People & Personalities: Costas Discussing Role At MLB Network

Costas In Talks To Join MLB Network For In-Game Or Studio Coverage

MLB Network has been talking with Bob Costas about taking an on-air role with the network. The two sides still are not particularly close on a contract, sources said, but the network has discussed using Costas -- a noted baseball fan -- on some of its game coverage, which will consist of at least one game per week, or its studio coverage, which will be on air for several hours per night during the season, starting at 7:00pm ET. Costas already shuffles between two networks, NBC and HBO. MLB Network is launching into about 50 million homes January 1. Though it has not made any talent announcements yet, the channel is expected to hire on-air talent Harold Reynolds and Hazel Mae (John Ourand, THE DAILY).

NO PLACE LIKE HOME: ESPN/ABC NBA sideline reporter Michele Tafoya yesterday said that she has "stepped down" from that role. Tafoya will continue to work on ESPN's "MNF" and will maintain her Wednesday afternoon role on ESPN Radio. Tafoya said that she "made her decision to leave the NBA telecasts after being home for only four nights in a six-week span during last season's playoffs." Tafoya: "At that time I was really thinking about it. We just started re-negotiating my contract, and I just couldn't do it again. ESPN has been really, really supportive." Tafoya is "in talks with ESPN about other potential assignments that wouldn't call for travel" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/22).

NOTES: Braves radio and TV broadcaster Pete Van Wieren yesterday retired after 33 years. Van Wieren said that the move was something he had been "considering since the spring, when the Braves offered him a contract extension." Van Wieren added that his move had "nothing to do with three things: his health, the recent death of broadcast partner Skip Caray and the Braves' disappointing season" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/22)....In DC, Leonard Shapiro profiled Capitals TV announcer Joe Beninati and wrote he has become "one of the most respected play-by-play men in hockey." Beninati and color analyst Craig Laughlin, who have been together since '94, "have developed into one of the game's premier broadcasting teams," and for "casual fans who now seem to be paying more attention, they have the ability to both educate and entertain" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 10/21).