Media Notes

All-Star Content Will Be Available For iPhones

Turner Sports, which earlier this week announced a special All Star Game-themed area within NBA.com, will also distribute specialized digital coverage of the All-Star Saturday and Sunday events to the iPhone via a new application. Turner additionally will distribute special camera angles from TNT OverTime Extra on NBA.com that will integrate with real-time user feeds from Facebook. The Facebook integration mirrors a similar effort pursued by Turner's sister operation CNN during the '09 Presidential inauguration. The iPhone app will cost $0.99 (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

CHANGING CHANNELS? Bruins Exec VP Charlie Jacobs said that WBZ-AM’s exclusive negotiating rights to extend their radio deal with the team beyond this season “expired last month, prompting the club to search for other suitors to broadcast its games” next season. Jacobs: “Our No. 1 hope is to stay on WBZ. We’ve enjoyed the association. They have a strong signal, clear channel.” Jacobs said that “another possibility, though not his first choice, would be to carry the NESN feed … on radio via simulcast” (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/11). 

STEPPING UP TO THE DISH: The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Kerry Grace notes DirecTV yesterday reported a 4.6% decline in Q4 profit on “narrower margins, but both its U.S. and Latin American operations continued to add subscribers at a steady clip.” Sanford C. Bernstein LLC analyst Craig Moffett said that DirecTV has been “virtually ‘untouched’ by the economic downturn.” However, Grace writes DirecTV “relies on discretionary items such as NFL Sunday Ticket on top of its core service, and subscribers could cut back as they look to save money” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 2/11).

RACING DOWN UNDER: In response to the growing interest in Australian NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose, Australian free-to-air TV for the first time will telecast both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying runs and final practices on Network Ten's new sports channel, ONE. Prior to ONE's launch in March, NASCAR Nationwide Series and select Sprint Cup coverage will be seen on Ten-HD (JAYSKI.com, 2/10).