Media Notes

Gotuit Media Corp. has renewed its deal with Sports Illustrated to power the SI Filmroom, an interactive online video offering that serves as a key element of SI.com's coverage of the upcoming NFL Draft. Gotuit, whose platform relies on extensive metadata-based search and navigation capabilities, also recently reupped its deal with MLS to power the QuickKicks video portal within MLSNet.com (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

Writer Feels NFL Network Should Hire Hammond

JOB OPENING: SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote now that announcer Bryant Gumbel has left NFL Network's game telecasts, "you'll be hearing plenty of people champion Marv Albert" for the job. Deitsch: "There's nothing wrong with Albert, who is clearly aiming to hold every job in sports broadcasting prior to his retirement. Personally, I'd rather see him stay on the Westwood One broadcast of Monday Night Football, where he and partner Boomer Esiason have developed terrific chemistry." Meanwhile, NBC's Tom Hammond is a "pro's pro whether he's calling [AFL], the Penn Relays or waxing about Giacomo in the Kentucky Derby. Plus, he's already called games with [NFL Net analyst and would-be partner] Cris Collinsworth." Deitsch: "Sign him up" (SI.com, 4/14).

HANGING PITCH: In N.Y., Bob Raissmann writes the "only thing more stunning" than Yankees manager Joe Girardi letting [P] Mike Mussina pitch to Red Sox LF Manny Ramirez on Saturday with two outs, runners at second and third, and the Yankees leading 2-1, was Fox' Tim McCarver "having absolutely nothing to say about the move." McCarver "went mum," and after Ramirez drove in two runs, it became "even more glaring an omission." Instead, it was "left up to Kevin Kennedy, sitting in Fox's Hollywood studio." Kennedy said, "You must walk Manny Ramirez" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/15).

LIONS: The Lions and WWJ-CBS have entered into a three-year agreement to broadcast the team's preseason games, starting with the '08 season. The agreement includes the continuation of "The Ford Lions Report," a half-hour program about the Lions that airs weekly during the season (Lions).