Media Notes

After TNT’s Charles Barkley during a recent discussion of Hornets G Chris Paul said Oklahoma was “no place for black people,” Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry replied, “It’s a shame that Barkley would disparage our state with a thoughtless, off-the-cuff remark, but I don’t think anyone puts much stock in his opinions anyway” (AP, 2/11).

Columnist Taking Issue With Treatment By UConn’s Calhoun

UCONN DISPUTE: In N.Y., Jere Longman noted Hartford Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs in a January 31 column wrote of Univ. of Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun, “Being ranked No. 1 evidently is more important than something as niggling as human decency. Winning apparently entitles the man to treat others badly.” Jacobs also said on WFAN-AM that Calhoun had “suggested he was gay and racist” to other reporters and that Calhoun had “once expressed this concern to him in person.” Calhoun denied making any comments about racism or sexual preference (N.Y. TIMES, 2/11).

INDIANS TV: Fastball Sports Productions President Jim Liberatore said that he is “confident” the Indians’ new TV network “will have deals signed with every area cable and satellite TV outlet by Opening Day but admits it is ‘unlikely’ they will be done” by the debut telecast March 12 of an Indians-Yankees Spring Training game. Liberatore said, “We’ve just sent out the (contract offers), and we’ve had some early conversations with various companies.” In Cleveland, Roger Brown noted the net will unveil its name and logo on February 23 (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 2/12).

GLOBAL NBA: DAILY VARIETY’s Marcelo Cajueiro reported about 10,000 fans in Brazil watched Lakers-Mavericks last Tuesday on Globo.com after the NBA signed its first deal to broadcast live games via broadband Internet. NBAE Senior Dir of Int’l Television & Marketing Partnerships Vincent Burniske said that the league chose Globo.com because a test last year “showed a high demand in Brazil.” Burniske added that Globo.com, which charges $2.20 a month to watch two games per week on Globoesporte.com, “prevents users from outside Brazil seeing the games and offers ‘near-DVD quality’ images.” The NBA has signed a similar deal with Chinese portal NuSports (DAILY VARIETY, 2/11).