of a special look back at the 2010-2011 college basketball season this Sunday on the CBS Sports Spectacular. The program will air Sunday at 1PM ET.
HBO Boxing After Dark Comes Back Saturday Night- HBO has a pair of featherweight matches at this weekend’s Boxing After Dark. Coverage begins at 9:45pm ET as Yuriorkis Gamboa battles Jorge Solis and Matt Remiollard takes on Mikey Garcia.
Sports Emmy Nominations Are Announced
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences today announced its nominees for the 32nd Annual Sports Emmy Awards. More than 150 nominees were announced in 33 categories. ESPN leads all networks with a total of 36 nominations. HBO is second with 22. NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox received 20, 17, 13, & 12 nominations respectively. Al Michaels will receive the Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony to be held on May 2nd.
You can delve into all the nominations here.
SMJ Inbox- March 21, 2011
It’s a new week…let’s take a peak into what’s been gathering in the Sports Media Journal inbox…
More Big Numbers for CBS/Turner After Week One of Tournament- Over the first week of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, CBS and Turner Sports have seen an average rating of 5.5, a 15% increase over CBS’ lone coverage in 2010. The average audience on CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV was 8.4 million viewers, up 14% over last year. That average viewership is the highest for the tournament in 17 years. Sunday’s third round coverage garnered a rating of 6.6, a 16% increase over 2010 and the highest since 2000.
March Madness on Demand Seed Big Numbers Through First Week- The success of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is also translating into big numbers of online viewers. The March Madness on Demand product has had 26.7 million visits in the first week of the tournament, a 47% increase over 2010.
ESPN Tournament Challenge Sees Lack of Bracket Success- ESPN reports that only one of the 5.9 million brackets filled out in it’s Tournament Challenge contest had 15 of the 16 teams still in the tournament. No one selected this year’s Sweet 16. By the way, President Obama sits at 7,549 in the ranking of all brackets. Not bad.
ESPN Announces MLB Schedule for Opening Weekend- ESPN has announced that it will televise six MLB games to begin the 2011 season. Here is the schedule and announcer line-up:
Thursday, March 31, 1 p.m. Detroit at N.Y. Yankees
Sean McDonough, Rick Sutcliffe, Aaron Boone, Tim Kurkjian, Buster Olney
ESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV4 p.m. San Diego at St. Louis
Dave O’Brien, Nomar Garciaparra, Pedro Gomez
ESPN8 p.m. San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers
Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine, Wendi Nix
ESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN RadioFriday, April 1st, 1 p.m. Houston at Philadelphia
McDonough, Sutcliffe, Boone, Kurkjian
ESPN4 p.m., Boston at Texas
Shulman, Hershiser, Valentine, Olney
ESPN, ESPN3.com, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN RadioSaturday, April 2nd, 3 p.m. San Diego at St. Louis
ESPN RadioSunday, April 3rd, 8 p.m. San Francisco at L.A. Dodgers
Shulman, Hershiser, Valentine, Nix, Olney
ESPN2, ESPN Radio
Telemundo Announces World Cup Qualifying Match Extension- The NBC Sports Group has announced that Telemundo has extended its agreement to televise the Mexican National Team’s away World Cup qualifying matches through 2013. Legendary announcer Andres Cantor will be on the call.
ESPN Announces Schedule of 2011 Women’s FIFA World Cup- ESPN has set-up its schedule of matches in this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany. You can find the entire schedule here.
NFL Network Looks at Top 100 Players of 2011- After the completion of the 2011 NFL Draft, the NFL Network will present The Top 100: Players of 2011, a look at the top players of today, as selected by the players themselves. The program will debut Saturday, April 30th at 8:00pm ET.
