McGillicuddy Hired To Head Up FS Ohio

Fox Sports Net has picked Francois McGillicuddy to run its Cleveland-based RSN, FS Ohio, and manage the transition of the recently purchased SportsTime Ohio. As part of the move, Jim Liberatore  is leaving the net. Liberatore had been SportsTime Ohio President since its '06 launch. Fox close ...

New Late-Night Show For CSN Mid-Atlantic

Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic will launch a weekly late-night show on Feb. 5 starring popular DC-area radio hosts The Junkies. The 30-minute show, called "Table Manners," will occupy the 11:00pm ET slot Tuesday nights during February and March and will be filmed at The Palm in DC. The deal encompas ...

Fox Buys Cleveland-Based SportsTime Ohio

Fox Sports Media Group completed its acquisition of Cleveland-based RSN SportsTime Ohio Friday. As part of the deal, Fox signed the Indians to a long-term media rights deal that will keep Indians games with Fox well into the next decade. Specific deal terms were not released, but sources say Fox Spo ...

Tags: Media, Fox

CBS, PBR Renew Media Rights Deal

CBS Sports renewed its media rights deal with the PBR, making CBS and CBS Sports Network the exclusive home of the sport. Financial terms are not available. This year was the first time CBS carried PBR, sharing the package with NBC. The new deal will see CBS show 10 events this year, and CBS Sports ...

Skipper Defends ESPN's Journalistic Qualities

ESPN President John Skipper gave a full-throated defense of the quality of ESPN’s journalism, saying the company does more to cover sports than any other entity. He specifically highlighted ESPN as the only sports media company that uses an ombudsman and has published social media policies for ...

Tags: Media, ESPN

Skipper: ESPN Dialing Back Tebow Coverage

ESPN is devoting less coverage to Jets QB Tim Tebow because ESPN President John Skipper told producers to dial it back. In an interview last week at his N.Y. office, Skipper said, "I said, 'Guys, we didn't handle this very well.' Going to training camp wasn't a problem. We just stayed on it relentle ...

Tags: Media, ESPN

NBA, ESPN Reach U.K. TV Rights Deal

The NBA and ESPN have reached a new TV rights deal in the U.K. that will put live NBA games on ESPN in the U.K. and Ireland for the rest of the '12-13 season. ESPN has had NBA rights for the past three years. Until now, both sides had not reached an agreement for this season. Sources say the NBA is ...

Time Warner-Dish Carriage Talks Break Down

Talks broke down between Time Warner Cable and Dish Network last night, leaving the satellite operator as the biggest distributor in the L.A. area who does not carry TWC SportsNet and TWC Deportes. The networks put out a statement last night saying, "Despite our best efforts and their customers' dem ...

Google To Pay Rights Fee For D-League Games

Google has agreed to pay the NBA a rights fee in the low six figures to stream 350 NBA D-League games live this season. NBA officials describe the one-year deal as an "experiment" and say they will be focused on the number of streams and advertising revenue (which will be sold by YouTube) that is ge ...

Tags: NBA, Media

Fox To Announce Oklahoma State Deal

Fox Sports plans to announce a multiyear deal with Learfield Sports for Oklahoma State Univ. sports. Financials were not released. The partnership, which actually launched Sept. 1 with the Oklahoma State-Savannah State football game, allows Fox to carry one football game per year on a Fox cable plat ...