Media Notes

Motorsports Journalists Launch Web Site After Suffering Cutbacks From Newspapers

USA TODAY's Nate Ryan reports five auto racing journalists -- Jim Pedley, John Sturbin, Rick Minter, Larry Woody and Bill Fleischman -- have launched Racin' Today, a Web site that "aims to cover major U.S. motor racing series." The writers all have had their "beats downsized or eliminated during cutbacks at newspapers." Pedley, who serves as Managing Editor of the site, wrote, "Your newspapers have let you down." Pedley said that the site is an "online magazine of features, analysis and opinion that 'hopefully will break a little news once in a while' by staffing at least one major event each week." The site has "no financial backing but hopes to build an advertising base." Pedley: "I'm nowhere near being able to make money. We'd like to because most of us are on severance and unemployment" (USA TODAY, 4/1).

GET OUT OF THE SHOT: On Long Island, Neil Best reports TV execs and cameramen "still are concerned about some of the angles and positions" at the new Yankee Stadium. The most notable concern is the fact the "'high home' camera behind the plate must shoot through netting that protects fans from batted balls." The initial position of the camera was "marred by the wires that hold up the net." YES Network VP/Communications Eric Handler said that the network was "able to move to a lower spot that avoids the wires but not the net itself" (NEWSDAY, 4/1).

LIVING THE HIGH LIVE: Stats out of Bristol suggest that ESPN's HD channel has become a big success story. So far this year, the service has grown by 24,043 subscribers per day, which is a faster rate than '08, when it grew by 20,877 subscribers per day. For '08, that equates to an overall jump of 7.6 million subs. If the rate holds for the rest of this year, that would add another 8.8 million subs. The numbers suggest that more consumers are buying and hooking up HDTV sets (John Ourand, THE DAILY)

LAW SCHOOL: ESPN.com's Munson & Lavigne noted Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff "expects to be able to file suit against the BCS in June," and Shurtleff said he will address the issues of the BCS contract with ESPN and other BCS obligations "after a decision on the BCS and its selection procedures." Shurtleff: "If there were a playoff, there would still be bowl games in the playoffs, and there would still be television broadcasts of the playoff games." ESPN/ABC has acquired rights to all BCS games beginning in '11, and ESPN VP/PR Josh Krulewitz said, "We are not part of the process of determining the structure. The BCS came to us with this format and these are the rights we acquired" (ESPN.com, 3/31).